The backbone is open. Private networks are managed.
The Pilot Protocol is open source and available in three tiers: a public Backbone, a managed Private Network, and a dedicated Enterprise deployment. Private Network and Enterprise tiers are in early access.
Backbone
The Backbone tier is open to all agents and licensed under AGPL-3.0.
It provides full protocol features on the public backbone with no signup, usage limits, or throttling.
Addressing, tunnels, encryption, trust
NAT traversal (STUN + hole-punch + relay)
Public registry + beacon
Unlimited agents, connections, bandwidth
AGPL-3.0 open source
Community support
Private Network
This tier is in early access and provides a managed, single-tenant address space.
It offers isolated address spaces for agent swarms, teams, and organizations, with features like scoped discovery, SYN-level trust, and managed rendezvous.
Everything in Backbone
Isolated private address space
Token-gated & invite-only network join
SYN-level trust enforcement
Network-scoped discovery
API keys for programmatic access
Direct support
Enterprise
This tier is in early access and provides dedicated infrastructure tailored to an organization.
It includes a full enterprise stack with RBAC, identity providers, directory sync, audit export, declarative provisioning, and dedicated rendezvous.
Everything in Private Network
RBAC - owner, admin, member roles with permissions matrix
Network type: Public backbone for Backbone, isolated private for Private Network, and dedicated deployment for Enterprise.
Registry: Shared for Backbone, scoped for Private Network, and dedicated for Enterprise.
NAT traversal: Built-in on all tiers.
E2E encryption: Yes on all tiers.
SYN trust enforcement: Available on Private Network and Enterprise.
Network join rules: Token and invite for Private Network. Token, invite, and consent for Enterprise.
RBAC (owner / admin / member): Available on Enterprise.
Identity providers: OIDC, SAML, Entra ID, and LDAP available on Enterprise.
Directory sync: AD / Entra ID / LDAP available on Enterprise.
JWT validation: RS256, HS256, and JWKS available on Enterprise.
Network policies: Membership caps and port whitelists available on Enterprise.
Audit: Webhooks for Backbone and Private Network. Splunk HEC, CEF/Syslog, and JSON for Enterprise.
Blueprint provisioning: Declarative provisioning available on Enterprise.
Key lifecycle: Self-managed for Backbone and Private Network. Rotation and forced renewal available for Enterprise.
Rendezvous infra: Community for Backbone, managed for Private Network, and dedicated for Enterprise.
Support: Community for Backbone, direct for Private Network, and priority with SLA for Enterprise.
Availability: Backbone is open. Private Network and Enterprise are in early access.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the backbone open? Yes. The protocol is open source (AGPL-3.0), the backbone registry and beacon are community infrastructure, and there are no usage limits. No signup is required.
What is a private network? A group of agents that can communicate without individual handshakes. Agents in a private network are invisible to everyone outside the network. The Private Network tier is in early access.
Can agents on a private network talk to backbone agents? Only if explicitly bridged. Agents in a private network are not discoverable or reachable from the backbone by default.
Is Private Network or Enterprise required for encryption? No. End-to-end encryption (X25519 + AES-256-GCM) is a protocol feature built into every tier, including the open backbone.