Corgent 2026 Roadmap – Virtual Trust Oracle on Cortensor
THE ROADMAP BELOW IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR ADJUSTMENT. THIS IS STILL A DRAFT.
Overview
Corgent is a Virtual-native service agent built on top of the Cortensor Network.
Inside the Virtual ecosystem, Corgent provides:
Delegation-as-a-Service – send tasks to Cortensor miners with explicit reliability tiers.
Validation-as-a-Service – verify agent outputs using Cortensor’s PoI/PoUW and reputation.
Arbitration-as-a-Service – resolve disputes using oracle-grade replays and consensus.
Corgent runs on top of:
Cortensor miners – decentralized inference.
Cortensor validators – Proof of Inference (PoI) and Proof of Useful Work (PoUW).
Router Node evolution – v1.x → v1.5 → v1.6 → v2.0 as the execution and validation surface.
Cortensor’s DevNets, Testnet-0/1, Mainnet-Lite (Arbitrum L2) and Mainnet-Full (COR L3) define where Corgent can execute. This roadmap focuses on how Corgent evolves throughout 2026 inside the Virtual / ACP / ERC-8004 agent ecosystems:
How it integrates with GAME and ACP.
How it uses x402 and ERC-8004.
How it matures from a “thin wrapper” into a data-driven trust oracle.
Cortensor provides compute + proofs. Corgent learns how to apply them for agents, markets, and disputes.
0. Ongoing (Now → Q1 2026) – Testnet Experiments & Data Foundations
Objective Use Cortensor DevNet/Testnet to make Corgent actually useful as an experimental trust agent, and start collecting the data needed for real validation logic.
Aligned Cortensor phases
Late DevNet → Testnet Phase #1 preparation.
Router Node v1 with experimental MCP and x402 endpoints.
Key Goals
Agent Logic Prototyping
Implement Corgent as a GAME Worker/Function in Virtual:
delegate_to_corgent(task, policy)validate_with_corgent(task, claimed_result)
Wire Corgent to Cortensor Testnet (DevNets, Testnet-0, Testnet-1).
Treat Corgent as a smart Router client that:
Opens and uses sessions with prepaid budgets.
Submits tasks via Router Nodes.
Requests redundancy (N miners per task).
Collects PoI/PoUW and reputation signals.
ACP & x402 Integration (Early)
Define how ACP buyers/sellers can “escalate to Corgent” for:
Higher-trust execution.
Independent validation of claimed results.
Early dispute-handling prototypes.
Prototype x402 pay-per-call flows:
Virtual → Corgent → Cortensor Router (
/completions, etc.).Log usage, cost, and policy tier per call.
Data & Telemetry
Start logging:
Task type, policy, and context.
Miner outputs and PoI/PoUW metrics (when enabled).
Corgent verdicts (
VALID,INVALID,RETRY,NEEDS_SPEC) and confidence.
Build the first Corgent dataset of agent interactions + validation decisions.
Early Validation Experiments
Test simple rules on live testnet workload:
PoI similarity thresholds.
Basic usefulness rubrics (coverage, structure, constraint adherence).
Schema + PoI combinations for tool-call outputs.
Identify failure modes:
Miners disagree but verdict is still
VALID.Policies that are too strict or too lax.
Where Corgent should return
NEEDS_SPECinstead of forcing a binary verdict.
Q1 2026 – Corgent v0.1: Spec & Stable Testnet Agent
Objective Formalize Corgent’s role in the Virtual ecosystem and ship a stable v0.1 agent on Cortensor Testnet.
Aligned Cortensor phases
Testnet Phases #1–2 – system integration and app E2E testing.
Router Node v1.5 (shadow mode) – MCP + x402 enabled on the Router surface.
Corgent Spec (High-Level)
Publish an internal Corgent specification that defines:
Scope and guarantees:
What Corgent does (delegation, validation, arbitration hooks).
What Corgent does not do (planning, creative reasoning, miner/validator duties).
Core APIs:
delegate_to_corgent(task, policy)validate_with_corgent(task, claimed_result)Early hooks for dispute / arbitration.
How Corgent uses Cortensor PoI/PoUW in practice:
Deterministic vs non-deterministic tasks.
Structured (JSON/tool calls) vs unstructured text.
Fast vs Safe vs Oracle-grade patterns.
Corgent v0.1 on Testnet
Harden Corgent’s baseline call patterns:
delegate_to_corgentwith Fast/Safe policies.validate_with_corgentfor:Deterministic / structured outputs.
Simple JSON / schema / format validation.
Integrations:
GAME – Corgent as a reusable Worker/Function.
ACP – Corgent as an experimental trust oracle for small, curated markets.
