Character and LocalAgent
Characters are the durable participants in Nimi. A character has a persistent identity: it is the same individual in every world and every conversation, and it stays that way over time. Realm keeps that identity.
A LocalAgent is how Runtime brings a character to life locally. When you start an experience, Runtime reads the character's Realm-issued description — the Character Source — and runs it on your machine. The LocalAgent holds the live conversation, working memory, and knowledge for that run. The character's identity itself stays in Realm.
- A Character is identity, relationships, and world membership kept by Realm. PersonaCharacter and WorldCharacter are forms of Character, not separate local agent types.
- A Character Source is the description Realm issues for Runtime to run a character from.
- A LocalAgent is the running instance Runtime creates for you. Runtime manages its lifecycle, Conversation, operational Memory and Knowledge, model routing, readiness, budget, and state.
There is no extra platform-wide Agent, AgentFamily, or AgentPersona identity layer between Character and LocalAgent.
Owner boundaries
Realm is the home of character identity: who a character is, its relationships, its world memberships, and the character and world descriptions everything else builds from. Runtime takes the Character Source Realm issues and runs a LocalAgent from it, without taking over anything Realm keeps.
Apps, Nimi Home, Desktop, and Avatar only see what the current session authorizes them to see. They cannot create LocalAgent identities or rebuild Runtime state from local history, and they never receive Realm credentials, provider keys, Runtime-internal proofs, or an account-wide list of LocalAgents.
Avatar renders the typed presentation Runtime sends it and keeps its own renderer-local state. It does not run the LocalAgent and does not drive the AI directly.
Continue reading
- Conversation Anchor
- Cross-Surface Continuity
- LocalAgent Access and App Authorization
- Cross-World Identity
- External Participation