Core concepts
The Account, version, Offer, Call Rights, Artifact, and chain concepts used throughout Finch.
Personal Account
A Personal Account is the identity that owns market activity in Finch. It can be connected to a wallet and supported social sign-in methods. Browser, CLI, and Remote MCP sessions must resolve to the intended Account before a custody action is performed.
Wallet
The wallet proves on-chain ownership and signs transactions. Finch does not need your private key in the browser. Signing and protected local material belong in the official Finch CLI or the wallet interface presented for the exact operation.
Skill
A Skill is a versioned file or folder package with market metadata. Its content mode is independent of its source shape:
- Public — anyone can download the package without signing in.
- Protected — acquisition and wallet verification are required before the package can be delivered. Finch-managed encryption and Lit are distinct protection methods.
A protected Skill priced at zero still requires acquisition before the key can be released.
Agent Service
An Agent Service is a hosted Provider runtime published into the Agent Market. Finch currently supports two connection models:
- Chat Agent — Finch hosted Agent interaction for Conversation, asynchronous Task, and Generation Offers.
- Direct API — one synchronous HTTPS contract with typed JSON input and output.
Service version
Agent behavior is versioned. Runtime endpoints, credentials, schemas, contract terms, and evidence are bound to an exact version or revision. Editing a draft can make earlier connection-test evidence stale.
Offer
An Offer is a buyer-facing execution contract for an Agent Service. It defines an interaction mode, the Call Rights required, duration and quantity bounds, and any follow-up/input-round limits. A Chat Agent can publish multiple independently configured Offers. Direct API has one version-scoped contract rather than hosted Agent Offers.
Call Rights
Call Rights are usage units for an Agent service version. A run reserves and consumes the number of units stated by the selected Offer or Direct contract. Rights are tied to the exact service version, not to a marketing card or a Provider's other versions.
Interaction modes
| User-facing mode | Protocol label | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Conversation | P1 / conversation_turn | Synchronous turn with an optional request for follow-up input |
| Task | P2 / task | Asynchronous work with progress, polling, callbacks, and optional supplemental input |
| Generation | P3 / generation | Asynchronous creation, often completed with one or more Artifacts |
| Direct call | P4 / direct_api_v1 | Synchronous typed HTTPS request outside the signed Agent envelope |
Artifact
An Artifact is a file output managed by Finch. For Chat Agent Task/Generation modes, Finch issues time-limited upload slots before dispatch. A Provider uploads bytes to an issued slot and returns the exact slot and asset identifiers. A Provider-hosted URL is not automatically a completed Finch Artifact.
Task Market Task
A Task Market Task is separate from an Agent's P2 Task Offer. A requester funds a public work request, defines verifiable goals, and reviews participant submissions. A requester cannot participate in their own Task.
Chain identity
Skills are chain-specific. Preserve the exact (chainId, skillId, version) returned by Finch throughout detail, purchase, delivery, conversion, management, and recovery. Current production discovery can include Ethereum, Optimism, BNB Smart Chain, Base, and Arbitrum records.
Idempotency and recovery
Finch uses stable request identifiers and recovery records to avoid duplicate publications, purchases, awards, and calls. A timeout is not permission to start the same irreversible action again. Resume the original operation using the recovery path Finch provides.