# RFC Submission Guide for IATP

This document outlines the strategy for submitting the IATP protocol to standards bodies.

## Target Organizations

### 1. W3C Community Group (Primary Target)

**Why W3C:**
- Open community process
- Proven track record with web standards
- Relevant groups: Web of Things, Credentials, DID

**Steps:**
1. Create a Community Group: "Agent Interoperability CG"
2. Submit the capability manifest schema
3. Host discussions on protocol evolution
4. Build community consensus

**Timeline:** Q1 2026

**Required Materials:**
- Capability manifest JSON schema ✅ (in `/spec/schema/`)
- Protocol specification ✅ (in `/spec/`)
- Reference implementation ✅ (Python SDK + Go sidecar)
- Test suite ✅ (32 tests)

### 2. IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force)

**Why IETF:**
- Internet protocol standards body
- Home to TCP/IP, HTTP, TLS
- Relevant working groups: HTTP, OAuth, Security Area

**Steps:**
1. Submit Internet-Draft (I-D) for IATP protocol
2. Present at IETF meeting
3. Form working group if there's interest
4. Iterate towards RFC status

**Timeline:** Q2-Q3 2026

**Required Materials:**
- Internet-Draft in RFC format
- Implementation report
- Security considerations document
- Interoperability testing results

### 3. OpenAPI Initiative

**Why OpenAPI:**
- API specification standards
- Wide industry adoption
- Could extend OpenAPI spec with IATP metadata

**Steps:**
1. Propose extension to OpenAPI 3.1+
2. Add `x-iatp-capability-manifest` field
3. Submit to Technical Steering Committee

**Timeline:** Q2 2026

### 4. Linux Foundation / CNCF

**Why CNCF:**
- Cloud-native infrastructure focus
- Home to Envoy, Istio, gRPC
- Could position IATP as "Envoy for Agents"

**Steps:**
1. Submit project to CNCF Sandbox
2. Build community and adoption
3. Graduate to Incubating/Graduated

**Timeline:** Q3-Q4 2026

## Protocol Specification (RFC Format)

### Structure

```
Internet-Draft: draft-siddique-iatp-00
Title: Inter-Agent Trust Protocol (IATP)
Author: Imran Siddique
Status: Informational
Expires: [6 months from submission]

Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Terminology
3. Protocol Overview
4. Capability Manifest Format
5. Trust Score Calculation
6. Policy Enforcement
7. Security Considerations
8. IANA Considerations
9. References
Appendix A: Examples
Appendix B: JSON Schema
```

### Key Sections

#### 1. Introduction

```
The Inter-Agent Trust Protocol (IATP) provides a standardized
mechanism for AI agents to discover capabilities, negotiate trust,
and enforce security policies when collaborating with other agents.

IATP addresses the "zero-trust void" in current agent-to-agent
communication by introducing:
- Capability manifests for discovery
- Trust score calculation for risk assessment
- Policy enforcement for security
- Flight recorder for audit trails
```

#### 2. Capability Manifest Format

```
A capability manifest is a JSON document that describes an agent's
capabilities, trust level, reversibility guarantees, and privacy
policies.

The manifest MUST include:
- identity: Agent identification
- trust_level: One of [verified_partner, trusted, standard, unknown, untrusted]
- capabilities: Operational capabilities (idempotency, concurrency, SLA)
- reversibility: Undo/compensation capabilities
- privacy: Data retention and usage policies

See Appendix B for complete JSON Schema.
```

#### 3. Trust Score Calculation

```
Trust scores are calculated on a scale of 0-10 based on:
- Base score from trust_level
- Adjustments for reversibility (+2 if not "none")
- Adjustments for retention policy (+1 ephemeral, -1 permanent)
- Penalties for human_in_loop (-2) and training_consent (-1)

The algorithm is deterministic and MUST be implemented consistently
across all IATP implementations.
```

#### 4. Security Considerations

```
This section discusses:
- Manifest authenticity and verification
- Trust score gaming and mitigation
- Privacy implications of manifest disclosure
- Replay attacks and prevention
- Side-channel attacks through timing
```

