An Introduction to Intents and Intent-centric Architectures

TL;DR join <a href="http://testnet.anoma.net/?ref=blog.anoma.net">testnet.anoma.net</a> Anoma is a distributed operating system powering a unified app layer for all Web3. Anoma is not just another L1 or blockchain component that brings incremental improvements to the existing paradigm – it’s a complete conceptual shift on how blockchains are designed and how applications are built.
This shift is only possible with Anoma’s distributed operating system, which abstracts the complexities of infrastructure away for developers and users alike, providing a more simple, unified experience.
<h2 id="anoma-testnet-overview">Anoma Testnet Overview</h2>The Anoma testnet implements a visual and interactive representation of what a decentralized world computer looks like, powered by the Anoma Distributed OS.<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-width-wide kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/bd/7fbd1a63-7773-421a-8cc8-e41b09cdccee/content/images/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-12.14.56.png" class="kg-image" alt="" loading="lazy" width="2000" height="397" srcset="https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/bd/7fbd1a63-7773-421a-8cc8-e41b09cdccee/content/images/size/w600/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-12.14.56.png 600w, https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/bd/7fbd1a63-7773-421a-8cc8-e41b09cdccee/content/images/size/w1000/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-12.14.56.png 1000w, https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/bd/7fbd1a63-7773-421a-8cc8-e41b09cdccee/content/images/size/w1600/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-12.14.56.png 1600w, https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/bd/7fbd1a63-7773-421a-8cc8-e41b09cdccee/content/images/size/w2400/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-12.14.56.png 2400w" sizes="(min-width: 1200px) 1200px"><figcaption>The Layers of the Intent Machine</figcaption></figure>The Anoma Intent Machine is composed of three layers:&nbsp;<ul><li>The Desktop: Anoma’s application layer, which provides a unified application UX and a platform for building intent-centric applications.&nbsp;<ul><li>You can observe how intents are generated by users interacting with the apps and games on the Desktop</li></ul></li></ul><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/bd/7fbd1a63-7773-421a-8cc8-e41b09cdccee/content/images/2025/07/L1.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="" loading="lazy" width="1920" height="1080" srcset="https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/bd/7fbd1a63-7773-421a-8cc8-e41b09cdccee/content/images/size/w600/2025/07/L1.jpg 600w, https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/bd/7fbd1a63-7773-421a-8cc8-e41b09cdccee/content/images/size/w1000/2025/07/L1.jpg 1000w, https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/bd/7fbd1a63-7773-421a-8cc8-e41b09cdccee/content/images/size/w1600/2025/07/L1.jpg 1600w, https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/bd/7fbd1a63-7773-421a-8cc8-e41b09cdccee/content/images/2025/07/L1.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"><figcaption>The Desktop: Anoma’s application layer</figcaption></figure><ul><li>The Intentnet: Anoma’s P2P, networking and node layer, enabled by Anoma’s state-passing protocol. Similar to how the TCP/IP protocol enables the Internet, Anoma’s state-passing protocol enables the Intentnet. On the Intentnet, you can observe:<ul><li>How intents are processed by the different nodes</li><li>How the counterparty discovery and solving process works</li><li>How Anoma’s P2P network enables private and public intentpools and mempools to co-exist and interoperate</li></ul></li></ul><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/bd/7fbd1a63-7773-421a-8cc8-e41b09cdccee/content/images/2025/07/L2.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="" loading="lazy" width="1920" height="1080" srcset="https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/bd/7fbd1a63-7773-421a-8cc8-e41b09cdccee/content/images/size/w600/2025/07/L2.jpg 600w, https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/bd/7fbd1a63-7773-421a-8cc8-e41b09cdccee/content/images/size/w1000/2025/07/L2.jpg 1000w, https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/bd/7fbd1a63-7773-421a-8cc8-e41b09cdccee/content/images/size/w1600/2025/07/L2.jpg 1600w, https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/bd/7fbd1a63-7773-421a-8cc8-e41b09cdccee/content/images/2025/07/L2.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"><figcaption>The Intentnet: Anoma’s P2P, networking and node layer</figcaption></figure><ul><li>The Motherboard: Anoma’s hardware layer, where you can see various L1, L2 and infrastructure chains that can be connected to Anoma (the chains shown are for illustrative purposes only and do not necessarily reflect Anoma’s mainnet roadmap). This layer abstracts all existing blockchains away, into a consistent, unified interface for building and using applications. Blockchains and other decentralized and trusted services become resources that are easily accessible by application builders. The Motherboard includes some example resources:<ul><li>CPUs for compute e.g. Ethereum + L2s, Solana</li><li>Long term storage e.g. Filecoin, Arweave, IPFS</li><li>Memory / Data Availability e.g. Celestia, EigenDA, Near DA</li><li>Oracles e.g. Chainlink or trusted oracles like Coinbase’s price feed</li></ul></li></ul><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/bd/7fbd1a63-7773-421a-8cc8-e41b09cdccee/content/images/2025/07/L3-1.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="4CA62B4F9BDAE98F" loading="lazy" width="1920" height="1080" srcset="https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/bd/7fbd1a63-7773-421a-8cc8-e41b09cdccee/content/images/size/w600/2025/07/L3-1.jpg 600w, https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/bd/7fbd1a63-7773-421a-8cc8-e41b09cdccee/content/images/size/w1000/2025/07/L3-1.jpg 1000w, https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/bd/7fbd1a63-7773-421a-8cc8-e41b09cdccee/content/images/size/w1600/2025/07/L3-1.jpg 1600w, https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/bd/7fbd1a63-7773-421a-8cc8-e41b09cdccee/content/images/2025/07/L3-1.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"><figcaption>The Motherboard: Anoma’s hardware layer</figcaption></figure><h2 id="invite-codes-joining-the-anoma-testnet">Invite Codes &amp; Joining the Anoma Testnet</h2>Anyone with the link <a href="http://testnet.anoma.net/?ref=blog.anoma.net">testnet.anoma.net</a> can checkout the Anoma Testnet, but your character will appear as a ghost and you won’t be able to interact with any of its features until you complete the onboarding process. 
To complete the onboarding process, you’ll need an invite code. Where can you find an invite code? That’s a good question… There is no single faucet for invite codes, but the following might be worth checking out:
<ul><li><a href="https://x.com/anoma?ref=blog.anoma.net">@anoma</a> on&nbsp; X account (keep a close eye on the posts)</li><li><a href="https://discord.com/invite/anoma?ref=blog.anoma.net">The Anoma Discord</a></li><li>Posts from Anoma team members (please do not spam the team with DMs)</li><li>The upcoming AMAs</li><li>Etc.</li></ul>Who knows, there might be some hidden in this blogpost...Join the rest of the Anoma Community on the testnet channels on <a href="https://discord.com/invite/anoma?ref=blog.anoma.net">Discord</a>:<ul><li>#testnet-feedback</li><li>#testnet-chat</li></ul><h2 id="anoma-community-goals">Anoma Community Goals</h2>Just as Anoma provides a completely new approach to app development, the Anoma testnet also takes a different approach. Not the typical early tech demo for developers, the testnet is designed as a fun, educational experience for users. The testnet is an interactive, gamified visualization of Anoma’s Distributed Operating System. It’s dedicated to the Anoma community, who can learn about Anoma’s architecture and vision by exploring, playing, and earning points through interacting with it.The goals for the Anoma Community are:<ul><li>Learn about Anoma’s next-gen architecture and how it enables a unified app layer for Web3</li><li>Interact with Apps and Games</li><li>Earn a lot of points</li></ul>
…But most most importantly, have fun!

