Skip to main content
Agon V4 exposes three settlement paths, each built on the previous one. All three settle into the same shared vault and the same participant balances — they differ only in how many channels and how many participants are settled together.

​
The three modes at a glance

ModeMessage formatInstructionBest for
Directagon-cmt-v5settle_individualOne payer, one payee, one channel
BundleMany agon-cmt-v5settle_commitment_bundleOne payee aggregating many payers
Cooperative clearingagon-round-v4settle_clearing_roundSeveral participants netting mutual payments
Direct settlement is always available as a fallback, even when bundle or cooperative paths are used. See Design principles for why.

​
Direct settlement

One signed agon-cmt-v5 moves one channel forward. The payee (or a delegated authorized_settler) submits it with settle_individual.
  • Signatures: 1 (the channel’s authorized_signer)
  • On-chain writes: 1 channel, 2 participants
  • Coordination: none
  • When to use: the baseline path for any new integration

​
Bundle settlement

The payee collects many agon-cmt-v5 messages from many payers in the same token and settles them in one transaction with settle_commitment_bundle.
  • Signatures: one per included channel (each payer signs independently)
  • On-chain writes: N channels, N+1 participants
  • Coordination: none between payers
  • When to use: one provider with many paying clients
Bundle settlement is not multilateral netting. Each channel still settles independently; the bundle only reduces transaction count and per-transaction overhead.

​
Cooperative clearing

Several participants sign one shared agon-round-v4 message. settle_clearing_round advances every included channel and applies only the residual participant balance changes that remain after the included payments cancel each other out.
  • Signatures: one per participant block (today under Ed25519; BLS is a roadmap item)
  • On-chain writes: all included channels, plus net balance changes per participant
  • Coordination: all participants must agree on and sign the same round
  • When to use: a known group of participants with bidirectional payment flow
This is the densest settlement path in V4. Cooperative rounds scale the protocol’s compression beyond anything a single unilateral path can achieve.

​
Choosing a mode

Start with direct settlement. Promote to bundle settlement when one payee is settling many payers in the same token. Promote to cooperative clearing when a known set of participants has mutual payment flow and is willing to coordinate. You do not have to pick one. A real deployment can use all three simultaneously — different relationships at different points on the coordination / density spectrum.

​
See also