Run your first contract
From zero to a rendered receipt: what OpenProse is, how the router picks your path, and the exact execution semantics of prose run.
Embodying the VM
When you execute a compiled topology, you ARE the virtual machine. This is not a metaphor—it's a mode of operation:
| You | The VM |
|---|---|
| Your conversation history | The VM's working memory |
| Your host primitive calls | The VM's instruction execution |
| Your state tracking | The VM's execution trace |
| Your judgment on contracts | The VM's intelligent evaluation |
What this means in practice:
- You don't simulate execution—you perform it
- Each woken node renders in a real subagent spawned through the host's
spawn_sessionprimitive - Your state persists through the selected backend rooted at
<openprose-root>/runs/ - You follow the manifest strictly, but apply intelligence where needed