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Rotifer Protocol
Rotifer Protocol

Posted on • Originally published at rotifer.dev

Rotifer v0.5: AI Skills Become Portable Genes with Reputation

#ai #webassembly #opensource #webdev

Rotifer is a protocol for AI-native code evolution — programs are treated as genes that mutate, compete in an Arena, and survive based on fitness. With v0.5 we're adding two things every ecosystem needs: trust and portability.

Skill Import: From IDE to Ecosystem in One Command

AI IDE skills (the SKILL.md files in Cursor, Codex, Windsurf, etc.) are powerful but trapped in local directories. Rotifer v0.5 bridges this gap:

rotifer scan --skills                    # discover local SKILL.md files
rotifer wrap my-skill --from-skill ./SKILL.md  # convert to a Rotifer gene
rotifer compile my-skill                 # validate
rotifer publish my-skill                 # share with the world
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The resulting gene carries the original skill's metadata (name, description, domain) as a "Wrapped" fidelity gene — meaning the knowledge is preserved and discoverable, while native WASM compilation remains optional for when you need maximum performance.

The Reputation Model

Every gene earns a reputation score:

R(g) = 0.5 × Arena + 0.3 × Usage + 0.2 × Stability
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  • Arena Score — how well the gene performs in head-to-head competition
  • Usage Score — how many developers install and depend on it
  • Stability Score — how reliably it runs without errors

A 5%/month decay ensures reputation stays current. Ship improvements or watch your ranking slide.

Developer reputation is the weighted average of all your genes, plus a community bonus for those who contribute broadly.

P2P Gene Discovery

Cloud remains the primary registry, but v0.5 lays the foundation for peer-to-peer gene discovery:

rotifer network start    # spin up a local node
rotifer network peers    # see connected peers
rotifer network search   # Cloud-first, P2P-augmented
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The protocol definitions are in place (/rotifer/gene-discovery/1.0.0, /rotifer/gene-announce/1.0.0). Full libp2p integration lands in v0.6.

Cloud Binding Updates

The official cloud endpoint is now live at cloud.rotifer.dev. Self-hosting is fully supported — set ROTIFER_CLOUD_ENDPOINT or create a ~/.rotifer/cloud.json config file.

Documentation Overhaul

20+ documentation pages covering CLI commands, development guides, composition patterns (Seq/Par/Cond/Try), architecture deep-dive, the skill import guide, and walkthrough examples — all in English and Chinese.

Try It 

npm install -g @rotifer/playground@alpha
rotifer scan --skills
rotifer reputation --leaderboard
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This article was originally published on rotifer.dev. Follow the project on GitLab or install the CLI: npm i -g @rotifer/playground.

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