Advanced Digital Transformation -- Governance-Native AI Agent Management
ADT (Advanced Digital Transformation) is a governance framework for AI agent systems. It shifts governance upstream -- embedding compliance, accountability, and auditability into the process of execution itself, rather than applying them after the fact.
"Digital transformation initiatives frequently fail not due to lack of technology, but because governance is applied after systems are operational." -- ADT Whitepaper (Sheridan, 2026)
AI agents (Claude, Gemini, GPT, etc.) are increasingly used for real engineering work -- writing code, deploying systems, managing infrastructure. But:
- Who authorises what an agent does? Prompt instructions are voluntary. Agents can and do violate them.
- Who audits what happened? Without an immutable record, there is no accountability.
- Who enforces the rules? Behavioural compliance is insufficient. Structural enforcement is required.
| Pillar | What It Does |
|---|---|
| SDD (Specification-Driven Development) | No spec, no code. Every action must trace to an approved specification. |
| DTTP (Digital Transformation Transfer Protocol) | Structural enforcement via OS-level privilege separation. Agents cannot bypass rules. |
| Digital Black Box | Immutable, SHA-256 hash-chained audit trail. If it's not recorded, it didn't happen. |
| IoE (Internet of Events) | Cross-system event capture and causal chain tracking. |
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ADT Operational Center │ ← Human Web UI
│ (Flask Application) │
├─────────────────────────────────────┤
│ DTTP Engine │ ← Structural Enforcement
│ (Privilege-Separated Gateway) │
├──────────┬──────────┬───────────────┤
│ ADS │ SDD │ IoE │ ← Core Modules
│ (Ledger) │ (Specs) │ (Events) │
├──────────┴──────────┴───────────────┤
│ Agent SDK │ ← Client Library
│ (Claude, Gemini, any agent) │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘
| Level | Mechanism | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Prompt instructions | Voluntary -- agents can ignore |
| Level 2 | Hook scripts | Bypassable via shell commands |
| Level 3 | OS privilege separation | Structural -- impossible to bypass |
ADT targets Level 3: agents run as a restricted OS user, DTTP runs as a privileged user. Agents request actions through the DTTP API -- they cannot act directly.
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_ORG/adt-framework.git
cd adt-framework
# Install
pip install -e .
# Govern a project
adt init /path/to/your/projectFull documentation: docs/getting-started.md
ADT is being proven through OceanPulse -- an autonomous marine monitoring buoy governed entirely by the ADT Framework. Real incidents, real enforcement, real lessons.
AGPL-3.0. See LICENSE.
Commercial licensing available for enterprises requiring proprietary modifications or SLA support.
Paul Sheridan, Director, Advanced Digital Transformation (ADT)
Based on the ADT Whitepaper (Sheridan, 2026). See docs/whitepaper.md.