Agent Protocol Skill

Triggers

• protocol
• handshake
• ipc
• agent-messaging
• a2a

Purpose

To establish standard interfaces for agents to communicate, ensuring reliable data exchange and preventing format hallucinations.

Instructions

When defining how agents talk to each other:

1. Define the Schema: Use JSON Schema to define the structure of messages.
   • type: (request, response, event, error)
   • payload: The actual data content.
   • meta: Timestamp, sender_id, correlation_id.
2. Establish the Handshake:
   • Ping/Pong: Verify availability.
   • Capability Query: "What tools do you have?" -> "I have [tool_a, tool_b]".
3. Standardize Error Handling:
   • Define standard error codes (e.g., AGENT_BUSY, INVALID_INPUT, CONTEXT_OVERFLOW).
   • Define retry policies (exponential backoff).
4. Documentation:
   • Write the protocol definition to a shared contracts/ directory or a markdown file.

Example Protocol (JSON)

{
  "protocol": "v1",
  "type": "task_request",
  "id": "uuid-1234",
  "sender": "orchestrator",
  "recipient": "coder_agent",
  "payload": {
    "task": "Implement login function",
    "context": "User needs email/password auth...",
    "constraints": ["Use bcrypt", "No external auth providers"]
  }
}

Best Practices

• Strict Typing: Always validate payloads against the schema.
• Idempotency: Ensure task requests can be retried without side effects if possible.
• Async First: assume communication is asynchronous; use correlation IDs to match requests and responses.