Step by step.

Getting started

What ATON Constellation is

A network of members' own machines that run ATON Kestrel's research while they are idle, and earn points for it.

ATON Constellation is a free app for Windows, Mac and Linux, and a network of the machines that run it. While your computer is idle, its graphics card or processor runs small, signed pieces of research for ATON Kestrel, our AI model family for trading.

Every piece of work is run on more than one member's machine, and the answers must match. Each checked result earns its owner points, one point being one Canadian cent (C$0.01) of credit toward an Atheron plan.

The work is backtests and sweeps, news scoring with our own small open models, experimental training of small research nets, and simulations. Live trading, exchange keys, the vault, order routing, market watching from your connection, full model weights and raw exchange archives never run on the network.

Account and sign-in

Signing in and linking a machine

Sign in from the app to tie your machine to your account. A server without a screen links with a short code.

The app makes its own key the first time it runs and keeps it in your system's keychain. Signing in ties that key to your Atheron account, so the work the machine does is credited to you. One account can link many machines, and each machine belongs to one account.

A command-line node on a server or home lab links with a code instead: open My nodes in the members portal, ask for a link code, and enter it on the node. The code is 8 characters long and works for 10 minutes.

1. Open the app and choose Sign in.
2. Your browser opens the Atheron sign-in page. Sign in as usual.
3. Return to the app. Your machine now shows under My nodes in the members portal.
4. To unlink it, open My nodes, pick the machine and choose Unlink. This also withdraws its key.

Points and prizes

How points are worked out

Each checked result earns the power it used, at your country's average household price, plus 50%.

Points start once your identity is verified to Core, at the price for your verified country. Your machine can run before that, and its work counts for the leaderboard, but it earns no points until you verify.

For each checked result, the energy is taken from our benchmark for your machine's class and the work it did, never from the machine's own meter. That energy, in kWh, is multiplied by your country's average household electricity price in Canadian dollars, converted from a price table in US dollars, by 100 points to the dollar, and by 1.5. The result is rounded down.

Points show live on your node card. They clear into your balance 14 days after the work is checked. The calculator on this site uses the same rule and prices.

Points and prizes

Spending your points

Points pay for your Atheron plan. They are never cash and cannot be transferred.

From the day live trading opens, points pay for Atheron subscriptions. Add-ons and pre-orders come later, and merchandise after that.

Points are plan credit only. They are never paid out as cash or anything like it, and they cannot be transferred to another person. Points pay for at most 6 months of plan in any 12, the same rule as all Atheron points. Points beyond what you can spend are kept with no expiry, ready for when you can use them. Points earned when a point was one US cent are converted once to Canadian cents at the same value, so a balance keeps its worth. Your balance and redemption are under Constellation, then Points, in the members portal.

Troubleshooting

My machine is not getting any jobs

Work through these checks in order. Most often the machine is not idle, is on battery, or is not linked.

Jobs arrive only when your machine is linked, idle and inside its limits. Check each of these in turn.

1. Make sure the app is running and not paused. Look at the tray or menu bar icon.
2. Check that the machine shows under My nodes in the members portal. If not, sign in from the app again.
3. Leave the machine without keyboard or mouse input for at least 5 minutes, with no full-screen app or game open.
4. Plug a laptop in. The app never runs on battery.
5. Check the app's status line. If it says a temperature or power limit is reached, let the machine cool or raise the limit in Settings.
6. Run the hardware check on this site. Machines below the minimum take fewer kinds of jobs, and some only processor work.
7. If the app says the node is suspended, contact us through the chat. A person on our team will look at it.

Privacy and security

What runs on your machine, and what we see

Jobs run in a sandbox on derived data. Reports carry your device class and run times, never your files or location.

Processor jobs run in a WebAssembly sandbox with no access to your files, no network and no clock beyond a counter. Graphics jobs reach your card only through a narrow interface. The app runs as you, never as an administrator, and opens no port unless you choose to relay for other nodes.

Each report carries your device class and benchmark score, driver, runtime and app versions, your operating system family, the job's run times, the highest temperature and any throttling. It never carries file names, process lists, your computer's name, your username or your precise location.

When your machine checks in, we use its internet address to place it at its approximate city on the Constellation map. We never use GPS, we don't keep the address, and the public map shows only city dots and counts, never your name, handle or node.