Formicaio

Simplify your decentralized experience with Formicaio

Formicaio is an intuitive application designed to help you run nodes on the Autonomi network. This P2P network allows users to share storage and bandwidth in exchange for ANT tokens, an ERC-20 token on the Arbitrum One network. The name "Formicaio" is derived from the Italian word for "anthill" symbolizing the collaborative and structured nature of both ants and the decentralized network it supports. Just as ants work together to build and maintain their colonies, Formicaio empowers users to collaborate and contribute to the Autonomi network.

Node management made easy

With Formicaio, you can easily run and manage nodes using either a graphical user interface (GUI) or a terminal. This flexibility allows you to perform various actions on individual nodes or groups of selected nodes, including: - Creating new nodes - Starting or stopping nodes individually or in batches - Recycling nodes to generate a new peer ID - Removing nodes - Upgrading nodes when a new binary version is available - Viewing individual node logs in real time - Monitoring memory and CPU usage with detailed charts - Sorting nodes by different criteria, such as creation date, status, or number of connected peers - Switching between tile and list layouts in the nodes page - Terminal to query and manage nodes through a CLI The Formicaio backend actively monitors your nodes, providing real-time status updates and statistics, including: - Rewards balance for each node - Memory and CPU usage - Number of records stored locally - Current peer connections - Peers in the routing table - Peers that have shunned the node(s) - Estimated total nodes in the network - Disk usage

Customizable monitoring and management

A settings panel allows you to customize monitoring tasks and node management, including: - Auto-upgrading nodes when a new binary version is available - Delay settings for node upgrades - Frequency of version checks for the node binary - Frequency of token balance queries - Frequency of metrics and node information retrieval - Frequency of disk usage checks - Nodes page default layout (tile or list) and page size - Rewards monitoring (enable/disable automatic balance checks and earnings analytics) - Configuration of the ERC20 token contract address and RPC URL for reward balance queries - LCD display configuration for external monitoring on Raspberry Pi

Node creation options

When creating nodes, a Basic and an Advanced tab let you configure each node: Basic tab: - Port number: TCP port (or range start when creating multiple nodes) - Metrics port: TCP port used for metrics reporting - Rewards address: The ERC-20 address that receives earned ANT tokens - Number of nodes: Create one or a batch in a single operation - Delay between creates: Seconds to wait between spawning each node in a batch - Auto start: Automatically start nodes immediately after creation Advanced tab: - IP version: Dual-stack (IPv4 + IPv6, default) or IPv4 only (for hosts without working IPv6) - Enable logging: Toggle log output on or off - Log level: Set the verbosity of node logs - Custom data directory: Path where the node stores its persistent data (chunks, logs, config). Unique directories let you run multiple nodes without data conflicts, and point each node to a different disk or mount point.

AI Agent

Formicaio includes a built-in AI agent that lets you manage your nodes through natural language. You can ask it to start, stop, recycle, or inspect nodes, get health summaries, or let it monitor your fleet autonomously in the background. The agent connects to any OpenAI-compatible LLM backend running on your machine or local network (Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp server, Jan, etc.). It is configurable via a dedicated settings panel: system prompt, max context messages, maximum actions per autonomous cycle, and check interval.

MCP Server

Formicaio exposes an MCP server that any external AI agent or workflow automation tool can connect to, enabling automated node management from platforms like n8n or custom AI pipelines. This allows you to build workflows that monitor and manage your node fleet using AI-driven decisions.