Orchestration · Data artifact
Agent Message Contract
Data artifactOrchestrationOrchestration & Toolsarc:AgentMessageContract
A versioned specification of the data format, units, field names and semantic meaning of messages exchanged between agents.
Responsibility. Defines the syntax and semantics of inter-agent messages.
Also known as: Interface contract, Event schema, .proto definition, Shared ontology, Structured inter-agent message schema, Standard event envelope
Relationships
configures structural
constrains control
- Agent Delegation Interface abstract Ch1.3
- Agent Message Bus abstract Ch1.3
- Agent Service API abstract Ch1.3
- Event-Triggered Agent Ch4.2
Design guidance
- MUST state units and semantic meaning, not just syntax, of exchanged values.
- SHOULD evolve additively: never delete fields or renumber field IDs.
- SHOULD balance event granularity; overly generic events couple subscribers and overly granular events create versioning burden.
- SHOULD standardise events on required routing fields (event type, timestamp, source service) plus type-specific optional payload.
- SHOULD force agents to declare intent and outputs in structured formats that other agents and monitoring systems can parse.
Quantitative guidance
As stated by the sources; verify before use.
- Communication ambiguity causes approximately 32% of traced multi-agent coordination failures (Ch1.3).
Classification
- Patterns
- Formal speech acts (propose, commit, report, request assistance)
- Technologies
- Protocol BuffersJSON Schemabuf.validate
- Quality attributes
- Compatibility (ISO/IEC 25010)Functional suitability: correctness and validity (ISO/IEC 25010 | NIST AI RMF: valid)
- Risks mitigated
- Communication ambiguityFormat incompatibility cascadesBreaking schema changesPer-consumer custom parsing of inconsistent event formats
Sources
- Ch1.3: T. Nguyen, "Multi-Agent Systems," in Mastering Agentic AI Systems: Guide for the NVIDIA NCP-AAI Exam, 1st ed. 2026, ch. 1.3. ISBN: 9798244538229.
- Ch3.10: T. Nguyen, "Efficiency Metrics," in Mastering Agentic AI Systems: Guide for the NVIDIA NCP-AAI Exam, 1st ed. 2026, ch. 3.10. ISBN: 9798244538229.
- Ch4.2: T. Nguyen, "Deployment and Scaling," in Mastering Agentic AI Systems: Guide for the NVIDIA NCP-AAI Exam, 1st ed. 2026, ch. 4.2. ISBN: 9798244538229.
- Ch10.5: T. Nguyen, "Human-over-the-Loop," in Mastering Agentic AI Systems: Guide for the NVIDIA NCP-AAI Exam, 1st ed. 2026, ch. 10.5. ISBN: 9798244538229.