News · Product · November 7, 2026
Node: keep your data alive and earn for proved work
A node keeps sealed blocks, answers storage challenges and receives your mail while you are away. On the testnet it earns Test DRIVE.
DRIVE 369 DAO
A node is a program on a computer you choose: a Mac, a Mac mini, a small Linux server or a DGX Spark. It does two jobs. For you, it keeps your data alive when your laptop is off. For the network, it keeps other people's sealed blocks and proves that it still has them.
What a node does
- Keeps sealed blocks. It holds ciphertext it cannot read.
- Answers challenges. Each epoch a public random beacon picks segments of the data, and the node must answer with proofs. Only a node that still holds the data can.
- Receives your messages. Messages between Ghost IDs are sealed to your mailbox key, and your node collects them while your devices are off.
- Serves your AI. Your own node can answer Terminal and Office, so your prompts never leave your hardware.
- Speaks MCP. The same node serves your memory to agents such as Claude.
Use case: a person
You run a node on a Mac mini at home. Your laptop can be off or lost, and your notes and files are still there, and your mail waits for you. You added no subscription and gave no company your keys.
Use case: an operator
You own a spare machine with disk space and a stable connection. On the testnet you register it, take storage deals and answer challenges. Rewards come from a fixed daily budget shared by everyone who proves work, so more nodes mean a smaller share each, never more tokens. On 6 November 2026 three nodes proved their deals and claimed their first epoch.
Earning honestly
Nodes are paid only for epochs in which they proved the data. Two missed epochs fail a deal: the escrow goes back to the owner, and the node loses part of its bond. Test DRIVE has no value, and the contracts are not yet audited.
Status and limits
The node runs on the testnet today, on the command line and inside the Mac app. Keep it online, because a node that is away misses epochs.
Run a node, step by step · How storage is checked · All products