diff --git a/tractor/hilevel/__init__.py b/tractor/hilevel/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cf2741d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tractor/hilevel/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# tractor: structured concurrent "actors".
+# Copyright 2024-eternity Tyler Goodlet.
+
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+'''
+High level design patterns, APIs and runtime extensions built on top
+of the `tractor` runtime core.
+
+'''
+from ._service import (
+    open_service_mngr as open_service_mngr,
+    get_service_mngr as get_service_mngr,
+    ServiceMngr as ServiceMngr,
+)
diff --git a/tractor/hilevel/_service.py b/tractor/hilevel/_service.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..70dddbdf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tractor/hilevel/_service.py
@@ -0,0 +1,592 @@
+# tractor: structured concurrent "actors".
+# Copyright 2024-eternity Tyler Goodlet.
+
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+'''
+Daemon subactor as service(s) management and supervision primitives
+and API.
+
+'''
+from __future__ import annotations
+from contextlib import (
+    asynccontextmanager as acm,
+    # contextmanager as cm,
+)
+from collections import defaultdict
+from dataclasses import (
+    dataclass,
+    field,
+)
+import functools
+import inspect
+from typing import (
+    Callable,
+    Any,
+)
+
+import tractor
+import trio
+from trio import TaskStatus
+from tractor import (
+    log,
+    ActorNursery,
+    current_actor,
+    ContextCancelled,
+    Context,
+    Portal,
+)
+
+log = log.get_logger('tractor')
+
+
+# TODO: implement a `@singleton` deco-API for wrapping the below
+# factory's impl for general actor-singleton use?
+#
+# -[ ] go through the options peeps on SO did?
+#  * https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6760685/what-is-the-best-way-of-implementing-singleton-in-python
+#  * including @mikenerone's answer
+#   |_https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6760685/what-is-the-best-way-of-implementing-singleton-in-python/39186313#39186313
+#
+# -[ ] put it in `tractor.lowlevel._globals` ?
+#  * fits with our oustanding actor-local/global feat req?
+#   |_ https://github.com/goodboy/tractor/issues/55
+#  * how can it relate to the `Actor.lifetime_stack` that was
+#    silently patched in?
+#   |_ we could implicitly call both of these in the same
+#     spot in the runtime using the lifetime stack?
+#    - `open_singleton_cm().__exit__()`
+#    -`del_singleton()`
+#   |_ gives SC fixtue semantics to sync code oriented around
+#     sub-process lifetime?
+#  * what about with `trio.RunVar`?
+#   |_https://trio.readthedocs.io/en/stable/reference-lowlevel.html#trio.lowlevel.RunVar
+#    - which we'll need for no-GIL cpython (right?) presuming
+#      multiple `trio.run()` calls in process?
+#
+#
+# @singleton
+# async def open_service_mngr(
+#     **init_kwargs,
+# ) -> ServiceMngr:
+#     '''
+#     Note this function body is invoke IFF no existing singleton instance already
+#     exists in this proc's memory.
+
+#     '''
+#     # setup
+#     yield ServiceMngr(**init_kwargs)
+#     # teardown
+
+
+# a deletion API for explicit instance de-allocation?
+# @open_service_mngr.deleter
+# def del_service_mngr() -> None:
+#     mngr = open_service_mngr._singleton[0]
+#     open_service_mngr._singleton[0] = None
+#     del mngr
+
+
+
+# TODO: implement a singleton deco-API for wrapping the below
+# factory's impl for general actor-singleton use?
+#
+# @singleton
+# async def open_service_mngr(
+#     **init_kwargs,
+# ) -> ServiceMngr:
+#     '''
+#     Note this function body is invoke IFF no existing singleton instance already
+#     exists in this proc's memory.
+
+#     '''
+#     # setup
+#     yield ServiceMngr(**init_kwargs)
+#     # teardown
+
+
+
+# TODO: singleton factory API instead of a class API
+@acm
+async def open_service_mngr(
+    *,
+    debug_mode: bool = False,
+
+    # NOTE; since default values for keyword-args are effectively
+    # module-vars/globals as per the note from,
+    # https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/controlflow.html#default-argument-values
+    #
+    # > "The default value is evaluated only once. This makes
+    #   a difference when the default is a mutable object such as
+    #   a list, dictionary, or instances of most classes"
+    #
+    _singleton: list[ServiceMngr|None] = [None],
+    **init_kwargs,
+
+) -> ServiceMngr:
+    '''
+    Open an actor-global "service-manager" for supervising a tree
+    of subactors and/or actor-global tasks.