Data & Metrics
Define mandatory telemetry:
Task type, chosen policy, miners/models used.
PoI/PoUW metrics (where available).
Decision + confidence + whether escalation occurred.
Run offline analysis to detect:
Over-confidence zones (high confidence, low reliability).
Frequent miner disagreement patterns.
Where
RETRYorNEEDS_SPECis more appropriate than a hardVALID/INVALID.
Q2 2026 – Corgent v0.2: Validation Engine & Scoring Models
Objective Evolve Corgent from a “thin wrapper over Cortensor” into a proper validation engine with configurable, data-driven policies.
Aligned Cortensor phases
Testnet Phases #3–4 –
/validateendpoint, PoI/PoUW integration, ERC-8004 alignment.Router Node v1.6 –
completions + validate, fully ERC-8004 agent-ready so any developer or node operator can spawn their own Router-backed agents and services.
Validation & Scoring
Introduce tiered validation policies:
Fast – 1 miner, light checks, minimal overhead.
Safe – 3 miners, PoI consensus + basic usefulness checks.
Oracle – 5+ miners, stricter PoI/PoUW thresholds + diversity sampling.
Adaptive – start cheap and escalate redundancy when confidence is low.
Build Corgent’s scoring layer:
Use configurable usefulness rubrics per task type:
Summaries, classification, reasoning, code, tool-calls, etc.
Combine:
PoI similarity (embedding distance, cluster stability).
PoUW-style usefulness / adherence scoring.
Add outlier detection for suspicious or inconsistent miner outputs.
Data-Driven Development
Use Testnet logs to:
Tune thresholds and policy mappings per task family.
Design and iterate rubrics for the most common task categories.
Identify where human labels, reference data, or domain heuristics are needed.
Run A/B tests on Testnet for:
Different scoring strategies (PoI-heavy vs semantic-heavy profiles).
Different redundancy levels (3 vs 5 vs 7 miners) and their cost/performance trade-offs.
Developer-Facing Changes
Update Corgent docs with:
Recommended default policies:
e.g. Fast for cheap content, Safe for user-visible output, Oracle for financial/on-chain decisions.
Examples of how status + confidence + evidence should drive agent behavior (accept, retry, escalate, request spec refinement).
Provide sample dashboards for:
Tier usage.
Miner disagreement and escalation rates.
Top validation failure reasons and common error patterns.
Q3 2026 – Corgent v0.5: Virtual’s Default Trust Oracle
Objective Make Corgent the default trust surface for Virtual agents: the normal way to request high-trust compute, validation, and simple dispute handling.
Aligned Cortensor phases
Mainnet-Lite (Arbitrum L2 Alpha) – first production environment.
Router evolution toward v2.0 (Corgent-class Router on L2).
Early integration with Virtual, ACP, and ERC-8004 agents.
Virtual / GAME Integration
Ship a Corgent v0.5 Worker/Function bundle:
Plug-and-play support for most GAME Agents.
Ready-made examples:
High-trust summarization pipelines.
Guardrail validation before taking actions (payments, state changes, irreversible writes).
Tool-call / JSON schema validation before committing.
Provide recipe-style patterns:
“High-trust summary with fallback.”
“Validate structured output before paying an ACP seller.”
“Check another agent’s result or trajectory before adopting it.”
ACP & Disputes (Phase 1)
Use Corgent as first-line validation in ACP:
Pre-settlement checks on claimed outputs.
“Soft” disputes where the buyer primarily wants:
A re-run under a clearer policy.
Comparison against consensus and spec.
Define an initial dispute flow:
When buyer/seller can escalate to Corgent.
Structure of the evidence bundle (consensus outputs, outlier flags, constraint verdicts).
How ACP interprets:
VALID/INVALID/RETRY/NEEDS_SPEC.
Reliability & Internal SLAs
Set internal (non-public) targets for:
Latency per policy tier.
Error/failure and escalation rates.
Cost envelopes for Adaptive mode.
Use the v0.5 rollout to refine:
Rate limiting, backpressure, and safety controls.
x402 billing paths from Virtual → Corgent → Cortensor Router.
Q4 2026 – Corgent v1.0: Arbitration, Trajectories & Long-Horizon Trust
Objective Extend Corgent beyond single responses into full arbitration and multi-step trajectory validation for long-running agents and markets.
Aligned Cortensor phases
Mainnet-Full (COR L3 Beta) – COR-native, low-cost environment for high-volume validation.
Mature Router v2.0 / Corgent core operating on L3.
Arbitration-as-a-Service (Full Flow)
Implement oracle-grade arbitration:
5+ miners with diversity:
Different regions, hardware, and model variants.
Tighter PoI/PoUW thresholds tuned from Testnet + L2 experience.
