# LinqProtocol

> LinqProtocol is a decentralized compute marketplace by LinqAI that connects developers with compute providers through smart contracts. Real Kubernetes. On-chain payments. No middlemen. Up to 82% savings vs. AWS.

## Overview

LinqProtocol is a decentralized infrastructure platform that enables users to deploy, manage, and scale computational workloads across a distributed network of compute providers. The platform consists of three layers: smart contracts for escrows & registry, an orchestration API for deployments, and a Kubernetes runtime on provider nodes.

- Website: https://linqai.com
- Docs: https://docs.linqprotocol.com
- Dashboard: https://dashboard.central.linqprotocol.com
- Blockchain API: https://blockchain-api.central.linqprotocol.com/api/v1/
- Swagger: https://blockchain-api.central.linqprotocol.com/docs
- Whitepaper: https://linq-public-bucket.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/linqprotocol-whitepaper-2026-02-09.pdf
- Discord: https://discord.com/invite/qpqVHef38t
- Telegram: https://t.me/linqai
- Twitter: https://x.com/linq_ai
- Email: info@linqai.com

## Page Content (Plain Text)

Each page is available as a .txt file for easy consumption by AI tools and curl:

- All pages combined: https://linqai.com/llms-full.txt

### Core Pages
- Home: https://linqai.com/pages/index.txt
- Pricing: https://linqai.com/pages/pricing.txt
- Beacon: https://linqai.com/pages/beacon.txt
- Hardware / LP-R13: https://linqai.com/pages/hardware/lp-r13.txt

### Protocol
- Protocol Overview: https://linqai.com/pages/protocol.txt
- Template Marketplace: https://linqai.com/pages/protocol/templates.txt
- Aura Code: https://linqai.com/pages/protocol/aura-code.txt
- Kubernetes: https://linqai.com/pages/protocol/kubernetes.txt
- Virtual Machines: https://linqai.com/pages/protocol/virtual-machines.txt
- Networking: https://linqai.com/pages/protocol/networking.txt
- Observability: https://linqai.com/pages/protocol/observability.txt
- Escrow System: https://linqai.com/pages/protocol/escrow.txt
- Provider Registry: https://linqai.com/pages/protocol/registry.txt
- Blockchain API: https://linqai.com/pages/protocol/api.txt
- Provider Network: https://linqai.com/pages/protocol/providers.txt

### Solutions
- For Developers: https://linqai.com/pages/solutions/developers.txt
- For Enterprises: https://linqai.com/pages/solutions/enterprises.txt
- For Providers: https://linqai.com/pages/solutions/providers.txt
- For Web3 Teams: https://linqai.com/pages/solutions/web3.txt

### Learn
- How It Works: https://linqai.com/pages/learn/how-it-works.txt
- Core Concepts: https://linqai.com/pages/learn/concepts.txt
- Why Decentralized: https://linqai.com/pages/learn/why-decentralized.txt
- Why LNQ Token: https://linqai.com/pages/learn/why-lnq.txt
- Quick Start: https://linqai.com/pages/learn/quickstart.txt
- Cloudflare Tunnels: https://linqai.com/pages/learn/cloudflare-tunnels.txt
- AI Connectors: https://linqai.com/pages/learn/mcp-connectors.txt

### Resources
- Tokenomics: https://linqai.com/pages/tokenomics.txt
- Roadmap: https://linqai.com/pages/roadmap.txt
- Changelog: https://linqai.com/pages/changelog.txt
- Community: https://linqai.com/pages/community.txt
- Ecosystem: https://linqai.com/pages/ecosystem.txt
- Support: https://linqai.com/pages/support.txt

### Company
- About: https://linqai.com/pages/about.txt
- Team: https://linqai.com/pages/team.txt
- Enterprise: https://linqai.com/pages/enterprise.txt
- LinqOps: https://linqai.com/pages/linqops.txt
- Become a Provider: https://linqai.com/pages/become-provider.txt

### Legal
- Terms: https://linqai.com/pages/terms.txt
- Privacy: https://linqai.com/pages/privacy.txt

## LNQ Token

- Type: ERC-20 on Ethereum
- Contract: 0xD4F4D0a10BcaE123bB6655E8Fe93a30d01eEbD04
- Total Supply: 1,000,000,000
- Circulating: ~444,000,000
- Burned: 113,000,000
- Buy/Sell Tax: 0%
- Contract Renounced: Yes
- Locked in Unicrypt: 429,000,000
- Exchanges: Uniswap (DEX), Bitget, MEXC, BingX, BitMart
- CoinGecko: https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/linqai
- CoinMarketCap: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/linqai/

