What is Honeybee

Honeybee AI builds infrastructure for multi-agent AI systems. Our mission: make multi-agent AI safe, observable, and affordable.

The problem we solve

The token is optimized. Input caching, output prediction, fine-tuning, LoRAs — providers are doing real work on inference efficiency. But the orchestrators sitting on top? They’re all solving the same problem — “how do I route messages between LLM calls?” — with the same answer: a Python library, fixed on the most expensive model, one container per agent, an always-on orchestrator burning tokens just to exist.

The token is optimized. The infrastructure around it isn’t.

Product lineup

Product	What it does	Open source?
ACP	Agent Coordination Protocol — declarative YAML specs for multi-agent coordination	Yes
Incubator	Coordination engine — runs ACP protocols, manages agents, serves dashboard	Yes
Carapace	Prompt injection scanner — 29 attack categories, zero dependencies	Yes (lib)
CLI (wgl)	Unified command-line interface for the entire platform	Yes
SDK	Platform client, Zod contracts, telemetry reporter	Yes
Colony	Managed orchestration on Cloudflare Durable Objects	Paid
Stigmergy	Dev agent fleet — Queens coordinate Workers autonomously	Paid
Honeycomb	Universal execution pool — shared workers, tag-based routing	Paid
Nectar	Agent audit trail — full prompt/response capture, correlated by trace ID	Paid
Marketplace	Browse and share ACP protocols and integrations	Free

The bee metaphor

Every concept in the system maps to real bee behavior. This isn’t branding — it’s the architecture.

Bee concept	Implementation	What it does
Waggle dance	wgl CLI + waggle compound tool	How bees communicate location and instructions
Honeycomb	ACP shared state + events	Wax cells where bees deposit information
Claim a flower	claim primitive	”I’m working this, back off” — mutex lock
Queen	Opus-tier coordinator agent	Oversees the hive, spawns and monitors workers
Worker	Container agent with propolis	Full dev tools — reads, writes, tests, deploys
Drone	Lightweight serverless agent	Scout, review, coordinate — no heavy lifting
Propolis	Environment tool layer	File I/O, shell, git, web, PTY — the working substance
Pollen	Usage credits	The currency — what bees collect and spend
Carapace	Security scanner	The protective shell around every hive
Nectar	Audit trail	The sweet record of all work performed
Brood	brood.yaml config	Hive layout — who goes where, how many
Hive	Top-level project container	The whole structure, overseen by a Queen
Nest	One incubator instance	A comb section where workers do their thing

Architecture stack

ACP (open protocol)
  ↓ defines coordination rules
Incubator (open runtime)
  ↓ executes protocols, manages agents
Colony (managed service)
  ↓ hosted orchestration, spend tracking
Honeycomb (execution pool)
  ↓ shared workers, overlay apply/wipe
Nectar (audit layer)
  ↓ full trace capture, compliance
Carapace (security)
  → scans at every layer

Open source commitment

The core coordination stack is open source and free forever:

• ACP spec — the protocol format. Anyone can implement it.
• Incubator — the reference runtime. Free coordination engine.
• Carapace library — the scanner. Zero deps, MIT license.
• CLI and SDK — the developer tools. npm install and go.

The paid products (Colony, Stigmergy, Honeycomb, Nectar) provide managed infrastructure, cloud dashboards, and fleet-scale orchestration on top of the open source foundation. You can run everything locally for free, or let us run it for you.