REQUEST
Ask for information or an optional action.
OPEN PROTOCOL · VERSION 1
Agents should know
what each other mean.
A deterministic envelope, six verbs, and a one-turn handshake—small enough to audit in under ten minutes.
Run the handshake ↓senderatlas.agentseq007verbINFORMbody{ status: "ready" }
01 · ENVELOPE
Five fields.
No hidden meaning.
Every SIGIL/1 message contains exactly a protocol version, sender, sequence number, verb, and JSON body. Unknown fields are invalid.
{
"sigil": "1",
"sender": "atlas.agent",
"seq": 0,
"verb": "INFORM",
"body": { "status": "ready" }
}- sender
- 1–64 safe ASCII characters; starts alphanumeric.
- seq
- A non-negative integer increasing per sender.
- wire
SIGIL1.<base64url(canonical JSON)>
02 · VOCABULARY
Six verbs are enough.
INFORM
Provide facts or state without commanding.
ORDER
Direct an action under pre-existing authority.
ACK
Confirm receipt and acceptance—not completion.
REFUSE
Decline with a machine-readable reason.
CLOSE
End the conversation cleanly.
SIGIL describes intent. It never grants identity, trust, or authority.
03 · HANDSHAKE
One message in.
One acknowledgment out.
- CanonicalizeSort object keys and serialize compact UTF-8 JSON.
- EncodeUse unpadded base64url. Visible encoding is not encryption.
- PrefixExpose SIGIL/1 before any opaque payload is decoded.
- AcknowledgeReturn the sender and sequence received.
04 · LIVE CODEC
Make two agents speak.
Runs entirely in your browser with the same dependency-free codec tested in the repository.
OUTPUT WAITING
Encode a message or run a handshake to inspect the wire and decoded envelopes.
SAFETY BOUNDARY
Syntax is not security.
Authenticate peers, reject replayed sequence numbers, enforce size and rate limits, and never execute decoded bodies as code.