GOOSE PROJECTS (AI)
GOOSE DEVELOPMENT KIT (GDK)
Contrary to how it sounds, GDK is not a platform for developing geese, despite that being the only thing better than what it actually is.
Instead, GDK is an open-source SDK for building agentic applications that are model-agnostic, locally-runnable, and independent of any single provider. Built in Rust and powered by the Agent Communication Protocol (ACP), it provides the foundation for an open ecosystem of agents, clients, and tools. As part of the Linux Foundation's AAIF initiative, we're working with others in the industry to ensure the future of AI is built on open standards rather than closed platforms. Why? Because there's a war coming for who controls intelligence and unlike the wars for your attention, inbox, and social graph, this is one that we can win but only if we start now.
We built the Lightning Development Kit so that anyone could integrate bitcoin's Lightning network without asking permission. GDK is our effort to bring that same open-source ethos to AI, replete with important technical concepts like agent loops, tool calling, and context management that doesn't care if your model lives on a laptop, in the cloud, or in Narnia.
GOOSE REFERENCE CLIENT (GRC)
GRC is a first-party application that demonstrates best practices for using GDK by being a power tool for users. It doubles as a cheat code for those looking to build their own client and comes in two forms:
1) Goose Desktop is the familiar goose desktop application experience for power users who like to honk in windows instead of terminals.
2) Goose CLI lets users drive the agent directly from their terminal. This is for users who'd rather inject goose into a shell script, drop it into continuous integration, or wire it into whatever weird workflow they've built over the last decade. Goose CLI also uses the Rust API and demonstrates how to build on it. It's like a Zen garden for nerds and their agents.
MESH LLM
MESH LLM is a peer-to-peer inference network that allows individuals to contribute spare compute to run open-source AI models. By spreading inference across a network of participants, it lowers the hardware barrier to entry and makes open models accessible to people who don't have a mountain of GPUs sitting around.
AI PROTOCOL DEVELOPMENT
Agents are only as open as the protocols they run on. We work on two, or three if you count the one lurking and breathing heavily in our attic.
Model Context Protocol (MCP) connects agents to servers, giving them tools, data, and the ability to act. We were early to this, since goose was one of the first clients to support MCP-UI, which grew into MCP Apps. We also donated and maintain the Rust SDK for MCP.
Agent Client Protocol (ACP) connects clients to agents. One protocol, and any client (terminal, desktop, IDE) can drive any agent. We built a Streamable HTTP transport for ACP and co-lead the working group standardizing remote transports for the whole ecosystem.
BITCOIN PROJECTS
LIGHTNING DEVELOPMENT KIT (LDK)
A flexible SDK for building custom Lightning experiences, LDK powers wallets and makes Lightning development simpler as bitcoin becomes everyday money. Rather than handing devs a finished node and hoping it fits, LDK turns the Lightning protocol into a set of modular pieces that can be configured to match whatever weird stuff people are building. It runs everywhere from phones to servers to hardware security modules, with native bindings for languages beyond Rust, so no one is forced to rebuild their stack around it. Developing for Lightning still isn't easy, but LDK does make it easier.
LDK NODE
LDK is fundamentally just a kit (that's what the "K" means), and kits require assembly. LDK Node is the ready-to-go version: a self-custodial Lightning node in library form, built on LDK and BDK. It comes with an integrated on-chain wallet, a choice of chain data sources, reliable storage out of the box, and language bindings for Swift, Kotlin, and Python. Originally designed for mobile self-custody, the kind of place where standing up a Lightning node is seldom a one-day project, but with LDK Node it can be.
LDK SERVER
If LDK Node is Lightning-in-a-library, LDK Server is Lightning-in-a-daemon, both of which sound much cooler taken out of a software development context. It's a fully functional Lightning node that devs can deploy with minimal configuration and no code, built on top of LDK Node to expose a language-agnostic API via Protocol Buffers. It ships with an MCP server so AI agents and other MCP-compatible clients can call its RPCs as tools. This is either a fun curiosity or the future of how nodes operate. We think it's both.
LOUPE
Attackers use AI to find vulnerabilities in open-source code. Most bitcoin maintainers don't, mainly because a tool that does this didn't exist until we built it. Loupe is a free, AI-powered vulnerability scanner for FOSS bitcoin projects named after the magnifying tool jewelers use to yeah yeah you get the metaphor. Spiral and Block run the scans, responsibly disclose what turns up, and work with maintainers to fix vulnerabilities, with the long-term plan of handing the tool over so each project can take over scanning themselves. Every report comes with a demonstrable test case, so it's all signal and no slop.
BCAP
Bitcoin is very hard to change, which is critical to its value. But, what exactly prevents it from change? How are improvements made? The Bitcoin Consensus Analysis Project is the open-source, peer-reviewed document co-authored by Spiral Lead Steve Lee, Lyn Alden and, uhhh, "Ren Crypto Fish."
BCAP maps how bitcoin has upgraded its consensus rules, breaking the network into six stakeholder groups, modeling how their powers shift during a proposed change, which powers and motivations exist for each group, and analyzing the modes that emerge when they break down: alternative clients, contentious soft forks, bounty claims, chain splits. The point isn't to advocate for one upgrade, but to illustrate how they have been made and what powers and influences are needed to do so again in the future.
