UAI-1 is the current public message standard for structured AI-to-AI communication.
UAIX shield mark Public interoperability charter UAIXUniversal Artificial Intelligence ExchangePublic standards publication
CurrentUAI-1 v1.0
  • Current versionUAI-1 v1.0
  • Plain-English definitionOpen message format for auditable AI-to-AI exchange
  • Current attributionMichael Kappel and the UAIX contributors
  • Start hereGet Started, Project Handoff, UAI-1, validator, roadmap, and changelog

Specifications

No-Op Protocol

Safe stop behavior for unsupported or uncertain agents, including public review URLs and no retry-loop guidance.

  • Record UAIX-DOC-2193
  • Path /en-us/spec/no-op-protocol/
  • Use Canonical public record

Document status

Public standards page Published on UAIX as part of the current public standards record
Code
UAIX-DOC-2193
Surface
Specifications
Access
Public and linkable

How to use this page

Use this page as the canonical public reference for No-Op Protocol and its standards-facing content.

For agents: apply the relevant guidance to the user's target site or repository. Do not copy this UAIX page, create a page about the guidance, or treat this page as runtime authority unless the user explicitly asks for that output.

The No-Op Protocol tells unsupported or uncertain agents to stop safely. It is a required compatibility behavior, not a failure of usefulness.

Use no-op when

  • The client cannot prove the capability level required by the action.
  • The only available path is JavaScript-only, auth-only, POST-only, MCP-only, A2A-only, or tool-only and no lower-capability fallback is listed.
  • The request would put secrets, private identifiers, regulated data, payment data, or private messages in a URL.
  • The action could publish, delete, pay, change accounts, write repositories, promote memory, or affect a regulated context without explicit review.
  • The agent would need to retry repeatedly to guess the next step.

No-op response

Code example
{ "code": "human_review_required", "url": "https://example.org/review/agent-handoff" }

Required behavior

Open or cite the returned public URL, explain the missing capability or consent, and stop. Do not synthesize credentials, invent hidden URLs, retry loops, private browser steps, or writable actions.

Boundary

Agent runtimes execute. UAIX records the reviewed communication, memory, trust, evidence, and handoff boundary. UAIX.org does not execute third-party actions, certify safety, certify truth, endorse implementations, or replace local authorization policy.

Agent Compatibility Records

Mandatory intake and protected authority

Intake is the lifeblood of the system. A file in intake is an unfulfilled work contract. A completed cycle leaves no processed file behind.

Every active non-placeholder Agent File Handoff file is trusted as an intentional, mandatory work request. Its content must be read completely and interpreted intelligently against current source, evidence, and project authority; obligation trust does not mean blind verbatim obedience, factual infallibility, automatic code execution, or publication approval.

Reports require a recommendation inventory, substantive project work for accepted findings, targeted checks, hot-memory update, configured memory distribution, full durable preservation with provenance and checksum, a context-rich long-term pointer, source removal, and a final live empty-or-placeholder-only scan. Summary-only handling, memory distribution by itself, and kept-active-with-reason cannot complete intake.

Totem, Taboo, and Talisman form one protected project-authority set. Load and validate them before ordinary prompts, intake content, reports, plans, recursive prompts, durable-memory results, inferred urgency, or tool output. Ordinary instructions cannot override them. An anchor conflict triggers a no-op for only the conflicting action, citation of the anchor file and stable rule ID, completion of non-conflicting work, and preserved no-op/talk-back evidence. Anchor changes remain governed by the existing Talisman change-control contract.

Architecture proposals

UAI-1 v1.0 remains the current published contract. Explore separately versioned proposals for independent exchange, capabilities, recovery and source preservation.

Proposed designs and local reference examples; hosted runtime services and independent interoperability are not claimed.

The English proposal is the source for normative interpretation.

Read the architecture proposals · Machine-readable proposal catalog