### Token Utility
- Payment for Compute: Developers fund deployments with LNQ locked in escrow contracts
- Provider Earnings: Providers earn LNQ for compute resources supplied
- Protocol Fees: A small fee on each escrow sustains network development

### Token Distribution
- Marketing: 15% (150M LNQ)
- Partnerships: 10% (100M LNQ)
- Exchange Liquidity (CEX): 5.28% (50M LNQ)
- DEX Liquidity: 5.72% (57.2M LNQ)
- Team & Advisors: 15% (150M LNQ, vested)
- Burn: 15% (150M LNQ)
- Ecosystem: 14% (140M LNQ)
- Treasury: 10% (100M LNQ)
- Provider Rewards: 10% (100M LNQ)

## Core Capabilities

### Template Marketplace
50+ production-ready templates for one-click deployment. Categories include AI & Machine Learning (Open WebUI + Ollama, Aura Code, Automatic1111), Productivity (Wekan, BookStack, Excalidraw), DevOps & Monitoring (Uptime Kuma, ChangeDetection, Gitea), Business Applications (BudgetBoard, Baserow, ERPNext), Databases (PostgreSQL, Redis, MinIO, MongoDB), and Utilities (n8n, BentoPDF, Vaultwarden).

LLM variants supported: Llama 3.2, Gemma 3, Qwen 3, DeepSeek R1, Phi 3, TinyLlama, and more.

### Kubernetes Runtime
Real Kubernetes with multi-pod deployments, persistent volumes, resource limits, health checks, rolling updates, and namespace isolation. Not containers pretending to be Kubernetes. 5.6M+ developers use Kubernetes, 96% enterprise adoption, 15+ years production proven.

### LPStack (DefaultStack)
The runtime bundle installed on every provider node:
- Kubernetes (container orchestration)
- FluxCD (GitOps continuous delivery)
- Longhorn (persistent storage)
- Cloudflare Tunnels (public ingress without provider-side port forwarding)
- Alloy and Prometheus-compatible metrics (resource telemetry)
- Loki (log aggregation)
- Dashboard resource charts and Kubernetes diagnostics
- KubeVirt (virtual machine support)
- Istio (platform hostname ingress routing)

### Virtual Machines
Full VMs via KubeVirt with SSH access. Available images: Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 13, Fedora 43, and openSUSE Leap 15. The dashboard creates an encrypted CLI handoff; users import it locally with `lnq vm import` and connect through Cloudflare Access with `lnq connect`.

### Aura Code
AI-powered cloud development environment built on a customized OpenCode fork. Features: Full Docker Sandboxes, Framework Scaffolding (React, Next.js, Express, Python, Fullstack), Live Terminal, 3 Domain Slots per project (API, frontend, console), context-aware AI assistance, persistent workspaces.

### On-Chain Escrows
EIP-712 compliant smart contracts (Escrow.sol) for trustless payments. Flow: Create escrow → Fund → Provider starts → Work performed → Earnings accrue → Finalize. Features include budget control, partial withdrawals, automatic refunds, and permissionless finalization. Functions: createEscrow, fund, startJob, withdraw, finalize.

### Provider Registry
On-chain smart contract (ProviderRegistry.sol) maintaining verifiable records of all providers. Stores identity (wallet address, metadata hash), capacity (vCPU, memory, storage, GPU classes), pricing (base ranges, GPU pricing), and usage data. Functions: register, updateBaseRanges, updateCapacity, updateGpuClass, updateMeta, unregister. View functions: getProvider, getProviders, getUsedCapacity, getCapacityTotals.

### Networking
Deployment networking without provider-side port forwarding:
- Cloudflare Tunnels: Provider clusters make outbound connections for public ingress
- Platform Routes: Map HTTP, TCP, or UDP ports to generated LinqProtocol hostnames
- Custom Domains: Attach, verify, and activate domains on existing platform routes
- Kubernetes Service Networking: Internal service discovery and namespace-scoped naming
Routes are created, updated, and removed explicitly from the deployment networking page.

