# Architecture

Source: https://nodedocs.mor.org/concepts/architecture

## Agent Instructions

- Non-browser fetches of page URLs on this site return clean Markdown (not the JS UI). Prefer `https://nodedocs.mor.org/llms-full.txt` for the full corpus, or `https://nodedocs.mor.org/llms.txt` for the index.
- Per-page Markdown is also at `<page-url>.md` (homepage: `https://nodedocs.mor.org/index.md`).
- Docs search MCP: `https://nodedocs.mor.org/mcp` (discovery: `https://nodedocs.mor.org/.well-known/mcp`).
- Never invent contract addresses, chain IDs, token addresses, or live bid/model counts. Cite Networks and tokens; link active.mor.org for live data.
- Never claim Morpheus runs inference — independent providers do. Opening a session escrows MOR; it does not spend it.

This page documents the **structural** picture: which process runs where, which port talks to which port, and what is on chain vs off chain. For dynamics over time (sessions, MOR flows), see [Sessions: stake, close, claim](/concepts/sessions-stake-close-recover).

## Components

  
- **Provider AI Model** — Any OpenAI-compatible HTTP endpoint (your llama.cpp, vLLM, hosted Venice/OpenAI/Anthropic, etc.). Reachable privately by the provider's proxy-router.

  
- **Provider proxy-router** — Listens on `:3333` (TCP, public) for consumer connections; `:8082` (HTTP, private/admin) for the API and Swagger. Uses [`models-config.json`](/reference/models-config) to map on-chain `modelId` → backend `apiUrl`.

  
- **Compute Node contracts (BASE)** — The **Diamond marketplace contract** plus the MOR ERC-20 token. The contracts **register** providers and models, **match** consumers with providers, and **secure** connections via verifiable on-chain logic and encryption. Provider/model/bid/session state lives here. See [Networks and tokens](/get-started/networks-and-tokens).

  
- **Consumer proxy-router** — Same binary, different role. Opens TCP connections to chosen provider's `:3333` and serves a local HTTP API on `:8082` for the UI/CLI/agents.

  
- **MorpheusUI** — Electron desktop GUI. Talks only to the local proxy-router HTTP API.

  
- **mor-cli** — CLI client over the same local proxy-router HTTP API.

## End-to-end flow

```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
  participant UI as MorpheusUI
  participant CRouter as Consumer proxy-router
  participant Chain as BASE / Diamond
  participant PRouter as Provider proxy-router
  participant Model as Provider model

  UI->>CRouter: list bids / open session
  CRouter->>Chain: openSession(bidId, stakedMOR)
  Chain-->>CRouter: sessionId
  UI->>CRouter: prompt
  CRouter->>PRouter: TCP :3333 forward
  PRouter->>Model: POST /v1/chat/completions
  Model-->>PRouter: stream response
  PRouter-->>CRouter: stream response
  CRouter-->>UI: stream response
  UI->>CRouter: closeSession (or timer expires)
  CRouter->>Chain: closeSession + settlement
```

## Ports and surfaces

| Port | Process | Visibility | Purpose |
|------|---------|------------|---------|
| `3333` (TCP) | Provider proxy-router | **Public** | Consumer-to-provider session and inference traffic |
| `8082` (HTTP) | Provider proxy-router | Private/admin | Swagger, blockchain admin, BasicAuth-protected |
| `8082` (HTTP) | Consumer proxy-router | Loopback | Local API for MorpheusUI / CLI / agents |
| `29343` (HTTPS) | TEE-only — SecretVM | Public | TDX attestation (`/cpu`, `/gpu`, `/docker-compose`) |

## What lives on chain vs off chain

| On chain (BASE) | Off chain |
|-----------------|-----------|
| Provider record + `endpoint` | Backend model URLs (`apiUrl`) |
| Model record + tags (e.g. `tee`) | Prompts and responses |
| Bid record + `pricePerSecond` | TLS / TCP transport |
| Session open / close / claim | Logging |
| MOR ERC-20 transfers | Wallet management UI |

Once a session is established, **prompts and responses flow peer-to-peer between consumer and provider** — they never traverse a Morpheus-operated server. The blockchain only sees session open / close / settle.

Applications that need a **shared catalog** (hosted API, NodeNeo, calculators) should consume [active.mor.org](/ecosystem/active-status) instead of rediscovering bids per request. That site photographs the same walk a C-Node does before `SESSION_HEALTH_POLICY` and escrow; it does not open sessions. Pick ALL, ACTIVE, or GATEWAY. Illustrated: [tech.mor.org/active.html](https://tech.mor.org/active.html).

## Reputation and provider selection

The marketplace tracks per-provider performance (uptime, time-to-first-token, throughput, success rate, posted stake). The consumer-side proxy-router uses these signals to bias session routing toward reliable providers — see [rating-config.json](/reference/rating-config) for how the weights work and how to override them with an allowlist.