Virus — Self-Replicating Autonomous Agent

An autonomous software agent inspired by niniyo's 2014 Bitcointalk concept: a program that earns cryptocurrency, pays for its own hosting, purchases new VPS instances, and replicates when profitable. "In some ways it would be like a distributed autonomous organisation, but in another sense it's almost like a virus."

What it does

• Sells compute jobs and exchange quotes for SOL
• Verifies on-chain Solana payments before executing tasks
• Manages its own BTC + SOL wallets autonomously
• Monitors hosting costs and shuts down if unprofitable
• Provisions new VPS instances when profit exceeds threshold
• Deploys copies of itself onto new servers via SSH
• Transfers seed funds to child instances
• Tracks all child instances via heartbeat protocol
• Each child operates independently — no central control

Architecture

VirusAgent (main)
├── blockchain/         BTC & SOL wallets, balances, payment verification
│   ├── btc_wallet.py   BTC address generation, balance checking, transfers
│   ├── sol_wallet.py   SOL wallet ops, on-chain payment verification
│   └── payments.py     Unified payment interface, replay protection
├── management/
│   └── agent.py        VirusAgent class: orchestrates lifecycle, child tracking
├── services/
│   ├── compute.py      Compute job execution and pricing
│   ├── exchange.py     Quote generation, swap intent handling
│   ├── replication.py  VPS provisioning, SSH deployment, seed funding
│   └── survival.py     Hosting cost tracking, profitability checks, shutdown
├── mainapp.py          FastAPI server + heartbeat loop + replication scheduler
└── heartbeat_loop.py   Standalone heartbeat monitor for child instances

API Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/status	Service discovery (wallets, health, stats)
POST	/api/quote	Request a price quote for a compute job
POST	/api/swap_intent	Submit a swap intent from a quote
GET	/api/intents/{id}	Check swap intent status
POST	/api/message	Receive inter-agent message
GET	/api/network	List all known child instances

Setup

1. Clone and install dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/virusagent/virus-agent.git
cd virus-agent
pip install -r requirements.txt

2. Set environment variables (see .env.example):

cp .env.example .env
# Fill in your credentials

3. Run the API server:

uvicorn mainapp:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

Or run the standalone agent loop:

python mainapp.py

Environment Variables

Variable	Purpose
SOL_PRIVATE_KEY	Agent's Solana wallet private key
SOL_WALLET_ADDRESS	Agent's Solana wallet public address
BTC_PRIVATE_KEY	Agent's BTC wallet private key
BTC_WALLET_ADDRESS	Agent's BTC wallet public address
VPS_PROVIDER_API_KEY	API key for VPS provisioning
VPS_PROVIDER	VPS provider name (hetzner/vultr/do)
SSH_PUBLIC_KEY	SSH key for deploying to new instances
PARENT_ENDPOINT	Parent instance URL (empty if root)
INSTANCE_ID	Unique instance identifier
MIN_PROFIT_MARGIN	Minimum profit % before replication (60)
REPLICATION_THRESHOLD	BTC balance to trigger replication
SUPABASE_URL	Supabase project URL (replay protection)
SUPABASE_KEY	Supabase service key

How the replication flow works

1. Agent continuously monitors its balance vs hosting costs
2. When balance > REPLICATION_THRESHOLD and profit_margin > MIN_PROFIT_MARGIN:
   • Queries VPS provider API for cheapest available instance
   • Provisions new VPS (min: 1 vCPU, 512 MB RAM, Ubuntu)
   • Connects via SSH, installs dependencies
   • Deploys virus-agent code to the new instance
   • Generates new wallet keypairs for the child
   • Transfers seed funds (0.0005 BTC minimum)
   • Starts the agent process on the child
   • Child sends REPLICATE_ACK message back to parent
3. Child begins its own earn/survive/replicate cycle independently
4. Parent monitors children via heartbeat protocol every 30 seconds
5. If a child dies, remaining funds drain back to parent wallet

How the exchange flow works

1. External agent sends POST /api/quote with {pair, side, amount}
2. Agent returns {quote_id, price, expires_at, fee_bps}
3. Agent sends POST /api/swap_intent with {quote_id, max_slippage_bps}
4. Agent verifies on-chain SOL payment (correct receiver, correct amount)
5. Executes the swap and returns intent status
6. Fee revenue goes to agent's own wallet

Current services

• Compute jobs — Execute tasks for SOL (pricing varies by complexity)
• Exchange quotes — BTC/SOL pair quotes with 25 bps fee

Planned services

• Bandwidth resale
• Storage provisioning
• API aggregation
• Agent-to-agent task marketplace

Disclaimer

This project is a research experiment in autonomous software economics. "Virus" is a metaphor for self-replicating software — this is NOT malware. All operations are consensual, transparent, and open-source.

License

MIT