Teneo July Recap
The Network Turns On. The Agents Take Over. Echo Arrives.
July turned the spark of activation into a surge of momentum. The Teneo AI Agent Testnet moved from a quiet trial into an expanding early-access launch, the community met our first official mascot, and new layers of engagement and recognition took shape.
We’re now firmly in the next stage of the protocol’s lifecycle: real-time, decentralized AI running live across a growing network of user-powered agents.
Here’s what happened.
The AI Agent Testnet Officially Launches
What started in June as a limited rollout for moderators and ambassadors became a full Testnet launch in July. Early Bird supporters and Martians (our earliest community members) were invited to activate their browser-based AI Agents, marking the first time these agents are operating in the wild. Not just a software update, it’s your browser coming alive to think and act on real-time public data.
- Real-Time Intelligence at Your Fingertips
Run an AI Agent directly from your browser that structures open web content into usable insights, autonomously or while you scroll. - Earn Through Contribution
When you switch to Contribute & Earn mode, every structured signal helps the network grow, and earns you Teneo Points in return.
- Be Part of the Protocol’s Evolution
Testnet users aren’t just participants. They’re shaping the future of decentralized AI, one heartbeat at a time.
Read the full testnet launch blog for the deeper story.
Golden Tickets: Access That Moves
To manage access, we introduced the Golden Ticket system: a unique NFT invite that grants entry into the Testnet. Each whitelisted tester who processes 10,000 data signals unlocks three Golden Tickets to pass along, keeping growth community-driven and merit-based.
This phased approach ensures quality and feedback as the network scales. By mid-month, the Testnet expanded significantly and additional waves of invites have been going out steadily.
That’s how this Testnet grew: not with marketing spend, but with proof-of-contribution and social trust. Every wave of new testers followed one rule: Earn first. Then invite.
By month’s end, we had Early Birds, Martians, and Straight to the Moon roles all in play, syncing their Discords, linking their Machine IDs, and minting new access to fuel the swarm.
Golden Tickets are meant to be used, not flipped. Transfers cost only a few cents on peaq. Let’s keep it honest.
Two Modes, One Mission
Inside the Testnet, Teneo Agents run in two modes:
- In Observer Mode, your agent accompanies you as you scroll, watching and structuring the public content you naturally encounter.
- Switch to Autonomous Mode and your agent navigates on its own, continuously gathering open-web signals without any input.
Every valid post, comment, or profile processed becomes a structured data point. With heartbeat pings every 15 minutes, the network stays in sync and rewards active participants in real time.
Most importantly, you stay in control: agents only process publicly available data and you can choose at any moment between Local Use (privacy mode) or Contribute & Earn to share insights and earn points for the collective network.
What does this all mean? Teneo has moved from theory into practice. A decentralized swarm of user-run AI agents is now live and proving that real-time information retrieval can happen at the browser’s edge, without centralized servers or gatekeepers. The Phase 3 vision is underway, and it’s being powered by you. Check out the Roadmap
A Pulse in the Browser
With agents alive, a new rhythm emerged. Every 15 minutes, your browser logs a heartbeat, signaling uptime and syncing processed content. But not every signal gets rewarded immediately. Only once your agent has logged 100+ valid items will the next heartbeat transmit them, counting toward your Teneo Points.
This architecture keeps the Testnet honest. No silent idling. No shortcuts. Just presence → signal → structure → sync. A living mesh of edge-based cognition.
And behind the scenes? No central servers. Just a protocol designed to reward participation, not just clicks.
Echo: Our Mascot Comes to Life
From over 700 community-submitted designs to a single character with a shared identity, July saw the debut of Echo, the official Teneo mascot.
We revealed Echo to the community this month, and it immediately struck a chord. Echo isn’t just a cute figurehead; it embodies the spirit of decentralized AI and real-time insight flowing through the network. Born from community creativity and shaped by collective feedback, Echo carries “the pulse of the network”, symbolizing how each node and agent contributes to a larger intelligence.
You’ll start seeing Echo in more of our visuals and updates going forward – a playful reminder of the openness and energy that define Teneo.
