# Swirls: expanded site context (swirls.ai)

> Swirls is agentic systems as code. Built for production at a regulated company. You describe the system in `.swirls` files: workflows, triggers, tools, schedules, audit, federation. The same engine runs on your laptop and in hosted Swirls deployments.

## What Swirls is

Swirls is a declarative DSL and deployment target for agentic systems. The mental model is the same one engineers use for SQL (data) and Terraform (infrastructure): a domain-specific language that compiles to a deployed artifact. Swirls is not a programming language. The grammar is small, declarative, and capable LLMs can write valid `.swirls` files from the docs alone. Adjacent categories include agent frameworks like LangGraph and the OpenAI Agent SDK; Swirls is what those systems get deployed onto. The ground Swirls competes on: production-grade governance, multi-cloud, multi-provider, self-hosted, not coupled to a single model vendor's runtime. The wedge audience is regulated companies and engineering teams that treat agents as software.

## The four primitives

The artifact surface is four primitives. Every Swirls deployment is built from them.

- **`.swirls` files (the artifact)**. Agents are authored as code in a declarative DSL. A single agent spans multiple files. Files are reviewable, versionable, and compose into larger systems. The DSL is small enough that capable LLMs can write valid `.swirls` from the docs alone.
- **Streams (the state)**. Streams are durable, queryable execution history. They are materialized in Postgres, so they support schema migrations and standard SQL queries. Stream entries can trigger downstream workflows, which makes state composable across agents.
- **OIDC federation (the auth)**. Identity is declarative and federated at the edge. Declare an `auth` block for your own credentials (`type: oauth`, `type: bearer`, etc.) or a `connection` block for a Swirls-brokered OAuth app (`connection slack { provider: slack }`), reference it by name from a node, and the runtime mints scoped credentials at run time. OIDC and OAuth federation under the hood. No long-lived secrets in env vars. This is the primitive most agent frameworks punt to "bring your own."
- **Workflows as tools (the tool surface)**. When an agent's tool surface includes another workflow, the called workflow runs under its own scoped policy. Tools are governable workflows. Each carries its own delegation chain, its own declared secrets, and its own audit trail.

## Policy and security

- **Cryptographic enforcement**. Policy is enforced by the runtime, not by convention. The workflow definition is the policy.
- **Workflow-bound permissions**. Permissions are derived from the SHA-256 hash of the canonical workflow. Modify the workflow and old tokens stop working.
- **Scoped delegation**. Authorization is attenuated through every layer of execution: workspace, deployment, execution, node, tool. Each layer holds strictly fewer permissions than its parent.
- **Per-node secret isolation**. A node only sees the secrets it declared in the `.swirls` file. There is no ambient credential context.
- **Tamper-evident audit**. Every execution event is recorded in an append-only, hash-chained log. Customers can verify the chain.
- **Cryptographic primitives**. AES-256-GCM, HKDF-SHA512, HMAC-SHA256, SHA-256. See /security for the threat model and construction.

## Primary URLs (marketing site)

| Page | URL | Summary |
|------|-----|---------|
| Home | https://swirls.ai | Deployment target overview, the four primitives, getting started |
| Security | https://swirls.ai/security | Threat model, delegation chain, key derivation, audit chain |
| Pricing | https://swirls.ai/pricing | Free local authoring and cloud inspection, hosted paid tiers, BYOK savings |
| Cookbook | https://swirls.ai/cookbook | Forkable recipes for production use cases |
| Blog | https://swirls.ai/blog | Engineering posts and release notes |

## Hosted Swirls

Hosted deployments run `.swirls` projects in Swirls Cloud. You author and validate files locally, deploy with `git push` to a connected branch or `swirls deploy` from the terminal, and inspect the compiled project in the Portal. Durable workers, auto-scaling, replay and approval, and the cryptographic audit chain are part of hosted execution.

## Local vs Cloud

- **Free deploy**: Write and validate `.swirls` files locally, then deploy to Swirls Cloud for visual inspection. Free deploys do not include workflow execution or agent chat.
- **Builder** ($49/mo flat per org): Production Swirls for forward-deployed engineers, AI-native agencies, and internal teams. The full engine, deployed. Unlimited builders, 5 projects, unlimited workflows. 25,000 credits a month, then a flat $0.001 per credit. 7-day audit retention with export, community support. 7-day free trial.
- **MSP Partner** ($250/mo): Platform license for managed service providers. Unlimited builders and projects, $15 a month per active client workspace with the first 2 included (isolated project, connections, and audit trail per client; idle clients cost nothing), 50,000 pooled credits, then $0.001 per credit pooled across clients. SSO (Google, Okta, generic OIDC), role-based access control, 90-day audit retention, 99.9% uptime SLA. White-label add-on $100 a month. Self-serve: subscribe from billing settings; subscribing accepts the Partner Program Agreement, which governs reselling. Distributor marketplace questions: partners@swirls.ai.
- **Enterprise** (custom): Regulated production. BYO-KMS with HSM-backed root keys, on-prem or customer-VPC deployment, unlimited audit retention with quarterly attestation, custom SLA, dedicated CSM, named 24/7 support, SOC 2 / ISO evidence on demand.
- Bring your own provider keys for up to 80 percent savings on AI nodes (BYOK applies to AI providers; orchestration credits unchanged).

## Documentation (technical depth)

- **Docs home**: https://swirls.ai/docs
- **Docs LLM-oriented full text**: https://swirls.ai/docs/llms-full.txt

Use the docs site for language syntax, CLI commands, API contracts, and cookbook-style examples. This file focuses on product and marketing context. The docs `llms-full.txt` focuses on reference material.

## Community and source

- GitHub organization: https://github.com/byteslicehq
- Discord: https://discord.gg/ZXTBZGjQ5a
- Swirls is closed source. The CLI is distributed as a compiled binary.

## Versioning note

Content describes the product as of page generation. For authoritative pricing, terms, and compliance statements, prefer the live pages (/pricing, /terms-of-service, /privacy-policy) and the Security page for current posture.