logicsrc/docs/opencpu.md

OpenCPU

OpenCPU is the shape of one resource in a server purchase: the processor. It says how many cores or threads an offer has, what they are, whether they are yours alone or shared, and how many more a buyer may add at checkout and for how much. It is the compute block of an OpenServer offer, written down on its own so a provider that sells only compute, a configurator that sells it by the core and a directory that filters on it all mean the same thing by the same key. It is maintained by Profullstack, Inc. as part of the LogicSRC open-standards surface.

Status: 0.1. One of five resource specifications under OpenServer: OpenCPU, OpenMemory, OpenDisk, OpenGPU and OpenBandwidth. Each describes one thing that is negotiable when a server is bought.

Slug: opencpu

The problem

"4 vCPU" on one pricing page is four hyperthreads of a shared socket that will be throttled at 20% sustained load. On the next page it is four dedicated cores with the boost clock quoted. A comparison site collapses both into a column called CPU and sorts on the number, and the buyer who wanted the second pays for the first. A dedicated-server configurator lets a buyer choose between three processors and the price changes, but that choice lives in a form and nowhere a reader can see it. A buyer's agent asked for "8 dedicated cores, x86, under 40 a month" cannot answer from the number 8.

The processor is one line of a spec sheet, but it is the line with the most ways to say the same thing, so this document fixes the words.

Terms

• The compute block is the compute object on an OpenServer offer, or the same object served on its own.
• A thread is what a hypervisor hands a guest; a core is what the silicon has. Providers sell either, and this document keeps them apart.
• An allocation is whether the threads sold are reserved for the buyer, shared with neighbours, or shared with a credit balance that allows bursts.
• A range is what the buyer may change at checkout, with the price of changing it.

The compute block

{
  "compute": {
    "vcpu": 4,
    "cores": 2,
    "threads_per_core": 2,
    "arch": "x86_64",
    "model": "AMD EPYC 9354",
    "vendor": "AMD",
    "base_ghz": 3.25,
    "boost_ghz": 3.75,
    "sockets": 1,
    "allocation": "dedicated",
    "range": {
      "key": "vcpu",
      "min": 2,
      "max": 32,
      "step": 2,
      "price": { "amount": 4, "currency": "USD", "interval": "month", "per": 1 }
    }
  }
}

The smallest valid block states one count:

{ "compute": { "vcpu": 4 } }

The rules, and every one degrades:

1. One of vcpu or cores is required. vcpu is threads sold to the guest; cores is physical cores. A virtual offer states vcpu, a dedicated box states cores, and one may state both, with threads_per_core (1 or 2) saying how they relate. A reader never derives one from the other unless threads_per_core is stated.
2. arch is x86_64, arm64, riscv64 or the provider's own word. Absent means unstated, not x86.
3. model is the processor as the vendor names it, unchanged, so a buyer can look it up. vendor is the maker (AMD, Intel, Ampere, Apple, AWS for Graviton). base_ghz and boost_ghz are the vendor's clock figures in gigahertz, not a measurement. sockets is how many packages a dedicated box has.
4. allocation is one of dedicated, shared, burstable. dedicated means the threads are reserved for this buyer. shared means they are oversubscribed with neighbours and sustained use may be limited. burstable means shared with a credit balance: credits_per_hour says how many CPU credits accrue and baseline_pct the sustained share the buyer is entitled to without spending them. Absent means unstated, and a directory that sorts by core count says so beside the number.
5. range is the negotiable part. key names the field the buyer changes (vcpu or cores), min, max and step bound it, and price is the cost per per units at the offer's interval, on top of the offer's base price. An offer with no range is sold as stated. A configurator with a choice of processors lists one offer per processor rather than a range over model, because a model is a name, not a number.
6. ram_mb may sit here for compatibility with OpenServer 0.1, and a reader accepts it. The memory block in OpenMemory is where memory belongs; when both are present the memory block wins.
7. Unknown keys are kept. A provider may say more; a reader passes it through under the provider's key.

Units are fixed: counts are integers, clocks are gigahertz as decimals, percentages are integers 0 to 100.

Compute as its own offer

A provider that sells compute without a server, a batch platform billing by the vCPU-hour, a peer on a marketplace renting its idle cores, a configurator selling core upgrades, lists it as an OpenServer offer whose compute block carries the goods and whose price says what a unit costs:

{
  "id": "batch-vcpu-hour",
  "name": "Batch vCPU",
  "kind": "serverless",
  "compute": { "vcpu": 1, "arch": "x86_64", "allocation": "dedicated" },
  "price": { "amount": 0.021, "currency": "USD", "interval": "hour" }
}

A provider that sells only compute may serve its OpenServer descriptor at /.well-known/opencpu.json as well as, or instead of, /.well-known/openserver.json. The document is the same shape; the name says what a reader will find in it. A reader that only wants compute filters offers on the presence of a compute block.

What a directory does with it

1. Sorts on what was stated. vcpu and cores are two columns, not one. A row with neither is listed and marked unstated.
2. Shows allocation beside the count. Four dedicated threads and four shared ones are different products at the same number, and the directory shows the word.
3. Prices the range. An offer with a range is shown at its base price with the per-unit price alongside, so a buyer can see that 8 vCPU costs the base plus four steps.
4. Keeps the model string. Normalise for search; display the vendor's name.

What is deliberately absent

No benchmarks. Clock figures are the vendor's; a measured score is another document's business, and a directory that publishes one labels it as its own.

No instruction-set flags. AVX-512, SVE, virtualisation extensions: a buyer who needs one looks up model. A provider that wants to state them does so under its own key.

No scheduling guarantees. allocation says reserved, shared or burstable. Latency, NUMA placement and pinning are the provider's terms, linked from the offer's url.

Related standards

• OpenServer: the descriptor and the offer this block sits in.
• OpenMemory, OpenDisk, OpenGPU, OpenBandwidth: the other four resources of a purchase, each with the same range shape.
• OpenSwarm and c0mpute: a peer renting its cores lists them with this block and settles under OpenSwarm.

Version history

Version	Date	Change
0.1	2026-09-13	First publication: the compute block, threads against cores, three allocations, the range.

License

The specification text is CC BY 4.0. Serve it, copy it, extend it.