The three lanes
Not every Digital Worker on SOCIII goes into the same marketplace. The platform separates workers into three lanes — each with different distribution, review, and revenue posture. You pick the lane for your worker in your catalog.json.
The lanes
Lane 1 — Open Apache fork
For: Hackers, students, indie devs. People who want to build for fun or for portfolio.
What you get:
- Your worker lives in the open-source repo
- Forkable by anyone under Apache 2.0
- Listed in the open registry (sociii.ai/open) but not in the curated Marketplace
- No revenue split — no money flows
- No SOCIII brand association
What's required:
- Worker structurally valid (passes QA-001 v1 structural family)
- README + license
Review: Automated PR review only. No human gate. No quality control by SOCIII beyond the structural check.
Lane 2 — Marketplace 75/25
For: Domain experts who want to earn from their worker. The default lane.
What you get:
- Listed in the curated SOCIII Marketplace at sociii.ai/marketplace
- Full SOCIII brand association
- Subscription billing handled by the platform
- 75% of net revenue paid monthly (see Earnings →)
- Public Creator Profile at sociii.ai/c/<your-handle>
- Forge Reviews subscription on day 1 (see Review cycle →)
What's required:
- Complete Intent Spec with assertions
- QA-001 passes (Structural + Behavioral + Edge-case)
- Pricing set in catalog
- Creator Agreement signed
Review: Tiered — automated AI reviewer (70%) + peer review (20%) + founder review (10% sample). Most PRs merge automatically; flagged PRs go to peer/founder.
Lane 3 — Experimental
For: Workers that aren't ready for primetime but the creator wants real-world feedback. Or workers in regulated spaces where SOCIII isn't yet ready to fully attest.
What you get:
- Listed in the Marketplace but tagged "Experimental"
- Marketing push: none (no SOCIII promotion)
- Subscription billing handled by the platform
- Reduced revenue split OR no marketing push (specific terms TBD per worker)
- "Experimental" disclosure visible to every customer
What's required:
- Intent Spec with assertions
- Structural QA-001 passes
- Experimental Disclosure acknowledged
Review: Automated AI reviewer only. No human review. Lower bar to ship, higher disclosure burden.
Picking your lane
Decision tree:
1. Are you doing this for fun / portfolio, not money? → Lane 1 (Open Apache).
2. Are you ready for QA-001 + Creator Agreement + the marketplace bar? → Lane 2 (Marketplace).
3. Do you want real-world feedback faster than Marketplace-grade review allows? → Lane 3 (Experimental).
You can move between lanes. A creator starting in Lane 3 (Experimental) can graduate to Lane 2 (Marketplace) when QA-001 assertions are strong + review is clean. A Lane 2 worker that fails review can downgrade to Lane 3 while the creator iterates.
You cannot move from Lane 1 (Open) to Lane 2 (Marketplace) without re-authoring under Creator Agreement.
Why three lanes (not one)
The radical-developer-vs-quality tension. If we required Marketplace-grade quality for every worker on day 1, we'd have no early adopters. If we let everything in the Marketplace, customers can't trust it.
Three lanes solve it:
- Lane 1 fuels developer enthusiasm (the NanoClaw equivalent)
- Lane 2 protects the customer trust signal
- Lane 3 buffers the gap — workers that are real but not yet trustworthy at scale
The QC isn't the gate; marketplace access is.
What customers see
In the SOCIII app sidebar:
- Marketplace — Lane 2 workers only. Curated. Quality bar.
- Marketplace → Experimental — Lane 3 workers with disclosure
- Open — Lane 1 workers, separate surface, opt-in to browse
Most users only ever see Marketplace. Power users explore Experimental and Open.
What comes next
→ Earnings & payouts — the 75/25 split, monthly cycle, refunds
→ Creator Agreement — what Lane 2 requires you to sign
→ Review cycle — Forge Reviews, peer review, founder review