ICE Runtime is the execution core of the ICE ecosystem.
It provides a structured, extensible, and policy-aware runtime designed to coordinate applications, sessions, events, memory, and transports in a coherent and inspectable system.
ICE Runtime is not a traditional framework. It is an operational substrate for long-living, stateful, and observable intelligent systems.
ICE Runtime sits at the center of ICE execution.
It does not define intelligence, domain logic, or user interfaces. Instead, it enforces how things happen, in which order, and under which rules.
All ICE applications, agents, and products ultimately execute through the Runtime.
- Explicit lifecycle management
- Strong separation of responsibilities
- Event-driven coordination
- Capability-based access control
- Deterministic state transitions
- Runtime introspection and observability
ICE Runtime is responsible for:
- Managing process, session, and workspace lifecycles
- Executing and supervising runs
- Routing, validating, and persisting events
- Enforcing capability and authority boundaries
- Governing state transitions and memory exposure
- Providing structured logging and transport abstractions
- Acting as the execution substrate for higher-level ICE systems
ICE Runtime is typically not consumed directly by end users.
It is embedded or orchestrated by:
- Agent systems
- IDE integrations
- Automation layers
- ICE products such as ICE Studio
A minimal entrypoint is available via:
python -m ice_runtime