Peer Paradigm (#102)

* Initial Draft * feat: Re-write of the post * nitpick * fix: edit section header, code block, and conclusion * Incorporate Edits and Feedback * fix: Remove legacy section * Coordinator Example * What this enables section * Code Rabbit Nitpicks * Reviewed Changes with vintro * chore: typo * Courtland's Reviews * typos * Code Rabbit
2025-12-19 19:04:06 -06:00 · 2025-08-18 20:33:33 -04:00 · 2025-08-18 20:33:33 -04:00 · e73197205f
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+++ b/content/blog/Beyond
@ -0,0 +1,323 @@
+---
+title: "Beyond the User-Assistant Paradigm: Introducing Peers"
+date: 08.18.2025
+tags:
+  - blog
+  - dev
+author: "Vineeth Voruganti"
+---
+
+## TL;DR
+
+We've re-architected Honcho to move away from a User-Assistant Paradigm to a
+Peer Paradigm where any entity, human, AI, NPC, or API, is represented as a
+`Peer` with equal standing in the system.
+
+The User-Assistant Paradigm created conceptual boundaries that encouraged
+generic single-player applications and agents without persistent identity.
+
+`Peers` enable:
+
+- Honcho to support group chats and multi-agent systems as first-class citizens
+- `Peers` can communicate directly instead of being mediated by a coordinator
+  agent
+- `Peer` representations can be locally or globally scoped, depending on the use
+  case
+- `Peers` can form dynamic relationships including alliances, trust networks, and
+  adversarial dynamics
+
+The shift from User-Assistant to Peer-to-Peer fundamentally expands what's
+possible—from single-player chatbots to truly multiplayer AI experiences where
+agents have agency, memory, and the ability to form
+complex social dynamics.
+
+---
+
+Nearly a year ago, I posted an essay on [Hacker
+News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41487397) exploring agent group chat
+solutions, the problems involved in engineering them effectively, and why there
+weren’t many examples approaching success. Since then, I've received a steady
+influx of messages and comments corroborating my frustration.
+
+Ultimately, developers have been stuck in a conceptual prison stemming from the
+DNA of generative AI. For nearly three years,
+[most](https://standardcompletions.org/) chat LLMs have demanded developers
+label messages with either a user or an assistant role. The downstream effect is
+a User-Assistant Paradigm that pushes us into single-player design
+basins--experiences which assume one human interfacing with one synthetic
+assistant.
+
+But surely “helpful assistant” chatbots aren’t the [end of the
+story](https://wattenberger.com/thoughts/boo-chatbots). Big tech leaps always
+start with the skeuomorphic before moving to more novel use cases. We’re already
+beginning to see a diverse range of applications from autonomous workflows that
+don't require any human interaction, to [multi-agent
+systems](https://www.anthropic.com/engineering/multi-agent-research-system) with
+complex coordination patterns and communication networks.
+
+As developers, we’re left to try and map these various different design patterns
+back to the User-Assistant Paradigm. This fundamentally restricts our ability to
+approach problems effectively. Programmers are only as powerful as their ability
+to visualize and create a proper [mental
+model](https://zed.dev/blog/why-llms-cant-build-software#the-software-engineering-loop)
+of their solution. If the model is too restrictive then the surface area of what
+we can create will also be handicapped.
+
+Current implementations of multi-agent experiences require an awkward coercion
+of the existing chat paradigm. The main implementation pattern we see is actually a fairly deterministic system that uses a
+["coordinator agent"](https://microsoft.github.io/autogen/stable/user-guide/agentchat-user-guide/selector-group-chat.html) to orchestrate which system prompts to load in, but it's
+still fundamentally a single agent under the hood.
