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ELEMENT 31

Air-gapped

An air-gapped Czar has no network path out of the building. Inference, adaptation, and the record run inside the operator's network, and updates arrive as signed bundles on media.

· 2 min read

IN SHORT

An air-gapped Czar has no network path out of the building. Inference, adaptation, and the record all run inside the operator's network, and software updates arrive as signed bundles carried in on physical media. It is a posture a site chooses, not a different appliance; the same Czar runs connected on another site, and a mixed estate runs both.

An air-gapped Czar has no network path out of the building. Inference, adaptation, and the record all run inside the operator's network, and software updates arrive as signed bundles carried in on physical media.

Why it matters

Some facilities cannot allow a path out, whether because of what the cameras see, what the documents say, or what the operator has promised its own customers. For those sites, a pool that phones home, even for updates, is not an option.

An air-gapped posture answers the question before it is asked. There is no egress to inspect, no allow-list to maintain, and no vendor cloud to review. The security officer can state plainly that nothing leaves.

It also removes a class of failure. A pool that needs a connection to function is a pool that stops when the connection does. An air-gapped Grid depends only on the building's own network.

How it works at Element 31

Posture is a choice per site, not a different appliance. The same Czar that runs connected on one site runs air-gapped on another. The site decides at install, and a mixed estate can run both.

On an air-gapped site, updates are signed bundles. Element 31 publishes them through the customer portal; the operator downloads them from a connected workstation, carries them in on media, and applies them. The node verifies the signature before accepting the bundle, and Watchman confirms the node is running the sealed, read-only image afterward.

The pool still does everything it does elsewhere. Substrate serves inference, keeps memory and retrieval over the site's documents, and adapts models on the site's own captures. Agency Studio holds site tasks and the run record. None of it requires a path out.

Customer appliances never connect to the portal in either posture. If an operator wants a remote session on a sovereign site, it opens an uplink window itself, attests that data disks are detached, the network is isolated, the console is supervised, and authority is confirmed, and the window carries a hard expiry. The Technology page describes both postures side by side.

Questions this raises

How does an air-gapped Czar get updates?
Element 31 publishes signed update bundles through the customer portal. The operator downloads one from a connected workstation, carries it in on media, and applies it. The node verifies the signature first, and Watchman confirms the resulting image.
Does an air-gapped site lose any capability?
No. Substrate still serves inference, keeps retrieval over the site's documents, and adapts models on the site's own captures. Agency Studio still holds site tasks and the run record. None of it needs a connection.
Can Element 31 reach an air-gapped Czar for support?
Only if the customer opens an uplink window itself. On a sovereign site the customer first attests that data disks are detached, the network is isolated, the console is supervised, and authority is confirmed, and the window carries a hard expiry.

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