A runtime for building and operating complex software systems from composable, executable capabilities.
Neuron composes software from capabilities connected by explicit relationships. The runtime schedules and executes those capabilities without needing to understand their business logic.
Neuron is built on three concepts.
A capability is an executable unit with a clear contract: it declares the params it accepts and the result it returns. A capability can be a native process, a WebAssembly module, an in-process built-in, or anything else that implements the capability runtime protocol.
An assembly declares which capabilities exist and how they connect, through explicit bindings and conditions. An assembly is the composition, not the implementation.
A capability runtime provides the machinery that runs capabilities. Neuron supports multiple runtime boundaries — process and WebAssembly today — so the composition stays independent of any single implementation technology.
Neuron is not a workflow engine. A workflow is one thing an assembly can represent. The core abstraction is composition: capabilities with explicit relationships.
flowchart TD
A["Capability Runtime"]
A --> B["Independent Execution"]
A --> C["Assembly"]
C --> D["Larger Application"]
E["Neuron Runtime"] -. "executes" .-> B
E -. "executes" .-> C
style A fill:#171717,stroke:#888,color:#fff
style B fill:#171717,stroke:#666,color:#fff
style C fill:#171717,stroke:#666,color:#fff
style D fill:#171717,stroke:#888,color:#fff
style E fill:#252525,stroke:#aaa,color:#fff
An assembly can be authored in any programming language that produces the Neuron Assembly manifest — the canonical representation every authoring surface converges on. Neuron ships two first-class authoring surfaces today, TypeScript and YAML, and a new language only needs to emit the canonical manifest.
At build time, Neuron compiles the manifest, resolves required external capability runtimes to exact versions, and freezes them. At run time, a project runtime executes the assembly according to the compiled plan and returns the assembly result. Because capabilities are reached through contracts, the physical location of a capability — in-process, a local worker, or a remote host — does not change the shape of the assembly.
The boundary Neuron introduces is between the definition of an assembly and the mechanisms that execute it.
Capabilities are reached through contracts, not through integration code that mixes implementation details into the composition. That keeps the runtime independent of any technology stack, lets a capability be implemented in whatever language or model fits it, and allows the same assembly to run entirely locally today and distribute individual capabilities later without redefining the logical architecture.
# Clone and run a minimal example
git clone https://github.com/neuron-runtime/neuron.git
cd neuron/examples/hello
# Build the assembly
neuron build
# Start the project runtime in one terminal
neuron
# Run the assembly in another terminal
neuron run --params '{"name":"World"}'- Getting started
- Architecture
- Assemblies and capability runtimes
- Installation
- TypeScript SDK
- Go capability runtime SDK
- .NET capability runtime SDK
- CLI reference
Neuron is under active development. The core model — authoring, compilation, dependency freezing, project runtimes, capability runtimes, and providers — is implemented and exercised end to end. The surface is still evolving, so expect changes between releases.