# 4.1 Five layers, five verbs (/ai-worker-paradigm/the-architecture-in-one-picture/five-layers)

---
type: Document
title: "4.1 Five layers, five verbs"
description: "The five layers every AI Worker in this book is drawn with, the one job of each, and where the worker itself is in the picture."
status: stable
order: 104.1
ksor:
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    at: 2026-10-05T13:02:46Z
chapter: "04"
part: I
expert_status: required
concepts: [ "4.1" ]
last_verified: 2026-10-04
sources:
  - id: v1-system-of-context
    title: "The System of Context (Panaversity, first edition, verified 2026-10-04)"
    resource: https://agentfactory.panaversity.org/docs/ecosystem/system-of-context
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---

**In everyday life.** Think of a restaurant. The front door and phone line are its channels, and the cook is its runtime. The cook's own habits are its memory, and the recipe book is its KSoR. The manager's key to the cash register and the stockroom is its DSoR.

Every AI Worker in this book is drawn the same way: five layers, one job each.

| Layer | Its verb | What it holds or does | Brightline example |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Channels | connect | Where people and systems reach the worker: a chat app, team messaging, email, a web portal, an API | The AP inbox, the team chat |
| Runtime | executes | The replaceable harness that reasons and acts | The AI vendor's app running a task |
| Memory | remembers | Continuity: preferences, experience, where to look | "Maria wants the register sorted by due date" |
| KSoR | knows | The governed, authoritative knowledge: policies, procedures, thresholds, definitions | AP policy, approval limits |
| DSoR | acts | The governed door to real systems: it checks, acts, and keeps the **evidence** | Register updates, payment status |

Two things sit outside the five layers. Above them is the **human principal**, who owns the first 10 and the final 10 percent of every task (Chapter 3). Below DSoR are the company's own systems: the accounting system, the bank and the vendor records. They stay the authority on their data.[^v1-system-of-context] DSoR does not replace them. It governs the worker's access to them.

Where is the worker itself? It is not one box. The worker is the **Role Contract** from Chapter 2, and the contract ties the layers together. It names the knowledge sources, the memory rules, the operations the worker may request, the runtime it needs and the channels it serves.

![The canonical (standard) architecture. A human principal at the top owns the first 10 and final 10 percent. Below are two rented layers, channels and runtime. A dashed ownership line follows, with memory sitting on it. Below the line are the owned layers, KSoR and DSoR, side by side, with the company's systems under DSoR. The runtime reads from KSoR and memory and sends requests to DSoR. A dashed arrow carries DSoR's evidence back up to the human's final 10 percent. A band along the bottom names the Role Contract, which ties the layers together.](img/architecture.png)

*Figure 4.1. The canonical (standard) architecture. Channels connect, runtimes execute, memory remembers, KSoR knows and DSoR acts. Rented layers sit above the line and owned layers below it.*

This is the only architecture diagram in the book. Later chapters zoom into one layer at a time. When a chapter introduces a product or a technique, ask one question first: which layer is this?

[^v1-system-of-context]: The System of Context, Panaversity, first edition.