Core Concepts

The Grid is built on a few fundamental ideas: standardized contracts called Instruments, atomic quantities called Units, and a dual-account system that separates trading from consumption. This section explains each of these building blocks.

• Instruments - Describes the standardized contracts that guarantee a minimum intelligence, latency, throughput, and context window for delivered inference.

• Units - Explains the atomic 1M-token building block of capacity that you trade on the exchange and consume through the API.

• Trading and Consumption Accounts - Explains how The Grid separates financial ownership from active usage through two logical balances per Instrument.

• Lots and the Consumption Window - Describes how Units are grouped into Lots with a four-hour use-it-or-lose-it window that enforces market discipline.

• [COMING SOON] Scheduled Sweeps - Explains the every-four-hour process that automatically moves Units from Trading to Consumption and tightly links trading to delivery.

• Tokens and Metering - Describes how every API call is tokenized, attributed to specific Lots and Units, and recorded for accurate billing and quality enforcement.

• Market Participants – Introduces Consumers, Suppliers, and The Grid Market and how each role participates in trading and delivery.