Delegation Protocol: Sub-Agent Spawning Based on Effectivities

[m2ux]

Summary

Define and implement a deterministic delegation protocol for primary agents to spawn sub-agents based on required effectivities from the navigation API.

Background

Work Package #36 (Ecological Navigation API) introduces:

• Effectivity definitions in effectivities/ folder
• Agent registry in agents/ folder
• Navigation responses that include required effectivities[] for each action

This work package defines the protocol for how a primary agent should:

1. Match required effectivities to available sub-agents
2. Spawn sub-agents with appropriate configuration
3. Pass context and receive results
4. Handle failures and edge cases

Requirements

Matching Algorithm

• Exact match required: Agent must have the exact effectivity listed
• Multiple effectivities: Define whether ALL are required or ANY is sufficient
• Priority/ordering: When multiple agents match, define selection criteria

Spawn Contract

Define what primary agent passes to sub-agent:

• Task description / step details
• Workflow context (opaque or specific fields?)
• Available tools
• Timeout / constraints

Return Interface

Define what sub-agent returns:

• Success/failure status
• Task output / artifacts
• Error details if failed
• Metrics (optional)

Failure Handling

• Sub-agent timeout
• Sub-agent error
• No matching agent found
• Partial completion

Deliverables

1. Protocol Specification - Document defining the delegation contract
2. Agent-Side Reference Implementation - Example/template for agents to follow
3. Validation Tests - Tests that verify protocol compliance

Dependencies

• feat: Ecological Navigation API - situated cognition integration #36 Ecological Navigation API (effectivities in navigation response)

Parent Branch

feat/36-ecological-navigation-api (once merged)