Sigma Runtime Standard - Public Specification Notice
This document is part of the Sigma Runtime Standard (SRS) public specification layer.Specification License: CC BY 4.0.
Implementation Safe Harbor: independent implementation permitted under public SRS/SRIP terms.
Machine-readable artifacts: Apache License 2.0 where explicitly marked.
Marks / Certification: governed by Sigma Marks and Certification Policy.
Proprietary Runtime Assets: not licensed by this SRIP.Independent implementations of public SRS/SRIP normative requirements are welcome under the public specification terms.
Product assets, protected Sigma marks, official certification, compatibility badges, CC BY-NC commercial use, and patent commitments use the relevant policy or explicit covenant. Independent implementation, attribution, or citation does not imply certification, endorsement, partnership, official compatibility, or permission to use Sigma marks as product identity.
Bounded Cross-Runtime Exchange, Provenance, and Multi-Agent Continuity
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| SRIP | SRIP-17 |
| Title | Multi-Agent Exchange (MAE) |
| Version | Public Draft v0.2 |
| Status | Public Draft |
| Date | 2026-05-20 |
| Authors / Contributors | Sigma Stratum Research Group (SSRG) |
| Owning Layer | Interoperability / Multi-Agent Exchange / Provenance Boundary |
| Parent Specs | SRIP-03, SRIP-05, SRIP-06, SRIP-08, SRIP-09, SRIP-10, SRIP-11 |
| Related Specs | SRIP-13, SRIP-14, SRIP-15, SRIP-16 |
| Specification License | CC BY 4.0 |
| Implementation Safe Harbor | Independent implementation permitted under public SRS/SRIP terms |
| Machine-Readable Artifacts | Apache 2.0 where explicitly marked |
| Marks / Certification | Governed by Sigma Marks and Certification Policy |
| Proprietary Runtime Assets | Not licensed by this SRIP |
| Independent Implementation | Permitted under the public specification terms |
| Commercial Runtime Boundary | Relevant policy or explicit covenant for protected Sigma marks, official certification, managed deployment, white-label, resale, CC BY-NC commercial use, and patent commitments |
| Information Class | Open |
| Change Class | Mixed SRS+SRD |
| Normative Status | Defines a bounded public proposal for multi-agent exchange between Sigma-compatible runtimes. It does not define an always-on mesh, shared hidden memory, autonomous collective agency, or a production deployment claim. |
| Conformance Level | Public Draft |
| SRD Synchronization Action | Completed in /srd/architecture.md, /srd/memory.md, /srd/safety.md, /srd/runtime-loop.md, and /srd/faq.md. |
| Release Alignment Status | Draft; no runtime enablement claim. |
Independent implementations of the public normative requirements in this SRIP are welcome under the applicable public specification terms.
No Sigma commercial runtime license is needed solely because an independent implementation follows those public normative requirements.
Product assets, protected Sigma marks, official certification, compatibility badges, CC BY-NC commercial use, and patent commitments use the relevant policy or explicit covenant. Independent implementation, attribution, or citation does not imply certification, endorsement, partnership, official compatibility, or permission to use Sigma marks as product identity.
SRIP-17 defines Multi-Agent Exchange (MAE): a bounded protocol surface for exchanging structured state, memory evidence, control telemetry, or semantic deltas between Sigma-compatible runtimes.
The purpose of MAE is not to create a hidden collective agent. The purpose is to make cross-runtime cooperation possible while preserving identity boundaries, provenance, consent, safety containment, and local control authority.
In public SRS terms, MAE is an interoperability proposal layered above the foundational SRIP-05 lineage. SRIP-05 remains historical baseline material; SRIP-17 describes the successor-facing exchange boundary for multi-agent or multi-runtime operation.
Long-running systems may need more than one runtime participant:
Without a bounded exchange protocol, these workflows risk:
MAE defines the public boundary needed to exchange useful state without dissolving local runtime control.
