Infernet Protocol is a decentralized GPU compute network. Node operators register their GPU servers and get paid to run LLM inference. Developers submit jobs through a unified API and get responses back without depending on any single provider.
This book covers everything you need to know to run a node, build applications on the network, or understand how the protocol works under the hood.
Node operators who want to earn crypto by contributing GPU compute. You have an NVIDIA, AMD, or Apple Silicon machine and want to put it to work. Start with Chapter 2: Node Operators.
Application developers who want to call LLM inference without locking into OpenAI, Anthropic, or any other centralized provider. You want reliable APIs, streaming responses, and predictable costs. Start with Chapter 4: Building Apps.
Protocol contributors interested in the cryptographic architecture, payment flows, and key hierarchy. Start with Chapter 5: Protocol.
If you’re new to Infernet entirely, read Chapter 1: Introduction first.
Chapter 1 — Introduction What Infernet Protocol is, the problem it solves, and a high-level architecture tour. Includes a 5-minute quickstart so you can see the system working before diving into details.
Chapter 2 — Node Operators Hardware requirements, the full installation walkthrough, model management, monitoring your node, and how earnings and payouts work.
Chapter 3 — Inference Backends Ollama, vLLM, SGLang, Modular MAX, and llama.cpp. How each one works, when to use it, and how Infernet auto-selects between them.
Chapter 4 — Building Apps The REST API, streaming chat with SSE, job lifecycle management, and error handling. JavaScript and Python examples throughout.
Chapter 5 — Protocol Internals The Nostr-style secp256k1 auth system, Compute Payment Receipts, multi-chain wallet support, and the IPIP-0028 model key hierarchy.
Chapter 6 — Advanced Topics Multi-GPU setups with vLLM and Ray, self-hosting the control plane, and the distributed training roadmap.
| Task | Where to look |
|---|---|
| Install a node | 02-node-operators/installation.md |
| Pick an inference backend | 03-inference-backends/choosing.md |
| Stream tokens from the API | 04-building-apps/streaming-chat.md |
| Understand auth headers | 05-protocol/security.md |
| Run a 70B model on 2 GPUs | 06-advanced/multi-gpu.md |
Most code examples in this book assume:
INFERNET_NODE_URL points to your node
(e.g. http://localhost:3000)INFERNET_BEARER_TOKEN is set with a valid bearer token
from your control planeexport INFERNET_NODE_URL=http://localhost:3000
export INFERNET_BEARER_TOKEN=your_token_hereFor the CLI examples, infernet must be installed and on
your PATH. See installation if it
isn’t.
This book is open source and lives in docs/book/ in the
main Infernet Protocol repository. Pull requests are welcome.
Corrections, new examples, and translations are especially
appreciated.