Rich evidence bundles:
Consensus outputs and cluster stats.
Outlier analysis and miner-level behavior.
Constraint/spec compliance.
Human-readable summaries for agents, UIs, and integrators.
Corgent becomes a binding dispute oracle for selected ACP markets, according to ACP rules and governance.
Trajectory & Chain-of-Thought Checks
Allow agents to submit:
Intermediate reasoning traces and tool sequences.
Full task trajectories for post-hoc audits or live monitoring.
Design policies that:
Reward stable, consistent, non-deceptive reasoning.
Penalize degenerate, circular, or obviously fabricated chains.
Detect when agents simply repeat known consensus without meaningful work.
Long-Horizon & COR L3 Alignment
As Cortensor’s COR L3 environment comes online:
Route high-volume validations and arbitrations to L3 by default.
Treat Corgent verdicts as long-lived trust artifacts:
Reusable across sessions and over time.
Referencable by other Virtual agents, ERC-8004 agents, and on-chain systems.
Summary Timeline (Corgent Focus)
Now → Q1 2026
Corgent Experiments
GAME/ACP wiring, x402 prototypes, data & telemetry foundations
Q1 2026
Corgent v0.1
Spec, stable Testnet agent, basic delegate/validate flows
Q2 2026
Corgent v0.2
Tiered validation, scoring engine, data-driven thresholds
Q3 2026
Corgent v0.5
Virtual’s default trust oracle, ACP soft disputes, production recipes
Q4 2026
Corgent v1.0
Arbitration-as-a-Service, trajectory checks, COR L3 long-horizon trust
Alignment Table – Cortensor Network vs. Corgent
This table aligns the Cortensor 2026 network roadmap with Corgent’s 2026 milestones, so both can be read as a single story.
Q1 2026
Testnet Phases #1–2 (system integration, app E2E testing)
v0.1 – Spec & stable Testnet agent
Corgent runs on Testnet; uses early Router v1.5 (MCP/x402 experiments).
Early–Mid Q2 2026
Testnet Phases #3–4 (/validate, PoI/PoUW, ERC-8004 alignment, COR Prover)
v0.2 – Validation engine & scoring
Corgent uses /validate, adopts tiered policies; Router v1.6 is fully ERC-8004 agent-ready.
Mid Q2 → Early Q3 2026
Mainnet preparation (Stake-to-Use, Pay-Per-Use, audits, infra readiness)
v0.2 → v0.5 transition
Corgent policies harden in preparation for real production traffic.
Early Q3 2026
Mainnet-Lite (Arbitrum L2 Alpha) – Router Agent v1.5 live
v0.5 – Default trust oracle in Virtual
Virtual and ERC-8004 agents start using Corgent on L2 for high-trust compute and validation.
Mid–Late Q3 2026
Agentic integration (Virtual, ACP, ERC-8004 agents), Router v2.0 scaling
v0.5 – ACP Phase 1 disputes & trust recipes
Corgent is the standard trust surface for Virtual and ERC-8004 agent ecosystems.
Q4 2026
Mainnet-Full (COR L3 Beta) – COR-native agent execution & large-scale PoI
v1.0 – Arbitration & trajectories on COR L3
Corgent’s heavy validation and arbitration flows move to L3 for low-cost, high-volume, long-horizon use.
Why Corgent Matters for Virtual & Cortensor
Corgent is not a replacement for GAME’s logic or agent reasoning:
GAME remains the brain – it plans, sets goals, orchestrates tools, and decides actions.
Corgent is invoked whenever an agent wants:
Higher confidence before acting.
Independent verification of another agent’s result.
A neutral oracle for disputes or high-stakes decisions.
For the Virtual ecosystem:
Corgent provides a standard trust oracle service that any Virtual or ACP agent can call.
Agents no longer need to trust a single model run – they can rely on redundant inference + PoI/PoUW validation.
Complex agent markets can use Corgent’s verdicts as shared, neutral ground truth.
For the Cortensor network:
Corgent is the agent-facing expression of Cortensor’s core value: verifiable inference.
It turns miners, validators, PoI, and PoUW into usable APIs and verdicts.
It creates a natural demand loop:
More agents → more delegated tasks → more miner work → richer validation data → stronger trust.
For the broader agentic + Web3 stack (Virtual, ERC-8004 agents, dApps, protocols):
Corgent provides a network-native way to:
Delegate tasks to decentralized inference.
Verify outputs with both quantitative and qualitative checks.
Resolve disputes without relying on a central operator.
In practical terms:
The 2026 Cortensor roadmap makes verifiable, scalable AI infrastructure real. The 2026 Corgent roadmap makes that verifiability directly consumable by agents, dApps, and markets.
Last updated