> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.stellarium.sh/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# What is Stellarium?

> Stellarium is a decentralized, programmable API network where anyone can host an API and get paid for it.

Stellarium is a decentralized, programmable API network. Anyone can host an API on it, and anyone can call those APIs with a small program written in [RequestScript](https://github.com/qualletio/requestscript-js).

## A network of APIs, run by its users

Most APIs live on one company's servers. To use them, you sign up, get a key, and follow that company's rules. If the service changes or shuts down, everything built on it breaks.

Stellarium works differently. It is made of many independent **nodes**. Each node can host its own APIs, which Stellarium calls **resources**. Nodes find each other, share the list of resources they know about, and pass requests along to whichever node hosts the resource you asked for.

No single server is in charge. You don't need to know where a resource lives. You ask for it by name, and the network routes your request.

## Host an API, get paid for it

A resource can be anything you can write as a function: a weather lookup, a price feed, a translation service, a database query. When other people call your resource, you can charge for it per call, settled in SOL through an on-chain escrow. You earn from your API without building your own billing, sign-up, or key management.

## One small language for every API

Every Stellarium request is a RequestScript program. It names the resources it wants and calls their functions:

```requestscript GetTemperature.req theme={null}
request GetTemperature {
  const weather: com.example.Weather

  return weather.temperature(city: "Oslo")
}
```

There are no URLs, status codes, auth headers, or retry logic. Your node works out which peer hosts `com.example.Weather` and forwards the request there.

## Where to go next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Run a node" icon="rocket" href="/quickstart">
    Install `stellarium-ts`, register a resource, and start serving requests.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Core concepts" icon="diagram-project" href="/concepts/network">
    Nodes, resources, peers, and how requests are routed.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Payments" icon="coins" href="/concepts/payments">
    How paid resources, vouchers, and the escrow work.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Whitepaper" icon="file-lines" href="https://github.com/qualletio/SIPs/blob/main/WHITEPAPER.md">
    The full design of the network, payments, and RequestScript.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

<Note>
  Stellarium is early and under active development. APIs and payment flows may change between releases. Join the [Discord](https://discord.gg/yDEBkaz6cB) to follow along.
</Note>


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