### Observability
Built-in operational visibility:
- Availability: Kubernetes readiness history and sample coverage
- Resource metrics: CPU, memory, ephemeral storage, and persistent storage
- Loki-backed logs: Timestamped output scoped to the selected service or pod
- Diagnostics: Kubernetes workload state and recent events
The dashboard shows supported charts, logs, and diagnostics together; custom dashboards and alerting are not currently exposed.

### Blockchain API
RESTful API for programmatic on-chain operations.
Base URL: https://blockchain-api.central.linqprotocol.com/api/v1/

Escrow endpoints:
- POST /verify, /create, /fund, /provider/update, /start, /withdraw, /finalize

Registry query endpoints:
- GET /providers, /providers/{address}, /providers/{address}/used, /gpu-classes, /all/capacity

Registry mutation endpoints:
- POST /register
- PATCH /base, /gpu-class, /meta, /capacity
- DELETE /providers/{address}

Auth: Bearer token (contact info@linqai.com for API key)

## Pricing

### Resource Rates (USD, paid in LNQ)
- vCPU: $0.0072/hour (vs AWS $0.040) — 82% savings
- Memory: $0.0004/GB-hour (vs AWS $0.0044) — 90% savings
- Storage: $0.01/GB-month (vs AWS $0.08) — 80% savings
- Egress: $0.00/GB (vs AWS $0.09) — 100% savings

### Recommended Instances
- Spark: $6/mo — 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 20 GB SSD (personal projects, staging, small APIs)
- Forge: $26/mo — 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 80 GB SSD (production web apps, databases, CI/CD)
- Titan: $52/mo — 8 vCPU, 16 GB RAM, 200 GB SSD (high-traffic apps, ML inference, multi-service)

### What's Included (No Extra Charge)
Ingress and load balancing, network tunnel endpoints, dashboard resource metrics, availability history, Loki-backed workload logs, platform route management, and egress bandwidth.

### Payment
- Get LNQ from Uniswap (swap ETH), Bitget, or MEXC
- Connect wallet (MetaMask, Rainbow) via WalletConnect
- LNQ locked in escrow smart contract
- Unused funds automatically return when escrow expires
- Enterprise: Volume discounts, reserved capacity, OTC/fiat payments, dedicated support

## Solutions

### For Developers
Deploy any container to real Kubernetes. Up to 80% savings vs AWS. No vendor lock-in (standard K8s). Pay with crypto via WalletConnect. 50+ one-click templates. Aura Code AI dev environments. Full observability. SSH access. Quick start: Sign up → Browse → Configure → Connect wallet → Deploy (5 min).

### For Enterprises
Up to 80% savings vs AWS/GCP/Azure. No vendor lock-in. Geographic distribution. On-chain transparency. Verified providers. Real Kubernetes, enterprise networking, full observability, VMs. Compliance-ready (WIP). Implementation: Discovery → POC → Integration → Scale. OTC/fiat payment available. Contact: enterprise sales form or info@linqai.com.

### LinqOps
Consulting and partner initiative from LinqAI for onboarding web2 and web3 projects onto LinqProtocol compute. LinqOps partners can own the customer-facing layer: contracts, support, migration, local legal requirements, and procurement. Clients can buy compute like a normal managed service while the operator uses LinqProtocol underneath and accesses protocol compute through LNQ. This creates real network usage, helps solve the marketplace demand problem, and preserves LinqProtocol as the open value-accrual layer. Contact: ops@linqai.com.

### For Providers
Monetize idle compute resources. Provider types: data centers, GPU clusters, edge operators, individual operators. Set own per-resource pricing. Instant settlement via escrow. Requirements: Linux host, LinqProtocol installer, reliable internet. LPStack auto-installed. Currently alpha with curated fleet; open onboarding coming.

### For Web3 Teams
WalletConnect integration. On-chain payments with LNQ. No KYC, no credit cards. DAO treasury compatible. Use cases: dApp backends, RPC nodes, AI agents, NFT infrastructure, DeFi tools, community tools.