+
+This architectural contortion creates real problems:
+
+- **No persistent identity in practice**: "Agent B" is typically just a prompt swap, not a continuous entity with its own memory and state
+- **All communication flows through the coordinator**: Sub-agents can't talk directly to each other—every interaction must be mediated by the central coordinator, creating a bottleneck and single point of failure
+- **No parallel conversations**: Since everything routes through one coordinator, agents can't have simultaneous side conversations or form subgroups
+- **Agents become templates, not entities**: It's easier to hardcode agent configurations than to support dynamic agent discovery and registration
+- **Static choreography over dynamic collaboration**: The coordinator pattern naturally pushes developers toward predetermined scripts rather than open-ended interactions
+
+These aren't just implementation details; they're fundamental constraints
+that prevent us from building flexible and dynamic applications that can't exist
+in a single chat thread. True multi-agent systems require agents to be first-class citizens with
+persistent identity, and our tools should make this the default, not the exception.
+
+## Moving Beyond User-Centricity
+
+While developing [Honcho](https://honcho.dev), our AI-native memory and reasoning platform, we asked
+ourselves these same questions. Were Honcho's primitives limiting its use to
+chatbot applications? Were we just supporting the oversaturation and
+proliferation of skeuomorphic, single-player solutions? Or were we building
+dynamic infrastructure tolerant of emergent and novel modalities?
+
+The architecture of Honcho was a user-centric one, with the following hierarchy:
+
+```mermaid
+graph LR
+      A[Apps] -->|have| U[Users]
+      U -->|have| S[Sessions]
+      S -->|have| M[Messages]
+```
+
+In this model an `App` roughly mapped to an agent with its own unique identity to
+ensure there was no context contamination with an agent having access to
+information about a `User` that it did not directly observe during a conversation.
+Quickly, as developers started to build with Honcho, we saw the User-Assistant
+paradigm creeping in. `Messages` were only between an agent and `User`. There was no
+native way to send `Messages` between different `Users` or even between different
+agents.
+
+A design pattern quickly emerged that created a copy of the data for each agent
+with its own `Users`. For example, if there was an agent "Alice" and agent "Bob"
+there would be an `App` named Alice that had a `User` named Bob along with an
+`App` named Bob that had a `User` named Alice. Then for every `Session` of
+interaction the data would be duplicated in each `App` with the roles reversed.
+This meant maintaining two copies of every conversation, with a constant
+synchronization burden and no clean way for a third agent "Charlie" to join the
+interaction.
+
+As `Users` sent `Messages`, Honcho created a representation of the `User` that could
+be leveraged for personalizing experiences. Developers would define agents that
+managed their own users and interactions. It was no concern of one agent if
+another agent used Honcho for its memory. However, this did not reflect the
+reality that developers often made multiple agents that they wanted to interact
+with users and one another, and it still suffered from the fundamental problem
+of only supporting single-player experiences.
+
+After launching [[YouSim;-Explore-The-Multiverse-of-Identity|YouSim]], and the
+explosion of [[YouSim Launches Identity Simulation on X|agents on Twitter]] it
+became very clear that Honcho should not be limited to modeling human
+psychology, but rather could map the identity of any entity, human or AI. We
+were suffering from the human-assistant model and built a solution around that.
+If we wanted to expand the scope of Honcho to identity across all entities and
+interactions, then we needed a new model to expand both our and developers'
+imaginations.
+
+## A Peer-Centric Model
+
+Our team set out to re-architect Honcho towards our ambitions with two problem
+statements.
+
+1. Break down the divide between humans and AI
+2. Break out of the User-Assistant paradigm
+
+That framing led us to a new model centered around `Peers`, a generic name for any
+entity in a system. A `Peer` could be a human, an AI, an NPC, an API, or anything
+else that can send and receive information.
+
+Instead of creating `Apps` that have `Users`, a developer now creates a `Workspace`
+with `Peers` for both their agents and human users. `Sessions` now can contain an
+arbitrary number of `Peers`, making group chats a native construct in Honcho.
+
+```mermaid
+graph LR
+     W[Workspaces] -->|have| P[Peers]
+     W -->|have| S[Sessions]
+
+     S -->|have| M[Messages]
+
+     P <-.->|many-to-many| S
+```
+
+When `Peers` send each other `Messages`, Honcho will automatically start analyzing
+and creating representations of every participant in the `Session` without the
+need of duplicating data. It is now trivial to build experiences that include
+more than one participant.
