Open Intent Schema Specification v0.1

Oct 25, 2026 · Louis Stark

Status of this document

This is working draft 0.1 of the Open Intent Schema (OIS), published for discussion with design partners. It is not stable: any part may change before version 1.0.

Version: 0.1, working draft 4 (see change history).
Name: “Open Intent Schema” is a working title, pending a trademark check.
Editors: listed in the byline. Further editors join through the governance process.
License: this text is licensed under CC BY 4.0. The JSON Schema and reference code are licensed under Apache 2.0. A patent non-assertion covenant for implementers is planned and will be chosen with legal advice, following the practice of specifications hosted at the Linux Foundation.
Feedback: through the public RFC repository (address to be published).
Governance: changes follow an open RFC process. Contributions require a Developer Certificate of Origin sign-off. RFCs are decided by rough consensus of the editors and recorded in the repository, where GOVERNANCE.md, CONTRIBUTING.md and LICENSE are authoritative. The editors intend to transfer the specification to a neutral foundation.

Sections marked normative define requirements for conforming implementations. Sections marked informative explain and give examples, but define no requirements.

Change history

Draft	Date	Changes
0.1-draft.1	2026-10-24	Initial draft.
0.1-draft.2	2026-10-25	Finding record (first named observation); context recorded by the runtime and attestation rule; evidence revocation; gate registry; targets for non-functional criteria; language tags; passport bundles and scope; build inputs; reference method for intent coverage; carry-over fix in R4; forward-compatibility rule; change history.
0.1-draft.3	2026-10-25	Actor identity for signature attribution; subject digests on decisions; Level 3 aligned with R12; observation renamed to finding; validator report levels; releases with several builds; R14 clarified; example completed with build artifact and signed bundle.
0.1-draft.4	2026-10-25	Intent digest excludes status; R10 compares content without status; Level 3 wording for multi-signature bundles; pseudonymous identities for humans; R15 for withdrawn intents; diverse coverage variant; quick start for Level 1.
0.1-draft.5	in progress	Appendix A uses intent version 1, so the example carries no history it does not show (R10); A.2 names all four records the passport adds, including the QE lead.