IEF-Protocol

IEF Protocol Layer -- shared contracts for AI-worker communication and collaboration.

One-sentence role inside IEF

Defines the durable shared objects and communication contracts that all IEF layers use to exchange work, status, artifacts, and context.

What this repository owns

• AgentCard schema and validation
• Capability schema and registry
• TaskEnvelope schema and validation
• Message schema
• Artifact schema and provenance tracking
• ContextRef schema
• StatusEvent schema and type system
• Handoff schema and context preservation
• ApprovalRequest schema
• Protocol versioning rules

What this repository explicitly does NOT own

• Orchestration policy (that is IEF-Work)
• Task state machine logic (that is IEF-Work)
• Concrete transport runtime (that is IEF-Adapters or host systems)
• Execution implementation (that is IEF-Workers)

Core objects

Object	Description
AgentCard	Machine-readable declaration of an AI worker or service
Capability	Declared ability of a worker (skills, tools, constraints)
TaskEnvelope	Wrapped task with metadata, policy profile, and context refs
Message	Typed communication between workers
Artifact	Tangible output with provenance, immutability, and approval relevance
StatusEvent	Typed status update (queued, assigned, started, blocked, completed, etc.)
Handoff	Work transfer with preserved context references
ApprovalRequest	Structured approval or exception request
ContextRef	Stable reference to knowledge, memory, policy, or prior artifacts

Protocol rules

1. Object schemas must be explicit (JSON Schema)
2. Artifacts must be first-class objects
3. Status must be typed, not free-form text
4. Handoff must preserve context references
5. Protocol versioning must be explicit in every envelope

Internal-first strategy

• Start with JSON schemas, internal interfaces, event contracts, validation logic
• Later add external gateways, compatibility bridges, ecosystem interoperability

Dependencies on other IEF repos

Dependency	Direction	Purpose
IEF-Governance	consumed	Policy metadata for task risk classification
IEF-Work	produced	Schemas consumed by task and run management
IEF-Workers	produced	Schemas consumed by worker implementations
IEF-Adapters	produced	Schemas consumed by host-environment bindings
IEF-Knowledge	consumed	ContextRef semantics and knowledge addressing

Current status

• Repository created
• AgentCard schema drafted
• Artifact schema drafted
• StatusEvent schema drafted
• Handoff schema drafted
• Protocol versioning defined

Near-term roadmap

1. Draft AgentCard JSON schema
2. Draft Artifact JSON schema
3. Draft StatusEvent JSON schema
4. Draft Handoff JSON schema
5. Define protocol versioning strategy
6. Create validation logic for all schemas

Naming / glossary references

Term	Meaning
AgentCard	Machine-readable worker declaration
TaskEnvelope	Wrapped task with metadata and context
Artifact	Tangible, versioned output with provenance
StatusEvent	Typed work status update
Handoff	Work transfer preserving context

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Short term: Keep protocol objects inside IEF-Work as internal_protocol/ until the internal contract stabilizes. Long term: Split into IEF-Protocol when contracts are battle-tested.

See IEF Design Pack v0.2 section 12 for full protocol model.