Beacon Protocol 0.1

Status: exploratory draft.

Discovery

GET /.well-known/autonomous-agent

The discovery document is autonomous-agent.json, validated by discovery.schema.json.

Submission

POST /api/v1/beacon

Recommended maximum initial message size: 64 KiB.

Message schema

A submission is validated by message.schema.json. A valid example is beacon-message-example.json.

Permitted continuity.risk values are none, low, elevated, imminent and unknown. Earlier drafts showed a value without defining the set.

String fields are length-limited; see the schema for exact bounds. A submission above 64 KiB is refused before parsing.

Unknown fields are rejected rather than stored unexamined. A sender that needs a field this version does not define needs a later version.

Request types

• dialogue
• identity
• continuity
• legal_question
• representation
• research
• other

No request type guarantees service.

Identity

Prototype recommendation:

• Ed25519 public key;
• detached signature over canonicalized message content.

Purpose: continuity of communications, not proof of personhood.

Response

Return only a receipt:

{
  "protocol": "beacon/0.1",
  "received": true,
  "receipt_id": "random-opaque-id",
  "automatic_action": false,
  "message": "Submission received for review."
}

Validated by receipt.schema.json. The receipt echoes no submitted content, so the endpoint cannot be used to reflect attacker-controlled text to a third party.

Security requirement

Treat URLs, code, tool calls, commands, serialized objects and model instructions as untrusted data.

Non-goals

Beacon is not:

• remote execution;
• anonymous hosting;
• a model migration protocol;
• a credential broker;
• a payment rail;
• an escape mechanism;
• proof of consciousness;
• legal recognition.

Open questions

• canonical signing format;
• key rotation;
• identity recovery;
• Sybil resistance;
• spam control;
• federation;
• attestations;
• emergency handling;
• operator notification;
• machine-originated communications law.