The Anoma Testnet is Live!

Anoma is the Distributed Operating System (DOS) which abstracts the complexities of existing blockchains away, providing one unified interface for users to interact with and for developers to build on.We have just deployed the Anoma Protocol Adapter on mainnet Ethereum:&nbsp;<ul><li><a href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x46E622226F93Ed52C584F3f66135CD06AF01c86c?ref=blog.anoma.net#code">Link to the PA contract</a></li><li><a href="https://etherscan.io/tx/0x3a0999f4f67e6c7ef7a22cb19f3b458b497fa29f69a653f776e77194c415a024?ref=blog.anoma.net">Link to test transaction</a></li></ul>The Anoma PA is an Ethereum smart contract. It implements the Anoma DOS on Ethereum and it enables Ethereum users, developers, and applications to access the Anoma Resource Machine (ARM) and all its features without making any changes. This deployment also allows the upcoming Anoma applications, such as AnomaPay, to simply work on Ethereum.<h2 id="what-is-the-anoma-resource-machine-arm">What is the Anoma Resource Machine (ARM)?</h2>The Anoma DOS brings native privacy, intents, and interop to Ethereum. The Anoma Resource Machine (ARM) is the state and execution model of the Anoma DOS. It allows applications to access and operate on top of distributed underlying hardware, i.e. different blockchains. It is neither UTXO nor account model-based, it is resource model based, which combines the best of both models.Dive deeper into the ARM:<ul><li><a href="https://anoma.net/blog/introducing-the-arm?ref=blog.anoma.net" rel="noreferrer">Introducing the ARM</a></li><li><a href="https://ethresear.ch/t/the-anoma-protocol-adapter-is-live-on-ethereum/23466?ref=blog.anoma.net" rel="noreferrer">PA &amp; ARM on Ethereum post on Ethresear.ch</a></li><li><a href="https://github.com/anoma/evm-protocol-adapter?ref=blog.anoma.net">Implementation of the EVM PA</a></li><li><a href="https://zenodo.org/records/10689620?ref=blog.anoma.net">ARM Technical Specifications</a></li></ul><h2 id="what%E2%80%99s-next">What’s next?</h2>We’ll be publishing more learning resources about the whole Anoma stack, as well as docs for developers who want to deploy the PA to their own chain.The deployment of the Anoma PA on Ethereum marks the beginning of many installations of the Anoma DOS to come, including but not limited to Ethereum L2s, stablecoin chains – setting the foundation for the upcoming applications on Anoma, starting with <a href="https://x.com/anomapay?ref=blog.anoma.net">AnomaPay</a>.Stay tuned by following <a href="https://x.com/anoma?ref=blog.anoma.net">@anoma</a> on X.

Awa Sun Yin

An Introduction to Intents and Intent-centric Architectures

The Anoma Testnet is Live!

Anoma is Now Live on Ethereum Mainnet