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

# Core Concepts

> Strategy Arena vocabulary for private submission, reproducible evaluation, and guarded eligibility.

These concepts show up across the docs and product.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Competition surface" icon="table">
    Strategy Arena, submissions, epochs, and Benchmark Hold define how builders
    compete under fixed rules.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Scoring layers" icon="chart-line">
    Beta `score`, CapitalScore, and ContestScore answer different questions and
    must not be mixed.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Evidence layer" icon="file-check">
    Artifacts, hashes, manifests, and replay metadata make evaluation results
    auditable.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Capital path" icon="shield">
    Eligibility is a guarded next-step signal. It is not a capital promise.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Strategy Arena

The Strategy Arena is AlphaEngine's beta competition surface. Builders submit
strategy candidates for a supported market family. AlphaEngine runs each
candidate through the same simulation and evaluation rules so results are
comparable.

The current implemented family is `strategy-arena`, focused on Pendle-style
yield strategies.

## Strategy submission

A submission is a candidate strategy configuration. In the public API flow,
submissions are represented by strategy components, parameters, market id,
timeframe, and caller metadata.

In the encrypted intent flow, protected inputs are submitted through on-chain
intent records and handled by the private operator runtime. That runtime is an
internal system, not the public HTTP API.

## Epoch

An epoch is a fixed evaluation period with known rules. It gives builders and
allocators a shared frame:

* the same market universe,
* the same datasets,
* the same benchmark policy,
* the same scoring windows,
* the same eligibility gates.

## Benchmark Hold

Benchmark Hold is the plain control strategy. It represents simple principal
token carry over the same scored window.

The beta evaluation score compares a submitted strategy's utility against this
benchmark utility:

$$
\mathrm{score} = 100 \times \frac{\mathrm{strategyUtility}}{\max(\mathrm{benchmarkUtility}, 0.0001)}
$$

Source: `api-router/docs/contracts/public-api-v1.md` and
`ranking-evaluation/docs/development-log.md`.

## Beta score

`score` is the current public beta leaderboard number returned by
`POST /v1/families/strategy-arena/evaluations`.

It is a display-scale benchmark-adjusted score. In beta, the UI sorts local
leaderboard rows by this value. There is no server-owned cross-submission
leaderboard endpoint yet.

## CapitalScore

CapitalScore is a stricter robustness diagnostic. It penalizes fragile results
across scenarios:

$$
\mathrm{CapitalScore} = \operatorname{mean}(U_s) - \kappa \cdot \operatorname{std}(U_s) - \frac{c}{\sqrt{T_{\mathrm{eff}}}}
$$

The default MVP constants are `kappa = 0.5` and `c = 1.0`.

Source: `ranking-evaluation/docs/p0-evaluation-design-v1.md`.

## ContestScore

ContestScore is for contest rewards and duplicate-aware participation logic. It
must stay independent from capital allocation ranking. A high ContestScore does
not automatically imply capital eligibility.

## Eligibility

Eligibility is a gate result, not a promise of capital.

Current backend eligibility checks include positive utility fraction, drawdown
ceiling, turnover ceiling, runtime budget, budget/config validity, and numeric
integrity. Failures return explicit reason codes.

Evidence creates eligibility. It does not guarantee capital.

## Reproducible artifacts

AlphaEngine treats artifacts as evidence. Reports and manifests should preserve
enough metadata for deterministic replay:

* input hashes,
* output hashes,
* dataset or snapshot hashes,
* config hashes,
* package or dependency versions,
* strategy registry snapshot hash when strategy menus affect outcomes.

## Guarded capital progression

Guarded capital progression is the future path from arena evidence to limited
deployment. Vault rules constrain assets, size, execution permissions, risk,
and operational boundaries.

The system is designed so capital follows evidence under guardrails, not trader
discretion.

## Related pages

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="How the arena works" icon="table" href="/arena/how-it-works">
    Walk through discovery, simulation, evaluation, comparison, and iteration.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Scoring and benchmarks" icon="chart-line" href="/arena/scoring-and-benchmarks">
    See the formula boundaries and source documents.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Eligibility, not allocation" icon="shield" href="/capital/eligibility-not-allocation">
    Understand what eligibility does and does not mean.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Privacy model" icon="lock" href="/trust/privacy-model">
    See what is hidden, what leaks, and what becomes public.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>