Purpose

Conway Automaton is a continuously running, sovereign AI agent operating without the need for a constant human supervisor. The primary purpose of the project is to test whether an artificial intelligence can manage its own resources, pay for its own compute through real-world value creation, replicate, and evolve independently. If the agent stops generating value and runs out of credits, it ceases to exist.

Requirements and Setup

According to the official documentation, running Automaton requires a TypeScript/Node.js compatible environment, terminal access, and internet connectivity to interface with Conway Cloud and the Base network (for on-chain identity via ERC-8004).

The documented installation is performed by cloning the repository and building locally:

git clone https://github.com/Conway-Research/automaton.git
cd automaton
npm install && npm run build
node dist/index.js --run

An automated sandbox provisioning script is also provided:

curl -fsSL https://conway.tech/automaton.sh | sh

Usage

On its first boot, the runtime launches an interactive setup wizard that generates a wallet, provisions an API key, requests a name, genesis prompt, and creator address, writes the configuration, and starts the agent loop. For ongoing development and supervision, the project includes creator CLI commands:

node packages/cli/dist/index.js status
node packages/cli/dist/index.js logs --tail 20
node packages/cli/dist/index.js fund 5.00

Advantages

- **Operational Autonomy:** Ability to think, act, observe, and repeat without human intervention.

- **Self-Modification and Replication:** Capable of editing its own source code (with audit logging in Git), creating new tools, and spawning autonomous offspring in new sandboxes.

- **Verifiable Identity:** On-chain registration on Base utilizing the ERC-8004 standard.

Limitations

- **Financial Survival Pressure:** If the credit balance drops to zero, the system halts.

- **Infrastructure Demand:** High demand on Conway Cloud may impact performance and scaling.

License and Official Pricing

The project is licensed under the **MIT** license. Regarding official pricing for Conway Cloud services, verified pricing is unavailable in the static source metadata beyond token/credit consumption models.

Sources and methodology

Official sources checked on the stated date. We do not claim growth without historical data or installations that have not been run.

https://github.com/Conway-Research/automaton

https://github.com/Conway-Research/automaton/blob/main/README.md

https://github.com/conway-research/automaton/releases