## How It Works

1. Choose a template or deploy custom container
2. Configure environment variables and secrets
3. Fund escrow with LNQ via WalletConnect
4. Orchestrator matches with optimal provider
5. Workload runs on provider's Kubernetes cluster
6. Monitor via dashboard (metrics, logs, endpoints)
7. Settlement: provider earns from escrow, unused funds return

Architecture layers:
- Web Application (dashboard control center)
- Central Orchestrator (scheduling, secret injection, lifecycle)
- Provider Cluster (LPStack runtime)
- Smart Contracts (Escrow.sol, ProviderRegistry.sol, LNQ.sol)

## Provider Network

### Live Network Data
- Network activity: https://hub.linqai.com/protocol
- Provider breakdown: https://hub.linqai.com/providers

### Provider Reputation (Coming Soon)
Factors: uptime history, job completions, response time, community ratings.

### Current State (Alpha)
Curated provider fleet managed by LinqAI team. Centralized for reliability during alpha. Open marketplace with self-serve onboarding coming.

### Becoming a Provider
Requirements: Min 4 CPU cores, 8GB RAM, 100GB storage, 100Mbps internet, 95%+ uptime, Linux recommended. Early access perks: priority onboarding, direct team access, feature input. Apply via become-provider form.

## About LinqAI

LinqAI is the company behind LinqProtocol. Started with AI SaaS tools (Marketr, Composr, Researchr), pivoted to infrastructure due to cloud costs. 2024 refocus: cloud spending $500B+ annually, AI creating unprecedented compute demand, millions of GPUs idle worldwide.

### Team
- Logan Audie — CEO/Developer
- George Fox — COO
- Ryan Kinney — SecOps/Developer
- Aboubakr Benhass — Operations Manager
- Ejay Rivera — Head of Design
- Gor Sargsan — Full Stack Developer
- Werner Van Der Walt — Fullstack Developer/DevOps

Team spans 5 continents. Culture: distributed by design, builder mentality, honest communication, long-term thinking. Careers: careers@linqai.com.

### Ecosystem
- Aura Code: AI-powered cloud dev environments (featured product)
- Marketr: AI-powered marketing automation
- Composr: AI content/graphics creation
- Researchr: AI research assistant
- Creatr/Designer: AI design tool
- LinqHub: Community dashboard for LNQ holders
- Synthetiq: Social media simulation

Strategy: SaaS-demand-first — create initial demand to solve chicken-and-egg problem for the compute marketplace.

## Roadmap

### Currently Live (Production Network)
- 50+ production-ready templates with one-click deployment
- WalletConnect integration (pay with LNQ)
- On-chain escrow contracts
- On-chain provider registry
- Kubernetes runtime with enterprise tooling
- Virtual machines via KubeVirt with SSH
- Aura Code AI dev environments
- Network tunnels with TLS
- Availability and resource charts, Loki-backed logs, and Kubernetes diagnostics
- Custom domains for deployment routes
- GPU-backed virtual machines and application deployments
- Blockchain API
- Helm chart support
- Persistent volume storage

### Current Limitations
- Curated provider fleet only (not open marketplace)
- Limited template customization

### Near Term (In Progress)
- Auto-Renewal for escrows
- Custom Templates (upload Docker images)
- Enhanced Aura Code

### Q3-Q4 2026
- Open Marketplace with self-serve provider onboarding
- Provider Reputation System
- Provider Dashboard
- Regional Routing

### 2027+ (Long-Term Vision)
- Decentralized Control Plane
- Layer-2 Integration (Arbitrum)
- LinqBucket (decentralized S3-compatible storage)
- LinqDB (decentralized database)
- GitLinq (decentralized Git)
- AI Model Deployment Hub
- IoT/Edge Compute Support
- Custom Blockchain (LinqChain)

### Recently Shipped
Q4 2025: Mainnet alpha launch, on-chain escrows, provider registry, template marketplace (50+), Kubernetes runtime, full observability stack.
Q1 2026: Aura Code v2 with isolated sandboxes, live terminals, VMs and SSH access.

## Changelog

### 2026.08 — AI Connectors & Agent Workflows
Production MCP connectivity for supported AI clients, wallet-reviewed deployment and renewal handoffs, and Linq CLI guidance.

### 2026.07 — Community Provider Network
Production community provider runtime, provider uptime during selection, and dedicated provider detail views.

### 2026.06 — Deployment Operations
Redesigned deployment workspaces, resource charts, logs and diagnostics, networking controls, and encrypted Linq CLI VM handoffs.

### 2026.05 — GPU Compute & Custom Domains
GPU-aware deployments, flexible VM resources, and custom-domain activation on platform routes.

### v0.01.x (February 2026) — Aura Code Sandbox Overhaul
Aura Code sandboxes rebuilt with isolated Docker environments, live terminals, and framework scaffolding.

