# It isn't a runtime yet

> Where IllAIra stands next to agentic runtimes like elizaOS: the file the runtime reads, not the engine that runs it — and why «yet» is the right word.

*designed version: https://illaira.com/en/approfondimenti/non-e-ancora-un-runtime · index: https://illaira.com/en/llms.txt*

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[← Deep dives](https://illaira.com/en/approfondimenti.md)

Deep dive

Agentic runtimes are having a moment, and IllAIra sits close enough to one that the difference is worth spelling out: it's the file, not the engine.

## What an agentic runtime is

An agentic runtime is where the agent runs: the program that holds the model, the connectors and the tools, and acts in the world — a calendar, a browser, messages. elizaOS is one example: an open-source TypeScript framework for autonomous agents, with apps, over a hundred plugins, and the agent's memory kept in the runtime's own database (source: the elizaOS/eliza repository's README, read 2026-09-13). If a second example helps: Claude Code and other code-based agents are the same idea in a different shape.

## What IllAIra is

IllAIra is the file the runtime reads: who the AI is, what it may touch, what it remembers. It doesn't run anything itself. It isn't the engine — it's the road.

## Why «yet»

The direction is real, without a date and without detail: once there is hardware to run an internal model on, there will be an IllAIra runtime too — and it will read the same files that exist today. Until then, the file works inside other people's runtimes. In preparation, like the rest of Symbiont Academy.

## Where the file sits, runtime by runtime

Chat with Projects or Gems

A project file, plus a permanent instruction.

Code-based agent

A file in the local folder, which it reads on its own.

Agentic runtime

A system instruction, or the character's knowledge.

[Where to upload, model by model](https://illaira.com/en/approfondimenti/dove-caricare.md)

## In one line

If IllAIra shuts down, the files still work.