specification: API Commons Vocabulary
specificationVersion: '0.1'
provider: Pocket Network
providerId: pocket-network
created: '2026-05-25'
modified: '2026-05-25'
description: Vocabulary for the Pocket Network and Grove ecosystem — Shannon protocol actors, relay
  primitives, gateway terminology, and commercial constructs used by the Grove portal.
tags:
  - Pocket Network
  - Grove
  - PATH
  - Shannon
  - Web3
  - RPC
  - Blockchain
  - Decentralized Infrastructure

concepts:
  - id: relay
    label: Relay
    description: The unit of work in Pocket Network — a single API call (typically JSON-RPC) from a
      client through a gateway to a supplier serving a service. One request equals one relay; cost
      is denominated in compute units.
  - id: compute-unit
    label: Compute Unit (CU)
    description: Shannon's USD-pegged metering unit. One billion compute units equals one US dollar.
      Each compute unit consumed by a relay results in an on-chain burn of POKT.
  - id: service
    label: Service
    description: An external data source the network serves (e.g. eth, solana, base, arbitrum). Each
      service has an on-chain definition with its compute-units-per-relay multiplier and source
      owner.
  - id: session
    label: Session
    description: A block-window-scoped grouping of an application, a service, and a candidate set of
      suppliers. The gateway selects which supplier serves each relay within the session.
  - id: claim
    label: Claim
    description: An on-chain claim posted by a supplier asserting how many relays it served in a
      session. Followed by a proof in a later block window.
  - id: proof
    label: Proof
    description: A cryptographic proof (Sparse Merkle Trie inclusion proof) submitted by a supplier
      to validate its claim and unlock POKT rewards.

actors:
  - id: application
    label: Application
    description: An on-chain actor that stakes POKT (minimum 100 POKT) to consume relays. Delegates
      relay-signing authority to one or more gateways.
  - id: supplier
    label: Supplier
    description: An on-chain actor that stakes POKT and runs a RelayMiner to serve relays for the
      services it supports. Earns POKT proportional to validated relay volume.
  - id: gateway
    label: Gateway
    description: An on-chain actor (minimum 1 POKT) authorized by applications to sign relays. Runs
      PATH (or equivalent) to route relays to suppliers.
  - id: validator
    label: Validator
    description: A CometBFT validator securing the Shannon Cosmos chain via Proof-of-Stake.
  - id: source-owner
    label: Source Owner
    description: The on-chain owner of a Service. Receives a share of compute-unit-denominated
      revenue when their service is consumed.

software:
  - id: path
    label: PATH (Path API and Toolkit Harness)
    description: Open-source Go gateway maintained by Grove. Routes JSON-RPC, REST, and WebSocket
      relays to Shannon suppliers, scores them via QoS, and signs requests with the operator's
      gateway and application keys.
  - id: relayminer
    label: RelayMiner
    description: The supplier-side daemon that receives signed relay requests from a gateway,
      forwards them to the underlying service, and returns responses.
  - id: appgate
    label: AppGate
    description: An application-side gateway daemon used in self-sovereign mode (applications run
      their own gateway instead of delegating to a third party).
  - id: poktrolld
    label: poktrolld
    description: The Shannon node binary and Cosmos SDK CLI. Provides query, tx, and keys commands
      for every Shannon module.
  - id: pocketdex
    label: Pocketdex
    description: SubQuery-based indexer for Shannon that powers explorers and analytics.

ecosystem:
  - id: pocket-network-foundation
    label: Pocket Network Foundation (PNF)
    description: Non-profit steward of the Pocket Network protocol and the F-Chains public-data
      program.
  - id: grove
    label: Grove
    description: For-profit Web3 infrastructure company that operates the largest Pocket Network
      gateway (rpc.grove.city), maintains PATH, and offers managed RPC.
  - id: pip
    label: Pocket Improvement Proposal (PIP)
    description: 'On-chain governance proposal mechanism. Notable: PIP-41 (passed January 2026)
      introduced deflationary tokenomics with a 97.5% mint ratio.'
  - id: morse
    label: Morse
    description: The legacy Pocket Network protocol (pocket-core). Deprecated June 2025 when
      traffic migrated to Shannon. Wallets and stakes were bridged via Soothe Vault.
  - id: shannon
    label: Shannon
    description: The current Pocket Network protocol — a Cosmos SDK + CometBFT chain with
      permissionless service registration and usage-based deflationary tokenomics.

commercial:
  - id: grove-portal
    label: Grove Portal
    description: Grove's web dashboard for creating applications, generating endpoints, monitoring
      relay volume, and managing billing.
  - id: application-id
    label: Application ID
    description: The opaque identifier embedded in Grove portal endpoint URLs
      (`https://eth.rpc.grove.city/v1/{appId}`) that identifies the billable application.
  - id: public-endpoint
    label: Public Endpoint
    description: Grove-operated, no-API-key, IP-rate-limited endpoint per chain (e.g.
      `eth.rpc.grove.city/v1`). Suitable for development and exploration.