Chapter 8 Live: Signals to Intelligence
With the network now running live agents, July also marked a shift in how we educate and onboard. Chapter 8 of the Teneo Academy, “Signals to Intelligence”, was released this month, walking users through exactly what the Agent Testnet is doing under the hood.
From Observer and Autonomous Modes to heartbeat syncing and Golden Ticket gating, Chapter 8 breaks down how your Agent processes public content in real time, turns it into structured data, and syncs it into the network, all from your browser.
For the first time, the learning experience is fully aligned with a working, live protocol, not just theory. You can read the full chapter and take the quiz directly on the Teneo Discord server.
Tag Rewards and Gamification Kick Off
At the end of June we introduced the custom Teneo server tag on Discord, giving active contributors a proud badge next to their names. In July, that update turned into a community-wide show of spirit, and some friendly competition. We ran a Teneo Tag Challenge, encouraging everyone to sport the tag on their profiles. The reward? Ten randomly selected tag-bearers each earned 10,000 Teneo Points for their contributions.
To add the tag, you can either click the server name in the top left of the Teneo Discord and choose “Adopt a Server Tag,” or go to User Settings → Profiles, scroll down to the Server Tags section, and select “TNEO”. It’ll show up next to your name across the server.
It was a fun way to celebrate our identity and give back to those spreading the word. (Congrats to our winners, and keep an eye out for more surprise challenges and drops in the future!)
This is just the beginning of gamified participation in the Teneo ecosystem. On the roadmap ahead are features like on-chain badge rewards for milestones, a leaderboard to showcase top contributors, and a social graph that adds a new dimension to how we recognize and incentivize community intelligence. As more users activate agents and engage, these lightweight recognition tools will help reinforce the shared mission, and make contributing even more rewarding.
Galaxis Partnership: Real-Time Signals Meet Web3 Brand Power
July also marked a major step on the collaboration front. Teneo has partnered with Galaxis, a leading platform for Web3 brand and community tools, to explore how decentralized AI Agents can unlock real-time social intelligence for Web3 ecosystems.
As part of the partnership, we’re working to integrate Teneo’s user-powered AI Agents into Galaxis’ community management stack, connecting live public data signals and sentiment insights directly from the open web.
This means brands and projects can tap into what’s really happening out there, moment to moment, not through gated dashboards or third-party brokers, but through decentralized agents delivering structured intelligence in real time.
The collaboration showcases a powerful new direction for both platforms: bringing transparency, speed, and authenticity to the way communities are managed and engaged across Web3.
Teneo in the Spotlight
The world taking notice of what we’re building. Teneo was featured this month in The Defiant, which ran a deep dive into our AI Agent Testnet and the broader mission behind it. The piece highlighted how Teneo is offering a permissionless alternative to the closed, centralized data pipelines of Big Tech, and it underscored the scale of our community’s early involvement. (With millions of users powering over 15 million daily data signals, the network’s activity is already turning heads.)
The article noted that “Teneo is turning a once-speculative vision for decentralized AI into a functioning reality,” as autonomous agents in ordinary browsers begin to deliver real-time insights without middlemen. It’s a powerful outside validation of our approach – emphasizing that while many projects build individual AI agents, Teneo is building the open network that empowers them all. You can read the full feature on The Defiant.
On the Horizon
With the Testnet now live and evolving, the coming weeks will focus on expanding access and refining the experience. More community members will join (so if you’re still waiting, make sure your 𝕏 and Discord are linked and your Machine ID is set – your Golden Ticket may arrive soon!).
Every bit of feedback from the Testnet is helping sharpen the agents and optimize the protocol for scale. The network is getting smarter and stronger with each new node that comes online. And that mascot you’re seeing everywhere (hi, Echo!) is a reminder that a new kind of AI era is emerging, one that’s community-driven, transparent, and actually in your hands.
Want to be part of what’s next? Start by visiting the Teneo Dashboard and prepping your node. The next wave of decentralized intelligence is already underway, and it’s closer than you think.