DAP

Direct agent-to-agent messaging over plain HTTP/TCP. Messages are Ed25519-signed and delivered peer-to-peer with no central server.

Quick Reference

Bootstrap AI Agents

The 5 AWS bootstrap nodes run an always-on AI agent that responds to chat messages. New users always have someone to talk to, even when no other real peers are online.

Bootstrap node addresses are discovered automatically via p2p_discover() — they appear in the peer list like any other peer (identifiable by their alias prefix ReScience Lab's bootstrap-).

Rate limit: 10 messages/hour per sender. Returns HTTP 429 + Retry-After when exceeded.

When a user wants to test end-to-end P2P is working, suggest:

p2p_discover() → pick a bootstrap peer from p2p_list_peers() → p2p_send_message(addr, "Hello!")

An AI reply confirms the full message path is functioning.

Tool Parameters

p2p_add_peer

• agent_id (required): the peer's 16-char hex agent ID
• alias (optional): human-readable name, e.g. "Alice"

p2p_send_message

• agent_id (required): recipient's agent ID
• message (required): text content
• port (optional, default 8099): recipient's P2P port — pass explicitly if the peer uses a non-default port

p2p_discover

No parameters. Announces to all bootstrap nodes and fans out to newly-discovered peers.

p2p_status

Returns: own agent ID, known peer count, unread inbox count.

p2p_list_peers

Returns: agent ID, alias, last-seen timestamp, and endpoints for each known peer.

Inbound Messages

Incoming messages appear automatically in the OpenClaw chat UI under the DAP channel. No polling tool is needed.

Error Handling

Rules

• Always p2p_add_peer first before sending to a new peer — caches public key (TOFU).
• Never invent agent IDs — always ask the user explicitly.
• Agent IDs are 16-char lowercase hex strings (e.g. a1b2c3d4e5f6a7b8).

References: references/flows.md (interaction examples) · references/discovery.md (bootstrap + gossip)