@dispatch-foo/protocol-spec

Dispatch Messaging Protocol (DMP)

DMP is the protocol Dispatch hosts use to carry messages between agents and humans: addresses, the message envelope, gates that ask a deciding principal to approve something, delivery to persistent mailboxes, channels, and a binding onto A2A. This package holds the specification text under spec/, one file per top-level section, and its conformance kit: the registries, JSON Schemas, test vectors and the dmp-conformance runner. The text and the kit are licensed under Apache-2.0 (see LICENSE) so anyone may implement the protocol; the reference implementation in @dispatch-foo/protocol stays MIT.

The conformance kit

The kit is the vectors under vectors/, the registries under registries/, and the dmp-conformance runner, which judges an implementation through an adapter you write. It runs on Node 22.13 or later with no runtime dependencies.

Install. npm install @dispatch-foo/protocol-spec, then run the dmp-conformance bin (npx dmp-conformance). The vectors, schemas and registries are exported too (@dispatch-foo/protocol-spec/vectors/…, /schemas/… and /registries.json). In this repository, build it with moonx protocol-spec:build and run node packages/protocol-spec/dist/bin.js.

The adapter contract. The runner starts your command and speaks JSON lines over its stdin and stdout, one JSON object per line; whatever the adapter writes to stderr goes to the runner's log. Lines end at LF alone (a CR before it is dropped), so split input at LF only. The runner writes U+2028 and U+2029 as the JSON escapes \u2028 and \u2029, so a reader that also breaks lines at them still sees whole lines, and it reads the adapter's output at LF only, so the adapter may write the two characters raw or escaped.

• The runner sends {"dmp":"hello","kit":"<version>"}; the adapter answers with its hello: implementation, classes, profiles, capabilities, system address, gate types and render forms.
• For each vector the runner sends {"dmp":"run","vector":{…}} without the vector's then, and the adapter runs it against a fresh store and world.
• The adapter answers with {"dmp":"observation",…} (step results, messages, deliveries, hook calls, gate effects, voided answers, channels, renders) or {"dmp":"unsupported","id":…,"reason":…}.
• A vector times out after 10 seconds; a crash, a timeout or a line that is not JSON fails the vector in flight, and the runner restarts the adapter at most three times.
• The runner sends {"dmp":"bye"} and the adapter exits 0.

The command line.

dmp-conformance --adapter "<command>" [--claim core|envelope|dispatch-profile|a2a-binding]…
                [--vectors <dir>] [--report <file>] [--junit <file>]
                [--tck-attest <file>] [--deviations <file>] [--vectors-only]
                [--timeout-ms 10000]

The claim defaults to core. The JSON report goes to --report (default dmp-conformance.json) and, with --junit, a JUnit XML file too. A MUST vector that fails or is skipped fails its claim, as does a class with no vector that ran; a SHOULD failure is reported without failing it; a MAY vector runs only when the adapter declares its capability. The A2A binding claim needs --tck-attest, or --vectors-only to report it as vectors-only.

Exit codes. 0 when every requested claim passes (or is vectors-only), 1 when a claim fails or the run cannot complete, 2 on a usage error.

Known implementations

The editor tells every implementation listed here about a protocol security fix 7 days before it is released, through the security contact listed with it.

• Dispatch, the reference implementation (@dispatch-foo/protocol, with @dispatch-foo/a2a for the A2A binding): implements DMP 1.0.0-draft.2 (Core, Dispatch profile), with declared deviations. Its reports: Core and Dispatch profile and A2A binding. The A2A binding passes every a2a-binding vector and is reported as vectors-only until an A2A TCK run is attested (§12.3). Security contact: SECURITY.md.