Overview
The Problem: Reliable AI Agents Are Difficult to Build
Traditional computing platforms weren't designed for the unique reliability needs of AI agents. To create stateful agents that reliably survive crashes and infrastructure failures, developers typically have to build and maintain complex, fragile infrastructure:
State management
External databases and serialization code
Fault tolerance
Custom recovery, retry mechanisms, and checkpointing
Agent coordination
Message queues, orchestration frameworks, and distributed event logs
This complexity diverts developers away from building agent logic and toward maintaining reliability infrastructure.
The Golem Approach: Reliability Built In
Golem solves this problem by embedding reliability directly into the execution environment:
Automatic Operation Logging
Every state change, API interaction, and agent operation is transparently logged
Deterministic Replay
When infrastructure fails, logged operations replay deterministically on a new node to precisely restore agent state
Resilient External Interactions
Golem automatically detects failures in external calls and transparently retries interactions
Exactly-Once Agent Communication
Guaranteed exactly-once messaging between agents, eliminating duplicated or lost messages
The Golem Execution Lifecycle
Golem provides automatic reliability at every stage of your agent's lifecycle
1. Deploy an Agent Type
Deploy your agent logic as a reusable unit on Golem's WebAssembly-based runtime
2. Create Agent Instances
Run multiple isolated agent instances, each maintaining independent, durable state
3. Automatic Operation Logging
Every action—state changes, I/O, external API calls — is automatically logged
Logged operations are persisted externally, independent from nodes
4. Seamless Failure Recovery
If a node fails, Golem immediately assigns the agent to a healthy node
The operation log is deterministically replayed, restoring the exact agent state
5. Transparent Resumption
Your agent continues execution precisely from the moment of failure—no lost state, no duplicate work, no additional reliability code
Architecture
Golem combines orchestration, execution, and reliability into a single, cohesive runtime built explicitly for resilient AI agents. Its architecture ensures deterministic execution, automatic state persistence, and seamless recovery from failures
Core Components
Golem relies on four integrated components:
Shard Manager (Supervisor)
- Monitors node health via heartbeats
- Detects failures and assigns agents to new nodes
- Coordinates agent recovery through deterministic replay
Agent Executor
- Executes agent logic securely within isolated WebAssembly sandboxes
- Intercepts and logs all I/O to ensure deterministic execution
- Automatically suspends idle agents, preserving state without resource use
WebAssembly Runtime
- Provides secure, deterministic agent execution
- Enables sandboxed, cross-language (Rust, Python, JavaScript) agent code
- Guarantees consistent state reproduction during replay
Agent Persistent Operation Log
- Records all agent operations (state changes, external interactions, inter-agent messages)
- Ensures durable, replicated storage for reliable recovery
- Enables deterministic replay to reconstruct precise agent states
Execution Lifecycle
Golem follows a three-phase execution lifecycle to ensure reliability
Normal Execution
Agent performs tasks
Executor intercepts and logs all operations
Failure Detection
Supervisor detects node failures rapidly through heartbeat monitoring
Supervisor reassigns agents from failed nodes to healthy ones
Recovery via Deterministic Replay
Executor retrieves operation logs and replays them to rebuild exact agent states
Agent resumes execution seamlessly at the precise interruption point
Capabilities
Durable Execution & Fault Tolerance
Golem guarantees reliable execution of agents, even in unstable environments
Automatic State Persistence
Internal state automatically persisted—no databases, checkpointing, or manual serialization.
Transparent Failure Recovery
Seamlessly recover from node crashes and infrastructure failures without lost progress or manual intervention.
Reliable External Interactions
API calls (HTTP, gRPC) automatically retry until successful.
Exactly-Once Agent Communication
Built-in guarantees ensure agents never miss or duplicate tasks.
Debugging & Observability
Advanced debugging and observability tools provide complete visibility into agent execution:
Complete Execution Tracing
Inspect every I/O operation, state change, and event timeline.
Real-Time Monitoring
View active agents, their status, resource consumption, and interactions.
Detailed Error Visibility
Quickly identify the exact point of failure and replay execution deterministically.
Integrated Logging & Metrics
Seamless integration with existing observability and monitoring stacks.
Scalability & Resource Efficiency
Golem efficiently supports massive agent workloads through intelligent resource management:
Suspend & Resume Execution
Idle agents automatically suspend, freeing resources completely.
Dynamic Resource Scaling
Adjust infrastructure dynamically in response to demand.
Locality-Aware Agent Placement
Optimizes agent distribution for reduced latency and cost.
Resource Efficiency
High-density execution lets thousands of agents run efficiently per node.
Security & Sandboxing
Golem executes agents in secure, isolated environments, minimizing risk and increasing reliability:
WASM-Based Sandboxing
Each agent runs securely in an isolated WebAssembly environment.
Capability-Based Security
Agents access only explicitly permitted resources.
Fine-Grained Permission Model
Precisely control agent interactions and communication paths.
Controlled External Access
Monitor and manage agent interactions with external APIs securely.
Agent Collaboration & Communication
Build multi-agent workflows with seamless, reliable communication between agents:
Exactly-Once Communication
Guaranteed message delivery prevents duplicates or lost tasks.
Agent Teams
Enable specialized agents to reliably coordinate complex workflows.
Reliable Task Delegation
Delegate tasks between agents or specialized tooling reliably.
Long-Running Collaborations
Agents collaborate continuously over extended periods without loss of context.
AI Tooling & API Hosting
Golem provides the foundation to run not only agents but their entire supporting ecosystem reliably:
Unified Execution Environment
Agents, APIs, data connectors, and processing tasks share reliability guarantees.
Durable API Services
Run APIs with built-in fault-tolerance and exactly-once semantics.
Specialized Computing Tasks
Host vector search, ML inference, and custom computations reliably.
Consistent Operational Model
Every service on Golem inherits zero-ops management and automatic recovery.
Extensibility & Integration
Golem integrates seamlessly into your existing development and operational workflows:
Multi-Language Support
Build agents using Python, Rust, JavaScript, or any language supporting WebAssembly.
Flexible Deployment
Deploy on cloud providers or your own infrastructure with consistent reliability.
Existing Tools Integration
Connect Golem seamlessly with your observability, auth, and CI/CD systems.
Scalable Plugin Model
Extend platform capabilities using modular, WASM-based extensions.
