How Net relates to other systems
Net overlaps with tool protocols, messaging systems, and data fabrics, but it is organized around a different object. This page compares those models so you can choose the smallest one that fits and combine them where their boundaries meet.
The addressable object
| System | What the application addresses |
|---|---|
| HTTP / REST | an endpoint or resource |
| MCP | a tool exposed by a configured server |
| NATS | a subject |
| Zenoh | data or computation through a key expression |
| Net | a capability offered under identity and authority |
That choice determines what each system knows. A subject routes messages without needing to describe the publisher. A key expression gives distributed data a location-transparent name. An MCP server gives a host a callable tool schema. A Net capability joins a typed operation to its provider, visibility, invocation authority, availability, and associated execution state.
Side by side
These systems can occupy different positions in the same deployment. The useful distinction is the boundary each one owns, not which one has the longest feature list.
| System | Position in a combined architecture | What callers address | Boundary it owns | How it composes with Net |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HTTP / REST | application or provider interface | an endpoint or resource | request and response semantics for a web-facing operation | a provider-side adapter translates a capability invocation into an HTTP request |
| MCP | agent-host tool interface | a tool exposed by a configured server | tool schemas and calls between a host and its configured servers | selected tools can be published as Net capabilities, or Net can be exposed to an MCP host |
| NATS | provider-side messaging infrastructure | a subject | publish-subscribe and request-reply messaging inside the provider or deployment | a provider handles a Net invocation through internal NATS subjects and returns the result |
| Zenoh | provider-side distributed data plane | data or computation through a key expression | publication, subscription, queries, and storage integration across the provider's data plane | a provider operates on Zenoh data and publishes selected operations through Net |
| Net | capability and authority plane between them | a capability offered by an identified provider | provider identity, capability publication and discovery, visibility, invocation authority, provider selection, invocation, and the streams or artifacts it returns | applications address provider-held work without depending on the provider's internal interfaces or stack |
How they compose
MCP and Net
MCP remains the tool interface. Net publishes those tools as capabilities so other nodes can discover and invoke them without centralizing credentials. See Net and MCP.
HTTP and Net
An adapter can expose an HTTP operation as a capability while keeping the URL, credentials, and vendor behavior on the provider side. See Connecting HTTP systems.
NATS and Net
NATS can carry messaging and service traffic inside one operational domain while Net connects selected capabilities across device, runtime, or organization boundaries. See Net and NATS.
Zenoh and Net
Zenoh fits systems organized around distributed data and queries. Net fits systems organized around provider-held work and authority. See Net and Zenoh.
Mechanical differences that affect deployment
Net's mesh transport is UDP-only. A network that permits TCP but blocks UDP will not establish a Net session. Reliability is opt-in and does not imply in-order delivery: reliable streams preserve gap-free eventual delivery while consumers that need strict order reassemble by sequence.
Net uses Noise NKpsk0 sessions rather than TLS. A link requires local bind and
peer addresses, a shared 32-byte PSK, and the responder's static public key. That
is a different key-management model, not a universal simplification: deployments
must distribute and rotate PSKs, while organizations with an established PKI may
prefer systems that use it directly.
Capability properties used for selection are provider assertions unless an external attestation backs them. Visibility and invocation authority are separate: organization-scoped descriptors are encrypted for their audience, while provider policy still decides whether a call may execute.
Choosing
Use the system whose organizing object matches the application:
- fixed web endpoint: HTTP;
- configured agent tool: MCP;
- messages and services by subject: NATS;
- distributed data by key: Zenoh;
- provider-held work under changing availability and authority: Net.
These are architectural roles, not rankings. A single product may use several of them at once.