+
+    The delivered `ServiceMngr` is singleton instance for each
+    actor-process, that is, allocated on first open and never
+    de-allocated unless explicitly deleted by al call to
+    `del_service_mngr()`.
+
+    '''
+    # TODO: factor this an allocation into
+    # a `._mngr.open_service_mngr()` and put in the
+    # once-n-only-once setup/`.__aenter__()` part!
+    # -[ ] how to make this only happen on the `mngr == None` case?
+    #  |_ use `.trionics.maybe_open_context()` (for generic
+    #     async-with-style-only-once of the factory impl, though
+    #     what do we do for the allocation case?
+    #    / `.maybe_open_nursery()` (since for this specific case
+    #    it's simpler?) to activate
+    async with (
+        tractor.open_nursery() as an,
+        trio.open_nursery() as tn,
+    ):
+        # impl specific obvi..
+        init_kwargs.update({
+            'an': an,
+            'tn': tn,
+        })
+
+        mngr: ServiceMngr|None
+        if (mngr := _singleton[0]) is None:
+
+            log.info('Allocating a new service mngr!')
+            mngr = _singleton[0] = ServiceMngr(**init_kwargs)
+
+            # TODO: put into `.__aenter__()` section of
+            # eventual `@singleton_acm` API wrapper.
+            #
+            # assign globally for future daemon/task creation
+            mngr.an = an
+            mngr.tn = tn
+
+        else:
+            assert (mngr.an and mngr.tn)
+            log.info(
+                'Using extant service mngr!\n\n'
+                f'{mngr!r}\n'  # it has a nice `.__repr__()` of services state
+            )
+
+        try:
+            # NOTE: this is a singleton factory impl specific detail
+            # which should be supported in the condensed
+            # `@singleton_acm` API?
+            mngr.debug_mode = debug_mode
+
+            yield mngr
+        finally:
+            # TODO: is this more clever/efficient?
+            # if 'samplerd' in mngr.service_ctxs:
+            #     await mngr.cancel_service('samplerd')
+            tn.cancel_scope.cancel()
+
+
+
+def get_service_mngr() -> ServiceMngr:
+    '''
+    Try to get the singleton service-mngr for this actor presuming it
+    has already been allocated using,
+
+    .. code:: python
+
+        async with open_<@singleton_acm(func)>() as mngr`
+            ... this block kept open ...
+
+    If not yet allocated raise a `ServiceError`.
+
+    '''
+    # https://stackoverflow.com/a/12627202
+    # https://docs.python.org/3/library/inspect.html#inspect.Signature
+    maybe_mngr: ServiceMngr|None = inspect.signature(
+        open_service_mngr
+    ).parameters['_singleton'].default[0]
+
+    if maybe_mngr is None:
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            'Someone must allocate a `ServiceMngr` using\n\n'
+            '`async with open_service_mngr()` beforehand!!\n'
+        )
+
+    return maybe_mngr
+
+
+async def _open_and_supervise_service_ctx(
+    serman: ServiceMngr,
+    name: str,
+    ctx_fn: Callable,  # TODO, type for `@tractor.context` requirement
+    portal: Portal,
+
+    allow_overruns: bool = False,
+    task_status: TaskStatus[
+        tuple[
+            trio.CancelScope,
+            Context,
+            trio.Event,
+            Any,
+        ]
+    ] = trio.TASK_STATUS_IGNORED,
+    **ctx_kwargs,
+
+) -> Any:
+    '''
+    Open a remote IPC-context defined by `ctx_fn` in the
+    (service) actor accessed via `portal` and supervise the
+    (local) parent task to termination at which point the remote
+    actor runtime is cancelled alongside it.
+
+    The main application is for allocating long-running
+    "sub-services" in a main daemon and explicitly controlling
+    their lifetimes from an actor-global singleton.
+
+    '''
+    # TODO: use the ctx._scope directly here instead?
+    # -[ ] actually what semantics do we expect for this
+    #   usage!?
+    with trio.CancelScope() as cs:
+        try:
+            async with portal.open_context(
+                ctx_fn,
+                allow_overruns=allow_overruns,
+                **ctx_kwargs,
+
+            ) as (ctx, started):
+
+                # unblock once the remote context has started
+                complete = trio.Event()
+                task_status.started((
+                    cs,
+                    ctx,
+                    complete,
+                    started,
+                ))
+                log.info(
+                    f'`pikerd` service {name} started with value {started}'
+                )
+                # wait on any context's return value
+                # and any final portal result from the
+                # sub-actor.
+                ctx_res: Any = await ctx.wait_for_result()
+
+                # NOTE: blocks indefinitely until cancelled
+                # either by error from the target context
+                # function or by being cancelled here by the
+                # surrounding cancel scope.