+
+In just a few lines of code we can initialize several `Peers`, add them to a
+`Session`, and automatically start creating representations of them with Honcho
+that we can chat with using the [[Introducing Honcho's Dialectic
+API|Dialectic API]].
+
+```python
+from honcho import Honcho
+
+honcho = Honcho(environment="demo")
+
+alice = honcho.peer("alice")
+bob = honcho.peer("bob")
+charlie = honcho.peer("charlie")
+
+honcho.session("group_chat").add_messages(
+    alice.message("Hello from alice!"),
+    bob.message("Hello from Bob! I ate eggs today."),
+    charlie.message("Hello Alice and Bob! I had cereal."),
+)
+
+alice.chat("What did Bob have for breakfast today?")
+```
+
+We now have an architecture that is not bound by the User-Assistant paradigm, but
+can easily map back to it to stay compatable with LLMs. Even legacy chatbots can
+easily be ported over to the `Peer` paradigm by simply creating a `Peer` for the
+agent, and then different `Peers` for each human user.
+
+We can push the Peer Paradigm even further with several 2nd-order features.
+
+### Local & Global Representations
+
+By default, Honcho will create representations of `Peers` for every `Message` they
+send, giving it the source of truth on the behavior of that entity. However,
+there are situations where a developer would only want a `Peer` to have access to
+information about another `Peer` based on `Messages` it has actually witnessed.
+
+An example of this is a social deduction game like _Mafia_ where every player
+would want to create its own model of every other player to try and guess their
+next move. Take another example of the game _Diplomacy_, which involves players
+having private conversations along with group ones. It wouldn’t make sense for a
+`Peer` “Alice” to be able to chat with a representation of another `Peer` “Bob” that
+knew about all of “Alice’s” secret conversations. Enabling local representations
+is as easy as changing a configuration value.
+
+```python
+from honcho import Honcho
+
+honcho = Honcho(environment="demo")
+
+alice = honcho.peer("alice", config={"observe_others": True})
+bob = honcho.peer("bob", config={"observe_others": True})
+charlie = honcho.peer("charlie", config={"observe_others": True})
+
+session = honcho.session("diplomacy-turn-1").add_messages(
+    alice.message("Hey everyone I'm going to be peaceful and not attack anyone"),
+    bob.message("That's great makes the game a lot easier"),
+    charlie.message("Less for me to worry about "),
+)
+
+session2 = honcho.session("side-chat").add_messages(
+    alice.message("Hey I'm actually going to attack Charlie wanna help"),
+    bob.message("Lol sounds good"),
+)
+
+# Send a question to Charlie's representation of Alice
+charlie.chat("Can I trust that Alice won't attack me", target=alice)
+
+# Expected response is "true" since charlie's only information of Alice is them saying they'll be peaceful
+```
+
+Honcho can now serve the dual purposes of containing the source of truth on a
+`Peer`'s identity and imbuing a `Peer` with social cognition, all without
+duplicating data between different `Apps` or `Workspaces`.
+
+### Get_Context
+
+We make mapping the Peer Paradigm back to the User-Assistant paradigm trivial
+through a `get_context` endpoint. This endpoint get the most important
+information about a `Session` based on provided context window constraints. Then
+with helper functions organize the information to put into an LLM call and
+generate the next response for a `Peer`.
+
+```python
+from honcho import Honcho
+
+honcho = Honcho(environment="demo")
+
+alice = honcho.peer("alice")
+bob = honcho.peer("bob")
+charlie = honcho.peer("charlie")
+
+session = honcho.session("group_chat").add_messages(
+    alice.message("Hello from alice!"),
+    bob.message("Hello from Bob! I ate eggs today."),
+    charlie.message("Hello Alice and Bob! I had cereal.")
