Pod Template Library¶
Note
These are the technical template names used in topology YAML files and blueprint manifests. For conceptual descriptions of what each type does, see The Five Pod Types.
Customers deploy pre-assembled blueprints — template selection is done by Hopr at composition time. This table is provided for reference when reading blueprint manifests and architecture diagrams.
HTTP Family¶
Used for HTTP1/REST blueprints (Armored Car and Armored Tunnel modes).
| Template | Category | Ingress | Egress | Conceptual Name | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
http-gateway | Boundary | 0 | 1 | Gateway / Initiator | Accepts external POST /trigger; starts the network |
http-initiator | Internal | 0 | 1 | Gateway / Initiator | Internally-triggered initiator; no external access |
http-relay | Internal | 1 | 1 | Relay / Processor | Processes and forwards a single message |
http-fan-out | Internal | 1 | N | Distributor / Router | Broadcasts to N downstream pods simultaneously |
http-fan-in | Internal | N | 1 | Aggregator | Waits for N upstream messages; forwards combined result |
http-sink | Boundary | 1 | 0 | Sink / Terminator | Accepts final message; exposes GET /output externally |
http-terminator | Internal | 1 | 0 | Sink / Terminator | Accepts final message; no external access |
HTTP is the most widely used family, covering all Armored Car catalog blueprints (Armored Ferry, Convoy, Trawler, Trimaran, Carrier Parallel).
WebSocket Family¶
Used for Armored Tunnel blueprints with persistent bi-directional connections.
| Template | Category | Ingress | Egress | Conceptual Name | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ws-initiator | Internal | 0 | 1 | Gateway / Initiator | Initiates persistent WebSocket session |
ws-relay | Internal | 1 | 1 | Relay / Processor | Processes and relays over persistent connection |
ws-fan-out | Internal | 1 | N | Distributor / Router | Broadcasts over persistent connections to N pods |
ws-fan-in | Internal | N | 1 | Aggregator | Aggregates N WebSocket streams |
ws-terminator | Internal | 1 | 0 | Sink / Terminator | Receives final message in WebSocket session |
Used in: Fast Ferry, Fast International Ferry.
gRPC Family¶
Used for HTTP2/gRPC blueprints. Includes generated protobuf files in the bundle.
| Template | Category | Ingress | Egress | Conceptual Name | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
grpc-gateway | Boundary | 0 | 1 | Gateway / Initiator | gRPC entry point; accepts external trigger |
grpc-relay | Internal | 1 | 1 | Relay / Processor | gRPC relay with Armored Tunnel protection |
grpc-sink | Boundary | 1 | 0 | Sink / Terminator | Receives final gRPC message; exposes output endpoint |
Used in: International Ferry.
Bridge Templates (HTTP ↔ gRPC)¶
Used when external callers speak HTTP but the inner network uses gRPC BidiStream. These templates perform protocol translation in the application layer. xtra4 tunnels raw TCP bytes and cannot translate between HTTP/1.1 and gRPC/HTTP2 framing — the validator (error E21) blocks direct http-* to grpc-* connections unless a bridge template is used at the boundary.
| Template | Category | Ingress | Egress | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
http-grpc-gateway | Boundary | HTTP (port 8000) | gRPC BidiStream | Entry: accepts external HTTP POST /trigger; forwards as gRPC BidiStream to inner mesh |
grpc-http-sink | Boundary | gRPC BidiStream (port 50051) | HTTP (port 8000) | Exit: receives gRPC BidiStream from inner mesh; exposes results via HTTP GET /output |
Connections at bridge boundaries are exempt from E21. All other pods in the blueprint between these templates must use the gRPC family. See Mixed-Protocol Blueprints.
Agentic AI Family¶
Specialized templates for AI agent networks. Built on HTTP + WebSocket mixed protocol.
| Template | Category | Ingress | Egress | Conceptual Name | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ai-orchestrator | Internal | 1 | N | Distributor / Router | Bounded ReAct loop; dispatches to LLM + Tool legs |
llm-gateway | Internal | 1 | 1 | Relay / Processor | LLM provider integration point; replace stub with SDK |
tool-executor | Internal | 1 | 1 | Relay / Processor | MCP tool integration point; replace stub with tools |
nlp-processor | Internal | N | 1 | Aggregator | Aggregates LLM + Tool outputs into structured response |
Used in: Armored Carrier Zero Trust AI Pipeline.