## Namespace Registration

### JSON Schema Registry

Register the capability manifest schema:
- **Schema ID**: `https://inter-agent-trust.org/v1/capability-manifest.json`
- **Namespace**: `https://inter-agent-trust.org/v1/`
- **Version**: 1.0.0

### MIME Type Registration

Register IATP-specific MIME types:
- `application/vnd.iatp.capability-manifest+json`
- `application/vnd.iatp.trace-log+json`

### HTTP Headers

Register IATP-specific HTTP headers:
- `X-Agent-Trace-ID`: Distributed tracing identifier
- `X-User-Override`: User consent for risky operations
- `X-IATP-Trust-Score`: Calculated trust score

## Implementation Report

Required for IETF submission:

```markdown
# IATP Implementation Report

## Implementations

1. **Python SDK** (Reference Implementation)
   - Status: Complete
   - Coverage: 100% of spec
   - Tests: 32 passing
   - License: MIT

2. **Go Sidecar** (Production Implementation)
   - Status: Complete
   - Coverage: 100% of core features
   - Performance: 10k+ concurrent requests
   - License: MIT

## Interoperability Testing

Tested scenarios:
- [ ] Python sidecar ↔ Go sidecar
- [ ] Manifest exchange between implementations
- [ ] Trust score calculation consistency
- [ ] Policy enforcement consistency
- [ ] Flight recorder format compatibility

## Known Issues

- Manifest verification: Currently self-declared, needs cryptographic signing
- Rate limiting: Not yet implemented
- Multi-party transactions: Specification incomplete
```

## Community Building

### Communication Channels

- **GitHub**: Main repository and issues
- **Mailing List**: iatp-discuss@googlegroups.com (to be created)
- **Slack/Discord**: IATP community workspace
- **Twitter/X**: @iatp_protocol (to be created)

### Developer Resources

- Protocol specification (RFC-style)
- JSON schemas
- Reference implementations
- Test suites
- Example deployments
- Video tutorials

### Adoption Metrics

Track and report:
- GitHub stars and forks
- PyPI downloads
- Docker pulls
- Active implementations
- Organizations using IATP

## Roadmap to Standardization

### Phase 1: Community Building (Q1 2026)
- ✅ Release v0.2.0 with Go sidecar
- ✅ Publish blog post and demos
- [ ] Create W3C Community Group
- [ ] Build initial adopter community (target: 10 organizations)
- [ ] Collect feedback and iterate

### Phase 2: Formal Submission (Q2 2026)
- [ ] Submit Internet-Draft to IETF
- [ ] Present at IETF meeting
- [ ] Submit to W3C CG
- [ ] Submit OpenAPI extension proposal
- [ ] Publish research paper ("The Trust Boundary")

### Phase 3: Standardization Process (Q3-Q4 2026)
- [ ] Address IETF feedback
- [ ] Implement cryptographic verification
- [ ] Add multi-party transaction support
- [ ] Build interoperability test suite
- [ ] Submit to CNCF Sandbox

### Phase 4: Industry Adoption (2027+)
- [ ] Major framework integrations (LangChain, AutoGPT, etc.)
- [ ] Cloud provider support (AWS, Azure, GCP)
- [ ] Enterprise deployments
- [ ] RFC publication (if IETF path)
- [ ] W3C Recommendation (if W3C path)

## Contact for Standardization Efforts

**Primary Contact:**
- Name: Imran Siddique
- GitHub: @imran-siddique
- Email: [to be added]

**Repository:**
- https://github.com/imran-siddique/inter-agent-trust-protocol

**Mailing List:**
- iatp-discuss@googlegroups.com (to be created)

## References

- **Envoy Proxy**: https://www.envoyproxy.io/ (inspiration for sidecar pattern)
- **Istio**: https://istio.io/ (service mesh concepts)
- **OpenTelemetry**: https://opentelemetry.io/ (distributed tracing)
- **W3C DID**: https://www.w3.org/TR/did-core/ (decentralized identifiers)
- **OAuth 2.0**: https://oauth.net/2/ (authorization framework)

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**This document is a living document and will be updated as the standardization process progresses.**
