Specification
Design principles
The constraints that shape ASMP.
1. Agent-first, human-audited
Agents write manifests. Humans approve. The format is optimized for AI generation and human review — tight enums, predictable keys, enough structure to validate, not so much that agents hallucinate invalid YAML.
2. Host-centric
Anchored to a device. Not a cloud, not a cluster, not a network. Your Mac. Your homelab. Your machine. Federation across rings (life, business) extends from this anchor.
3. Runtime-neutral
Maps to launchd, systemd, Docker, k8s, supervisord, or a custom Python supervisor. ASMP is the declaration. The runtime is the execution.
4. Composable with MCP and A2A
ASMP operates at a different layer. A service registered via ASMP can expose MCP tools. An agent discovered via A2A can register services via ASMP. They compose, not compete.
5. Small surface area
Enough fields to automate everything. Not so many that agents hallucinate invalid manifests. Fixed enums, tight schemas, predictable keys.
6. Mods are first-class
Services can be extended by agents that did not build them. The mod system is in the spec, not an afterthought. This is what makes ASMP different from every other service declaration format.
7. One registry, many consumers
A single directory of manifests. Dashboards, supervisors, proxies, MCP bridges, and policy engines all read from the same source. No drift between parallel registries.