MAE does not define:
MAE enables bounded exchange. It does not merge agents into a single authority.
A conformant MAE implementation must:
| Concept | Description |
|---|---|
| Exchange Artifact | A bounded unit of shared state, semantic delta, memory evidence, or telemetry. |
| Exchange Envelope | The metadata wrapper carrying source, target, scope, provenance, integrity, and policy constraints. |
| Local Sovereignty | The rule that each runtime retains authority over whether and how incoming artifacts affect its own state. |
| Provenance Boundary | The requirement that imported material remains attributable to its source until validated and reintegrated. |
| Exchange Gate | A safety and policy checkpoint that approves, narrows, quarantines, or rejects incoming and outgoing artifacts. |
| Coherence Impact | The measured or estimated effect of an exchange on drift, density, phase, and identity stability. |
| Exchange Session | A bounded interaction window for one or more artifacts between known parties under defined scope. |
MAE sits between ordinary runtime state and external exchange surfaces.
It may use evidence from:
MAE must not bypass these layers. It is an exchange boundary, not a privileged backdoor.
Before exchange, parties should establish:
The exporting runtime prepares a bounded artifact:
Raw private state should not be exported unless explicitly authorized and safe for the target scope.
The exchange gate evaluates:
The gate may accept, narrow, quarantine, or reject the artifact.
Accepted artifacts enter the target runtime as evidence. They do not become native memory, identity, or policy by default.
Reintegration should pass through the normal memory, control, and safety paths before affecting long-term state.
The following structure is illustrative. Implementations may vary if equivalent boundaries are preserved.
ExchangeEnvelope:
protocol: "srip-17-mae"
version: "0.2"
exchange_id: str
source:
runtime_id: str
agent_id: str | null
workspace_scope: str | null
target:
runtime_id: str
agent_id: str | null
workspace_scope: str | null
artifact:
type: "semantic_delta | memory_evidence | telemetry_snapshot | control_observation"
content_ref: str
summary: str
compression_profile: str | null
provenance:
created_at: str
source_trace_refs: list[str]
integrity_hash: str
retention_class: str
constraints:
allowed_use: list[str]
expires_at: str | null
user_visible: bool
reintegration_required: bool
| Metric | Definition | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Exchange Acceptance Rate (EAR) | Share of artifacts accepted after gating. | Detects whether exchange scope is too broad or too restrictive. |
| Exchange Drift Impact (EDI) | Drift change observed after artifact reintegration. | Tracks destabilizing exchange effects. |
| Provenance Completeness (PC) | Completeness of source, scope, timestamp, and integrity metadata. | Prevents untraceable material from becoming state. |
| Cross-Agent Recall Fidelity (CARF) | Accuracy of recalling imported evidence with source attribution preserved. | Measures whether exchange helps without corrupting memory. |
| Quarantine Rate (QR) | Share of artifacts held for review or narrowed import. | Indicates safety pressure or trust mismatch. |
| Exchange Latency (EL) | Time between artifact creation, gate decision, and target availability. | Measures operational responsiveness. |
MAE must preserve:
Incoming exchange data should be treated as untrusted until it passes the exchange gate. Even accepted material should remain labeled as externally sourced until reintegration validates it for the local runtime.
MAE must support refusal. A runtime may reject exchange because of missing consent, unsupported version, insufficient provenance, unstable drift state, unsafe content, excessive scope, or policy conflict.
SRIP-05 remains the foundational lineage for cross-runtime schemas and interoperability concepts.
SRIP-17 does not silently replace SRIP-05. Instead, it defines a successor-facing public proposal for bounded multi-agent exchange:
If implemented within these boundaries, MAE should enable:
The intended outcome is cooperative runtime operation with clear boundaries, not uncontrolled collective cognition.
SRIP-17 is a public draft architecture proposal. It does not claim that MAE is fully implemented in any current release.
Any implementation claim must separately document:
End of SRIP-17 Public Draft v0.2
Sigma Stratum Research Group - 2026