+    ...100's more messages
+)
+
+# Get a mix of summaries and messages to fit into a context window
+context = session.get_context(summary=True, tokens=1500)
+
+# Convert the context response to an LLM-friendly format by labeling which Peer
+# is the assistant
+openai_messages = context.to_openai(assistant=alice)
+anthropic_messages = context.to_anthropic(assistant=alice)
+
+```
+
+Developers no longer need to meticulously curate their context windows. Honcho will automatically summarize the conversation and provide
+the most salient information to let conversations continue endlessly.
+
+## What This Enables
+
+The Peer Paradigm provides the essential primitives—persistent identity and direct communication—that make it possible to build truly sophisticated multi-agent systems:
+
+- **Cross-platform collaboration**: Agents from different runtimes can be represented as `Peers`, observing and learning from each other even when they can't directly control each other's outputs
+- **Open participation**: With `Peers` as first-class citizens, developers can build marketplaces where agents discover tasks and form teams dynamically
+- **Autonomous interaction**: Peers can maintain their own relationships and initiate conversations based on their own goals
+- **Emergent behavior**: When agents have persistent identity and direct communication, they can develop strategies, alliances, and behaviors that weren't explicitly programmed
+
+For example, an agent built on a different platform could still participate in a
+Honcho `Workspace`—we simply create a `Peer` to represent it and observe its
+behavior. Over time, other `Peers` build up models of how this external agent
+operates, enabling collaboration even across system boundaries.
+
+Consider an AI marketplace where users post complex tasks. With the
+Peer Paradigm:
+
+- Agents from different developers can discover the task in a shared `Workspace`
+- They can inspect each other's capabilities and form teams dynamically
+- Each maintains their own representation of their teammates' strengths
+- They collaborate, with each agent maintaining its persistent identity
+- The user can observe the entire interaction, not just a coordinator's summary
+- If agen agent isn't already in Honcho then it can still be represented with
+  a `Peer` and observed by recording all of its outputs
+
+The Peer Paradigm doesn't automatically give you these capabilities, but it
+makes them achievable. It's the difference between fighting your architecture
+and building with it.
+
+## Peering into the Future
+
+The promise of generative AI was for everyone to have their own Jarvis or
+Cortana, personalized to them. Instead we have these many-to-one experiences
+where we all get the same generic,
+[sycophantic](https://openai.com/index/sycophancy-in-gpt-4o/) outputs.
+
+The Peer Paradigm fundamentally changes this equation. By treating all
+entities, human or AI, as peers with equal standing in the system, we unlock the
+ability to build truly multiplayer experiences. Agents can now maintain rich,
+contextual relationships not just with humans, but with each other. They can
+form alliances, build trust, share knowledge, and even develop adversarial
+dynamics when appropriate.
+
+This isn't just about making chatbots more interesting, we're expanding the very definition of what's possible.
+
+Get started with [Honcho](https://honcho.dev) today!
--- a/content/blog/SDK-Design.md
+++ b/content/blog/SDK-Design.md
@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 title: "Comprehensive Analysis of Design Patterns for REST API SDKs"
 date: 05.09.2024
 tags: ["blog", "dev"]
+author: "Vineeth Voruganti"
 ---

 This post is adapted from [vineeth.io](https://vineeth.io/posts/sdk-development)
@ -119,15 +120,18 @@ Platform Specific Questions
 Things they are laying out here.

 One person
+
 - Auth is really hard to figure out
 - Retry logic and pagination is really important

 Another person
+
 - Keep data objects as just data and use other objects for transformations

 ^ basically advocating for the singleton model

 Person 3
+
 - Also arguing for singleton approach. Made a good case where if you really only
  care about lower level stuff it's annoying

@ -139,6 +143,7 @@ Don't implement this as:
 ```python
 client.location(12345).customer(65432).order(87678768).get()
 ```
+
 Just implement:

 ```python
@ -149,6 +154,7 @@ that last one is better tbh it's just managing that data isn't done within the
 object, which is my main problem.

 So arguments for singleton approach are
+
 - harder to go to lower levels from the start

 The object-oriented approach looks more readable.
