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Governance

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

:::info 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