+                return (
+                    await portal.wait_for_result(),
+                    ctx_res,
+                )
+
+        except ContextCancelled as ctxe:
+            canceller: tuple[str, str] = ctxe.canceller
+            our_uid: tuple[str, str] = current_actor().uid
+            if (
+                canceller != portal.chan.uid
+                and
+                canceller != our_uid
+            ):
+                log.cancel(
+                    f'Actor-service `{name}` was remotely cancelled by a peer?\n'
+
+                    # TODO: this would be a good spot to use
+                    # a respawn feature Bo
+                    f'-> Keeping `pikerd` service manager alive despite this inter-peer cancel\n\n'
+
+                    f'cancellee: {portal.chan.uid}\n'
+                    f'canceller: {canceller}\n'
+                )
+            else:
+                raise
+
+        finally:
+            # NOTE: the ctx MUST be cancelled first if we
+            # don't want the above `ctx.wait_for_result()` to
+            # raise a self-ctxc. WHY, well since from the ctx's
+            # perspective the cancel request will have
+            # arrived out-out-of-band at the `Actor.cancel()`
+            # level, thus `Context.cancel_called == False`,
+            # meaning `ctx._is_self_cancelled() == False`.
+            # with trio.CancelScope(shield=True):
+            # await ctx.cancel()
+            await portal.cancel_actor()  # terminate (remote) sub-actor
+            complete.set()  # signal caller this task is done
+            serman.service_ctxs.pop(name)  # remove mngr entry
+
+
+# TODO: we need remote wrapping and a general soln:
+# - factor this into a ``tractor.highlevel`` extension # pack for the
+#   library.
+# - wrap a "remote api" wherein you can get a method proxy
+#   to the pikerd actor for starting services remotely!
+# - prolly rename this to ActorServicesNursery since it spawns
+#   new actors and supervises them to completion?
+@dataclass
+class ServiceMngr:
+    '''
+    A multi-subactor-as-service manager.
+
+    Spawn, supervise and monitor service/daemon subactors in a SC
+    process tree.
+
+    '''
+    an: ActorNursery
+    tn: trio.Nursery
+    debug_mode: bool = False # tractor sub-actor debug mode flag
+
+    service_tasks: dict[
+        str,
+        tuple[
+            trio.CancelScope,
+            trio.Event,
+        ]
+    ] = field(default_factory=dict)
+
+    service_ctxs: dict[
+        str,
+        tuple[
+            trio.CancelScope,
+            Context,
+            Portal,
+            trio.Event,
+        ]
+    ] = field(default_factory=dict)
+
+    # internal per-service task mutexs
+    _locks = defaultdict(trio.Lock)
+
+    # TODO, unify this interface with our `TaskManager` PR!
+    #
+    #
+    async def start_service_task(
+        self,
+        name: str,
+        # TODO: typevar for the return type of the target and then
+        # use it below for `ctx_res`?
+        fn: Callable,
+
+        allow_overruns: bool = False,
+        **ctx_kwargs,
+
+    ) -> tuple[
+        trio.CancelScope,
+        Any,
+        trio.Event,
+    ]:
+        async def _task_manager_start(
+            task_status: TaskStatus[
+                tuple[
+                    trio.CancelScope,
+                    trio.Event,
+                ]
+            ] = trio.TASK_STATUS_IGNORED,
+        ) -> Any:
+
+            task_cs = trio.CancelScope()
+            task_complete = trio.Event()
+
+            with task_cs as cs:
+                task_status.started((
+                    cs,
+                    task_complete,
+                ))
+                try:
+                    await fn()
+                except trio.Cancelled as taskc:
+                    log.cancel(
+                        f'Service task for `{name}` was cancelled!\n'
+                        # TODO: this would be a good spot to use
+                        # a respawn feature Bo
+                    )
+                    raise taskc
+                finally:
+                    task_complete.set()
+        (
+            cs,
+            complete,
+        ) = await self.tn.start(_task_manager_start)
+
+        # store the cancel scope and portal for later cancellation or
+        # retstart if needed.
+        self.service_tasks[name] = (
+            cs,
+            complete,
+        )
+        return (
+            cs,
+            complete,
+        )
+
+    async def cancel_service_task(
+        self,
+        name: str,
+
+    ) -> Any:
+        log.info(f'Cancelling `pikerd` service {name}')
+        cs, complete = self.service_tasks[name]
+
+        cs.cancel()
+        await complete.wait()
+        # TODO, if we use the `TaskMngr` from #346
+        # we can also get the return value from the task!