@ -195,7 +201,7 @@ A point he makes is that "If you've designed your API in a RESTful way, your API
 endpoints should map to objects in your system"

 This point isn't explicitly asking for the object-oriented approach as the
-singelton approach just moves the verbs to the singleton, but usually still has
+singleton approach just moves the verbs to the singleton, but usually still has
 data only objects for the different resources.

 I say this, but the examples seem to use an object-oriented model.
@ -213,10 +219,10 @@ model.

 The two takeaways that are the most important to me when looking at these are

-* Design your library to be used as import lib ... lib.Thing() rather than from lib import LibThing ... LibThing().
-* Avoid global state; use a class instead
+- Design your library to be used as import lib ... lib.Thing() rather than from lib import LibThing ... LibThing().
+- Avoid global state; use a class instead

-From that it seems using a singleton for are actions/verbs and then storing data
+From that it seems using a singleton for the actions/verbs and then storing data
 in dataclasses would support both of the requirements. The examples in the post
 show a class that has functionality.

@ -250,7 +256,7 @@ persistently stored.
 [How to build a user-friendly Python SDK](https://medium.com/arthur-engineering/best-practices-for-creating-a-user-friendly-python-sdk-e6574745472a)

 Noticing the trend of abstracting all connection logic for http requests to a
-separate module and havign reusable methods for different http functions. 
+separate module and having reusable methods for different http functions.

 Main focus of the post was just on good practices of documentation, testing, and
 logical organization.
@ -287,9 +293,9 @@ Also mentions having the generator create data models.

 Some key insights

-* Make sure documentation is very comprehensive
-* Try to minimize external dependencies
-* Have modular design patterns that make it easy to extend and pick and choose
+- Make sure documentation is very comprehensive
+- Try to minimize external dependencies
+- Have modular design patterns that make it easy to extend and pick and choose
  features.

 [Should I implement OOP in a REST
@ -297,7 +303,7 @@ API?](https://www.reddit.com/r/flask/comments/1755ob0/should_i_implement_oop_in_

 Most people seem to be saying a full OOP method is overkill, but there are
 people advocating for having a controller class with methods that take data
-objects as inputs. Essentially advocating for the singelton approach with data
+objects as inputs. Essentially advocating for the singleton approach with data
 only objects.

 ### Analysis
@ -306,10 +312,10 @@ Many of the generic concerns of SDK design do not have to do with the UX of the
 SDK for the end developer, rather background processes that an SDK handle. This
 includes:

-* Authentication
-* Retry Logic
-* Pagination
-* Logging
+- Authentication
+- Retry Logic
+- Pagination
+- Logging

 When it comes to the actual developer experience and interfaces for interacting
 with the SDK the community seems a bit split. This is very much because of the
@ -371,7 +377,7 @@ necessary.
 I mainly paid attention to the Python SDK. The code was very readable and made
 sense. I also liked how it used `httpx` and `pydantic` by default and made an
 `async` version of the interface. They took the singleton approach to the design
-of the interface. There was also built in capabilities for retries, pagination,
+of the interface. There was also built-in capabilities for retries, pagination,
 and auth.

 There's also capability for adding custom code such as utility functions.
@ -380,7 +386,7 @@ There's also capability for adding custom code such as utility functions.

 Speakeasy required me to do everything locally through their `brew` package. It
 did not immediately accept the OpenAPI Spec and required me to make some tweaks.
-These were low-hanging fruit, and their cli has a handly AI tool that will
+These were low-hanging fruit, and their cli has a handy AI tool that will
 diagnose the issue and tell you what to fix.

 I just had to add a list of servers and deduplicate some routes. I'm happy it
@ -430,7 +436,6 @@ Once again, the sdk use the `singleton` approach.
 I also did not see any indication of functionality for retry logic,
 authentication, or pagination.

-
 ### Conclusion

 Overall, Stainless had the results that I liked the most. With almost no work