Advanced · Systems

Intent Description Language (IDL)

Visual diagram · (in preparation) · Math · (in preparation) · Worked example · 3 difficulty levels.

TL;DR. A structured, machine-readable format for expressing what an agent intends to do, for whom, and under what constraints.

Technical Definition

A structured, machine-readable format for expressing what an agent intends to do, for whom, and under what constraints.

How it works

An Intent Description Language (IDL) lets an agent declare intent explicitly rather than leaving it implicit in free text: the goal, the target resource, the parameters, the acting principal, the delegation chain, and the constraints (budget, deadline, scope). Structured intent makes agent behaviour reviewable before execution — a policy engine or a human can approve or reject an intent object without parsing prose — and makes agent-to-agent negotiation interoperable. IDLs typically pair a verb vocabulary with a capability vocabulary so that an intent can be matched against what the agent is actually authorized to do.

Related Concepts

• Agent Authorization — Deciding and enforcing what an authenticated agent is allowed to do, at what scale, and under which conditions.
• Agent-to-Agent Intent — A structured statement of purpose one agent sends another so the request can be understood, authorized, and negotiated.
• Agent Protocol Semantics — The shared meaning layer of an agent protocol — what messages, verbs, and capability names actually denote.
• Agent Capability Vocabulary — A shared, standardized naming scheme for the actions agents can offer and request.