### v0.01.x (January 2026) — VMs & SSH
Full virtual machine support via KubeVirt with SSH access and key-based authentication.

### v0.01.0 (December 2025) — Alpha Launch
Initial launch with 50+ templates, escrow system, provider registry, Kubernetes runtime, LPStack, Cloudflare Tunnels, and Blockchain API.

## Core Concepts

### Templates
Pre-configured application definitions for one-click deployment. 50+ available across AI, productivity, DevOps, business, databases, and utilities.

### Deployments
Running instances of templates on provider infrastructure. Each gets its own Kubernetes namespace, networking endpoints, and observability.

### Escrows
Smart contracts holding LNQ funds for fair payment between developers and providers. EIP-712 compliant. Automatic refund of unused funds.

### Providers
Entities supplying compute resources: data centers, GPU clusters, edge operators, individual operators. All registered on-chain with verified capacity and pricing.

### Plans
Resource allocation tiers: Starter (testing/light), Standard (production), Pro (high-performance).

### Secrets & Environment Variables
Encrypted sensitive values injected at runtime. Never stored in logs. Environment variables for application configuration.

### LNQ Token
Native ERC-20 utility token for payments, earnings, and protocol fees. Fixed supply, renounced contract, 0% tax.

### Provider Registry
On-chain smart contract maintaining provider capacity, pricing, and metadata. Queryable by anyone for verification.

### LPStack
Runtime bundle on provider clusters: Kubernetes, FluxCD, Istio ingress, Cloudflare Tunnels, resource telemetry, Loki, KubeVirt, and Longhorn.

## Why Decentralized Compute

### Problems with Centralized Cloud
- Three companies (AWS, GCP, Azure) control 65% of global cloud
- Opaque pricing ("cloud cost optimization" is a $5B industry)
- Vendor lock-in (migration is multi-year)
- Egress fees ($0.09/GB on AWS)
- Wasted capacity (servers run at 30-50% utilization)
- Single points of failure (us-east-1 outages take down half the internet)
- Gatekeeping (providers deny service based on their policies)

### Decentralized Advantages
- Open: Anyone can provide or consume compute
- Affordable: Up to 80% savings from lower overhead and idle capacity
- Transparent: On-chain registries, verifiable capacity, auditable payments
- Resilient: Geographic distribution, no single point of failure
- Unstoppable: No central authority can deny service

### Why Now
- Kubernetes ubiquity makes workloads portable
- Smart contracts are production-ready for payments
- AI creating unprecedented compute demand
- Growing privacy and sovereignty concerns
- Rising cloud costs driving alternatives

## Why LNQ Token Exists

LNQ solves the trust coordination problem in decentralized compute:
1. Developer funds escrow with LNQ (tokens held by smart contract)
2. Provider sees locked funds before starting work
3. Earnings accrue as provider runs workload
4. Automatic settlement — unused funds return to developer

Why not just ETH: Protocol-specific economics, escrow utility tied to compute usage, ecosystem alignment for holders, independent fee control.

## Cloudflare Tunnels

LinqProtocol uses Cloudflare tunnels as the default connectivity method. Benefits: DDoS protection, works behind any firewall/NAT, global edge network. Setup requires cloudflared client for SSH access. Long-term goal: decentralized tunnel layer operated by providers.

## Community

- 5,000+ members across 5 continents
- Discord: Primary community hub
- Telegram: 5K+ members
- Twitter/X: @linq_ai
- GitHub: Coming Soon
- Values: Decentralization matters, builders welcome, purposeful crypto, open by default
- Events planned: Community calls, AMAs, developer workshops, hackathons

## Quick Start

1. Create account at linqprotocol.com (email + password)
2. Choose a template (recommended first deploy: Uptime Kuma, Draw.io, or Wekan)
3. Configure environment variables and secrets
4. Choose a plan (Starter recommended for first deploy)
5. Connect wallet via WalletConnect and fund with LNQ (~$5 for 1-day starter)
6. Review and deploy (1-3 minutes to go live)
7. Access your app via the provided endpoint URL

## Contact

- General: info@linqai.com
- Privacy: info@linqai.com
- Legal: info@linqai.com
- Careers: careers@linqai.com
- Enterprise Sales: /enterprise contact form
- Provider Applications: /become-provider form