AD4M is an agent-centric social network and interoperability framework, and it uses Holochain for distributed hash tables and peer-to-peer networking. On 20 October 2026, @HexaField merged a change that lets a Holochain DNA install run for up to 120 seconds, where the install used to be cut at 10 seconds.
Holochain's developer portal says that when 2 or more agents install and run a DNA, a new peer-to-peer network is created. A cut install therefore affects more than AD4M: any Holochain app that starts this way depends on the install completing, and the change keeps a slow install from being cut short.
AD4M lets a slow Holochain DNA install finish instead of being cut at 10 seconds
On 16 October, a live test on staging, run on a fresh executor, logged a language constructor failure ending in an install failure for an app ID. The install does genesis and WASM compilation, which the author describes as slow on a fresh executor, then enables the app and waits for each cell's network join. The dispatcher dropped the install after 10 seconds, while the JavaScript operation waiting on it still waited up to 45 seconds.
A dropped install left no app behind, the app lookup came back empty, and the registration step threw. The change raises the dispatcher's limit to 120 seconds, above that 45-second wait. The dispatcher still ends installs that are really stuck, so the lock that guards the app's lifecycle is not held forever. The author ran the executor library tests in release mode, serially: 2,614 passed, 0 failed.
The Epistemic Resonance Protocol adds a heartbeat timer that emits signals
The Epistemic Resonance Protocol is a Holochain hApp for epistemic discourse, built on claims, critiques and evidence graphs. On 20 October 2026, @StateofIntent merged a change adding
metabolic_tick, a function the host runs on its own scheduler, with no client and no caller.The author measured the first tick 0.1 seconds after starting the metabolism, and the second 60.1 seconds later, against a 60-second floor. The author kept the observation ephemeral, so the DHT stayed byte-identical throughout the run on a real conductor.
The Epistemic Resonance Protocol moves from version 9 to version 11
Pull request 303, merged by @StateofIntent on 22 October 2026, closes READINESS items 5g, 11, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25. The same change runs the first autonomous population the graph has had. Because the DNA hash changes, peers on the old hash cannot see the new one at all.
What a builder has to change
The AD4M change is one constant in the dispatcher, INSTALL_APP_TIMEOUT, set to
Duration::from_secs(120) in place of a literal 10 seconds. A builder who installs a DNA on a fresh executor should expect an install to run up to 120 seconds before the dispatcher ends it. For the protocol, the DNA hash change means peers on the old hash cannot see the new one.