Aster Specification

Aster v2 Distro, Gate framework, and space runtime architecture.

Aster v2 is assembled by @aster/distro, the default Aster product runtime. The desktop and dev launchers run Distro, which composes asterGateway() and starts it through the Effect runtime in @aster/gate/node.

Runtime stack

@aster/gate is the Gate framework. It owns product contracts, graph validation, runtime orchestration, HTTP routes, sockets, database contracts, marketplace contracts, analytics, and observability service interfaces.
@aster/gate-adapters owns concrete providers such as SQLite, PostHog, and OpenTelemetry.
@aster/distro owns the Aster product graph: spaces, plugins, extensions, tools, skills, apps, routes, auth, database, analytics, observability, and marketplaces.
@aster/spaces is the Spaces SDK. It owns space composition, triggers, runtime context, and run/lifecycle hooks.

packages/seed is deprecated and excluded from the active workspace.

The runtime is Effect-first: services are layers, startup and shutdown are scoped workflows, validation uses Effect Schema, and filesystem/path work goes through Effect platform services.