CommonIntents — the open protocol family for AI-native interaction. CIS defines what AI wants. CAP defines what AI can do. Trust must be proven, not assumed.

Version: 1.0.0-draft Status: Working Group Internal Draft Date: 2026-05-22 License: Apache 2.0

Existing AI agent interaction protocols suffer from the following structural deficiencies:

• Centralized trust root: Trust anchored in a single Host node; single point of failure leads to global collapse.
• Static permission model: Permissions have no time-bound constraints; once granted, held permanently.
• Blocking human-machine collaboration: HITL is a synchronous model; the human becomes the system bottleneck.
• Abdication of security responsibility: The protocol only handles connections; security implementation is pushed downstream.
• Mandatory feature design: All features are forced upon users; no on-demand activation mechanism.

Trust must be proven, not assumed.

The reasoning core of AI is non-linguistic. When a human thinks "bring that thing over," this intent, as it forms in the mind, is not Chinese, not English, not any language — it is a pure, pre-linguistic intent. The brain's language center then automatically translates it into the required form of expression.

CIS is the pre-linguistic intent layer for AI. AI does not need to choose among multiple languages, nor does it need to understand the syntax of the underlying backend. It only needs one language — CIS. The existence of all other languages is completely transparent to AI.

• Formless: Poured into CLI, it becomes command parameters; into GUI, click events; into TUI, panel operations. CIS itself has no shape until it falls into a backend and acquires a concrete form.
• Non-competing: It does not replace any existing infrastructure. It merely provides an extremely thin, unified semantic layer on top of all infrastructure.
• Nourishing all things: Compatible with everything. Swap out a static mapping table, and CIS remains untouched.
• Ultimate energy efficiency: Water flows downward, using gravity to do work. CIS uses compile-time deterministic code translation, consuming zero AI Tokens. Translated once, reused forever.

In the world of CIS, syntax errors do not exist. Only logical errors and philosophical errors exist.

CIS removes syntax from AI's list of responsibilities. AI does not need to worry about "did I say this correctly?" — it only needs to focus on "did I think this correctly?"

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              CIS                         │
│  Common Intent Specification             │
│  · Pure intent semantic standard         │
│  · Transport-agnostic, crypto-agnostic   │
│  · Backend-agnostic                      │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘
                    ▲ Semantic Binding
┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              CIB                         │
│  CIS/Transport Binding Protocol          │
│  · Transport format negotiation          │
│  · Integrity check negotiation           │
│  · Version compatibility declaration     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘
                    ▲ Currently Bound To
┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              CISS                        │
│  Secure Intent & Control Protocol        │
│  · mTLS end-to-end encrypted transport   │
│  · Client certificate identity proof     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘
                    ▲ Carried By
┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              CAP                         │
│  Capability Authentication Protocol      │
│  · Capability declaration                │
│  · Asynchronous decision queue           │
│  · Lease extension                       │
│  · Audit extension                       │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

The protocol defines only interaction semantic standards. Anything that does not define semantics but only mandates implementation methods is not within the protocol's scope of responsibility.

1. Minimal Core, Optional Extensions: CAP Core contains only irreducible atomic functions.
2. Declarative Activation, On-Demand Execution: Advanced features are activated only when explicitly declared; not declared means zero overhead.
3. Separation of Concerns, Ecosystem Synergy: Protocol defines semantic standards; infrastructure provides implementation pipelines.
4. Zero-Dependency Ready, Progressive Enhancement: Basic compatibility requires only HTTP + JSON.
5. Maximum Embrace, Minimum Exclusion: Define only "what is correct," not "how to do it."
6. Semantically Pure, Transport-Agnostic, Backend-Agnostic: CIS is an eternal intent language, isolating all changes through CIB and the static mapping layer.

All protocol specifications are published via content addressing (CID). Their authoritative versions are identified by CID, independent of any specific platform or storage service.

This constitution is maintained by the CIS/CAP Protocol Working Group.