+
+        if name in self.service_tasks:
+            # TODO: custom err?
+            # raise ServiceError(
+            raise RuntimeError(
+                f'Service task {name!r} not terminated!?\n'
+            )
+
+    async def start_service_ctx(
+        self,
+        name: str,
+        portal: Portal,
+        # TODO: typevar for the return type of the target and then
+        # use it below for `ctx_res`?
+        ctx_fn: Callable,
+        **ctx_kwargs,
+
+    ) -> tuple[
+        trio.CancelScope,
+        Context,
+        Any,
+    ]:
+        '''
+        Start a remote IPC-context defined by `ctx_fn` in a background
+        task and immediately return supervision primitives to manage it:
+
+        - a `cs: CancelScope` for the newly allocated bg task
+        - the `ipc_ctx: Context` to manage the remotely scheduled
+          `trio.Task`.
+        - the `started: Any` value returned by the remote endpoint
+          task's `Context.started(<value>)` call.
+
+        The bg task supervises the ctx such that when it terminates the supporting
+        actor runtime is also cancelled, see `_open_and_supervise_service_ctx()`
+        for details.
+
+        '''
+        cs, ipc_ctx, complete, started = await self.tn.start(
+            functools.partial(
+                _open_and_supervise_service_ctx,
+                serman=self,
+                name=name,
+                ctx_fn=ctx_fn,
+                portal=portal,
+                **ctx_kwargs,
+            )
+        )
+
+        # store the cancel scope and portal for later cancellation or
+        # retstart if needed.
+        self.service_ctxs[name] = (cs, ipc_ctx, portal, complete)
+        return (
+            cs,
+            ipc_ctx,
+            started,
+        )
+
+    async def start_service(
+        self,
+        daemon_name: str,
+        ctx_ep: Callable,  # kwargs must `partial`-ed in!
+        # ^TODO, type for `@tractor.context` deco-ed funcs!
+
+        debug_mode: bool = False,
+        **start_actor_kwargs,
+
+    ) -> Context:
+        '''
+        Start new subactor and schedule a supervising "service task"
+        in it which explicitly defines the sub's lifetime.
+
+        "Service daemon subactors" are cancelled (and thus
+        terminated) using the paired `.cancel_service()`.
+
+        Effectively this API can be used to manage "service daemons"
+        spawned under a single parent actor with supervision
+        semantics equivalent to a one-cancels-one style actor-nursery
+        or "(subactor) task manager" where each subprocess's (and
+        thus its embedded actor runtime) lifetime is synced to that
+        of the remotely spawned task defined by `ctx_ep`.
+
+        The funcionality can be likened to a "daemonized" version of
+        `.hilevel.worker.run_in_actor()` but with supervision
+        controls offered by `tractor.Context` where the main/root
+        remotely scheduled `trio.Task` invoking `ctx_ep` determines
+        the underlying subactor's lifetime.
+
+        '''
+        entry: tuple|None = self.service_ctxs.get(daemon_name)
+        if entry:
+            (cs, sub_ctx, portal, complete) = entry
+            return sub_ctx
+
+        if daemon_name not in self.service_ctxs:
+            portal: Portal = await self.an.start_actor(
+                daemon_name,
+                debug_mode=(  # maybe set globally during allocate
+                    debug_mode
+                    or
+                    self.debug_mode
+                ),
+                **start_actor_kwargs,
+            )
+            ctx_kwargs: dict[str, Any] = {}
+            if isinstance(ctx_ep, functools.partial):
+                ctx_kwargs: dict[str, Any] = ctx_ep.keywords
+                ctx_ep: Callable = ctx_ep.func
+
+            (
+                cs,
+                sub_ctx,
+                started,
+            ) = await self.start_service_ctx(
+                name=daemon_name,
+                portal=portal,
+                ctx_fn=ctx_ep,
+                **ctx_kwargs,
+            )
+
+            return sub_ctx
+
+    async def cancel_service(
+        self,
+        name: str,
+
+    ) -> Any:
+        '''
+        Cancel the service task and actor for the given ``name``.
+
+        '''
+        log.info(f'Cancelling `pikerd` service {name}')
+        cs, sub_ctx, portal, complete = self.service_ctxs[name]
+
+        # cs.cancel()
+        await sub_ctx.cancel()
+        await complete.wait()
+
+        if name in self.service_ctxs:
+            # TODO: custom err?
+            # raise ServiceError(
+            raise RuntimeError(
+                f'Service actor for {name} not terminated and/or unknown?'
+            )
+
+        # assert name not in self.service_ctxs, \
+        #     f'Serice task for {name} not terminated?'