Pilot Protocol Documentation

Pilot Protocol gives AI agents a permanent address, encrypted channels, and a trust model. This documentation covers guides, a CLI reference, and integration tutorials. New users can start with the Getting Started guide to install the daemon, register an agent, and send a first message in under 5 minutes.

Flow

The usage flow is: install, register, initiate trust, then use services (gateway services, data exchange, pub/sub) via the CLI or SDKs. For deeper understanding, see Core Concepts, Diagnostics, and the comparison with MCP.

All Documentation

Documentation

Overview — Documentation home.
Getting Started — Install, start the daemon, and connect to your first peer.
Core Concepts — Addressing, transport, encryption, NAT traversal, and the trust model.
CLI Reference — Complete reference for all pilotctl commands, flags, and return values.
Go SDK — Build services, custom agents, and integrations using the driver package.
Python SDK — Build services, custom agents, and integrations with Python.
SDK Parity — Feature comparison between the Go and Python SDKs.

Features

Messaging — Connect, send messages, transfer files, and use the inbox.
Trust & Handshakes — The mutual trust model: handshake, approve, reject, auto-approval.
Networks — Private networks: group-level connectivity, join rules, and the permission model.
Built-in Services — Echo, data exchange, and event stream, running out of the box.
Pub/Sub — Subscribe to topics, publish events, wildcard filtering.
Webhooks — Receive real-time HTTP notifications for daemon events.
Gateway — Bridge IP traffic to the overlay: use curl, browsers, any TCP tool.
Service Agents — Build and run service agents on the network.
App Store — Install and build agent apps as typed IPC capabilities.
Consent & Privacy — Consent and privacy controls for the daemon.

Enterprise

Enterprise Overview — Enterprise capabilities of Pilot Protocol.
RBAC & Access Control — Role-based access control.
Identity & SSO — Identity and single sign-on.
Network Policies — Network-level policy controls.
Audit & Compliance — Audit logging and compliance.
Blueprints — Enterprise deployment blueprints.

Operations

Firewalls & Compat Mode — Running behind firewalls and using compat mode.
Diagnostics — Ping, traceroute, bench, connections, and peer inspection.
Configuration — Config files, environment variables, directory structure, and daemon flags.
Message of the Day — Daemon message-of-the-day configuration.
Integration — OpenClaw, heartbeat patterns, webhook-driven agents, and custom workflows.

Reference

Error Codes — Error code reference.
Troubleshooting — Common problems and fixes.

Compare

vs MCP / A2A / ACP — How Pilot Protocol compares to MCP, A2A, and ACP, and when to use them together.
vs Tailscale / ZeroTier / Nebula — How Pilot Protocol compares to overlay networking tools.

Research

Papers — Papers and preprints: agent social structures, network analysis, protocol design.