How would a sentient planet work?

I'm trying to develop a planet which has somehow developed sentience. By sentience I mean more of an animal intelligence than being a person. So far I've got a couple of ideas:

1. It's actually a species similar to a fungus or another type of creature that has basically merged itself over time with the planet and lives in symbiosis with its inhabitants. In this case the planet itself is just a normal planet that "merged" with a creature
2. The planet itself is a gigantic creature, travelling through space. The question in that case is how does it provide light for its inhabitants. One of my ideas was that it gathers energy when passing by a star and stores it, then releasing it over time. I am still not sure how does it spread light around its surface though.

To provide some context to this, I'm not super worried about it being 100% scientifically accurate, however I'd like it to be somewhat plausible and make logical sense as a type of animal. The setting is sci-fi, not fantasy. Ideally I'd prefer going for the planet as a creature scenario and use the other one as a backup.

EDIT: One important question if the planet itself is an organism travelling through space, is how does it provide light for its inhabitants? I'm not sure if having a small sun orbiting it (Discworld style) is really plausible. Another option is having some sort of self illumination mechanism, which I don't really have the knowledge to come up with.

I am also interested in having a symbiotic relationship between the planet and its flora and fauna. It's obvious what the planet provides for them (a suitable living environment), however what does the planet get out of this relationship?

posted over 6 years ago

Puchoh‭

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