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mashin

What is mashin?

mashin is a language and runtime for building intelligent systems where every AI decision is structured, governed, and auditable. You write machines in MashinTalk, a purpose-built DSL that compiles to BEAM bytecode. The runtime executes your machines with full governance: every LLM call, every effect, every decision is mediated and recorded.

The core idea

A machine is a governed unit of intelligence. It has inputs, outputs, steps, and rules. When a machine runs, the runtime enforces those rules and records what happened.

machine email_classifier


  accepts
    subject as text, is required
    body as text, is required


  responds with
    priority as text
    category as text


  ensures
    allowed to reason
    not allowed to send_email


  implements
    ask classify, using: "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-6"
      with task "Classify this email by priority and category"
      returns
        priority as text
        category as text

This machine:

  • Takes an email subject and body as input
  • Uses an LLM to classify it
  • Is allowed to reason (call an LLM) but not allowed to send email
  • Returns structured output (priority + category)
  • Every execution is recorded in the behavioral ledger

What makes mashin different

Code computes. Machines effect. Pure computation (math, data transformation) happens in compute steps with no I/O. All external effects (HTTP calls, database writes, LLM calls) go through governed steps that require permission and produce an audit trail.

Governance is structural, not bolted on. The governance boundary is the same as the expressiveness boundary. You cannot write a machine that bypasses governance because the capability to do so does not exist in the language.

Everything is auditable. Every execution produces a behavioral ledger trace: what steps ran, what decisions were made, what the LLM said, how much it cost, and a hash chain proving nothing was tampered with.

The platform

mashin is more than a language. It is a complete platform for governed intelligence:

ComponentWhat it does
MashinTalkThe language. Keyword-hierarchy syntax that reads like structured thought.
CellYour mashin environment. Runs on your laptop, a server, or the cloud. Same code everywhere.
kodaThe intelligent development environment. The entire interface is intelligent.
koreThe formally verified governance kernel. 406 theorems, 0 admitted.
kuraThe package registry. Publish and discover machines with 6-level verification.
kortexThe governed network fabric. Cells communicate through governed channels.
kanvasThe interface layer. Where machines become reachable to end users.
kanonThe governance ledger. Append-only record of machine provenance.

See the Platform Overview for how all the pieces fit together.

Next steps