Skip to main content

Governance

This document describes the governance model for the Agent Definition Language (ADL) specification project.

Open Development

ADL is developed openly. All decisions are documented, and consensus is sought among contributors.

Principles​

  1. Openness: Development happens in public; all decisions are documented
  2. Consensus: Major decisions seek rough consensus among contributors
  3. Meritocracy: Influence is earned through contribution
  4. Stability: Breaking changes require strong justification

Roles​

Contributors​

Anyone who contributes to the project:

  • Submit issues and pull requests
  • Participate in discussions
  • Provide feedback on specifications

Maintainers​

Trusted contributors with merge permissions:

  • Review and merge pull requests
  • Triage issues
  • Guide specification development
  • Enforce contribution guidelines

Specification Editors​

Responsible for specification text quality:

  • Ensure consistency and clarity
  • Resolve editorial disputes
  • Maintain specification style

Decision Making​

Routine Decisions​

Made by maintainers through pull request review:

  • Bug fixes
  • Documentation improvements
  • Minor clarifications

Significant Decisions​

Require broader input and discussion:

  • New specification features
  • Breaking changes
  • Profile additions
  • Governance changes

Process:

  1. Open an issue describing the proposal
  2. Allow time for community feedback (minimum 2 weeks)
  3. Seek consensus among maintainers
  4. Document the decision

Dispute Resolution​

If consensus cannot be reached:

  1. Extend discussion period
  2. Seek additional perspectives
  3. Maintainers vote (majority wins)
  4. Decision is documented with rationale

Specification Versioning​

Semantic Versioning​

ADL follows Semantic Versioning:

  • MAJOR: Breaking changes
  • MINOR: New features, backward compatible
  • PATCH: Bug fixes, clarifications

Draft Versions​

Versions with -draft suffix are unstable:

  • Subject to breaking changes
  • Not recommended for production

Stable Versions​

Versions without -draft suffix:

  • Backward compatibility guaranteed within major version
  • Breaking changes require major version bump

Standardization Governance​

When ADL is submitted to standards bodies:

  • Project governance continues for open-source version
  • Standards body governance applies to formal standard
  • Effort to keep versions aligned

Changes to Governance​

This governance document may be updated:

  1. Propose changes via pull request
  2. Allow 4-week comment period
  3. Require maintainer consensus
  4. Document rationale for changes