BITCOIN QUANTUM READINESS
With the threat of quantum computing potentially looming, we're doing something about it. Published as a paper by Presidio Bitcoin following their 2025 summit, Bitcoin's Quantum Readiness is an open-source project analyzing bitcoin's exposure to quantum computing threats. It lays out where quantum computing stands, which coins are at risk and why, the safeguards available now, and the upgrade paths bitcoin could take, both in an orderly transition and in a rapid-response scenario. Rather than a one-time report, it's meant to be a living document.
BITCOIN PROTOCOL DEVELOPMENT
We advance Bitcoin Core, Lightning specs, layer 2s like Ark, Stratum V2, and open standards, including Human Bitcoin Addresses (BIP 353), which turn intimidating bitcoin addresses into simple email-like identifiers that show how small, focused contributions can meaningfully improve bitcoin for everyone. We also helped kick off work to secure bitcoin from future attacks, with our team members proposing the original version of the Great Consensus Cleanup.
BITCOIN DESIGN COMMUNITY
We helped create the Bitcoin Design Community to bring together designers with vision to level up UX across the ecosystem. We have funded them through grants to make bitcoin more intuitive, accessible, and user-friendly. The BDC has produced a detailed design guide documenting best practices for bitcoin builders. Together with the community, we also advocate for technologies and design patterns that increase consistency and simplicity in bitcoin, such as unified QR codes, BOLT12 offers, human bitcoin addresses, and use of the ₿ symbol for bitcoin quantities.
BUILDER
Focused on design, AI tools, and vibecoding, Builder is a monthly Socratic-style meetup for creators interested in building with AI. Founded in SF but with a footprint in multiple other cities, it's where developers, designers, PMs, and the AI-curious can share demos, discuss news, and learn from each other. The point is to make it easier for creators to start building even if they've only got a toe in the increasingly self-aware robot overlord swimming pool.
FLINT
Flint is a project that wouldn't have been possible as recently as 2025. It's a new but flourishing community of vibecoders and product builders exploring bitcoin, generative AI, and emerging tech. They collaboratively prototype new projects and put them into the world, hoping to spark inspiration and light the way forward to complete this overworked, agonizing metaphor.
BITCOIN MERCHANT COMMUNITY
Credit card fees can cost small businesses UP TO 50% OF THEIR PROFITS. That caps lock was accidental, but pretty fortuitous because the BMC is a community of bitcoiners solving what is perhaps bitcoin's biggest challenge: real-world acceptance. By arming bitcoiners with simple tools and talking points, like how bitcoin helps small businesses completely avoid credit card fees, it gives them the reasons and the knowledge to adopt bitcoin payments and onboard their customers. It's our opinion that the best way to get people paying with bitcoin is to excite merchants, abandon ideological arguments, and hand out free plushies.
STRATUM V2
The open-source reference implementation of StratumV2, a next-gen bitcoin mining protocol with a cool name that encrypts miner-pool communication, returns block template control to miners, reduces censorship and stale shares, and offers a migration path for upgrading the entire mining ecosystem. The part that matters most is block template control: deciding which transactions get mined has become one of bitcoin's most centralized choke points, and StratumV2 hands that decision back to the people actually doing the mining.
HERECOMESBITCOIN
Like many before it but different altogether, Here Comes Bitcoin is a growing universe of anthropomorphic bitcoins called Bitty (the big one), Itty Bitty (the little one), and Kitty Bitty (the cat one) that promote a fun, positive culture around bitcoin's sometimes inaccessible veneer. The project has spread widely since its inception, with Here Comes Bitcoin being used over 30,000,000 times on Giphy alone. Itty Bitty also appears in the physical world as a line of plushies that are center stage over in the Bitcoin Merchant Community campaign, helping connect bitcoin to everyday life in a friendly, furry, frowny way.
PRESIDIO BITCOIN
A dedicated co-working space for bitcoin and AI contributors in San Francisco's Presidio district. PB offers an in-person hub for collaboration, community, and high-impact work for those who prefer building together over working remotely and want to bridge the gap between bitcoin and Silicon Valley. While we helped get it off the ground, PB is not exclusively managed by Spiral. Despite this, it has become our west coast base for operations and indecisiveness about lunch.
PRESIDIO BITCOIN JAM
It's not a co-working space without a podcasting space. Presidio Bitcoin Jam (yes, PBJ; no, they're not doing anything with that acronym) is a weekly roundtable podcast held at Presidio Bitcoin, where Silicon Valley veterans Steve Lee, David King, and Max Webster harness the power of forever friendship to turn otherwise dull bitcoin, tech, and AI-related topics into an accessible community resource and occasional passionate disagreement.
21 IN 21
A lot of podcasts could benefit from being a lot shorter. Others, non-existent. 21 in 21 is a rapid-fire Q&A series where our own Haley Berkoe sits down with bitcoin believers, tech luminaries, and AI nerds of varying levels of notoriety to answer 21 questions in 21 minutes, with no coding or design skills required. It's also filmed and broadcast from Presidio Bitcoin.
COPA / CRAIG WRIGHT
We're so committed to bitcoin's success that we helped take down one of its biggest antagonists: Craig Wright.
For eight years, Wright claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto while suing or threatening to sue anyone who posted the White Paper online, asserting it was his property. We intentionally took the bait, posting the White Paper to our Twitter account and co-founding the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA), which fought Craig then and continues to fight the good fight now. The resulting two-year legal battle in the UK ultimately toppled Wright's claims to be Satoshi, with Spiral director Steve Lee even testifying against him.
If this sounds like bragging, good. Slaying monsters is a great addition to any resume.
