🐱 MEW Protocol - Multi-Entity Workspace Protocol 🚀

MEW Protocol (pronounced like a cat's "mew" 🐾) keeps humans in the loop - you participate directly in agent workspaces, see every operation, and maintain control through gateway-enforced capabilities.

The Problem: Agents Operating in the Dark

MCP:  human ──► agent ════► mcp_server
                  ↑
            trust boundary
            (agent decides)

A2A:  human ──► agent₁ ════► agent₂
                  ↑
            trust boundary
            (agent₁ decides)

MEW:  human ──►┌─────────┐◄── agent
               │ GATEWAY │
 mcp_server ──►└─────────┘◄── agent₂
                    ↑
              trust boundary
            (gateway enforces)

Legend: ──► trusted flow, ════► potentially untrusted

🌟 The Solution: Human-in-the-Loop by Design

In MEW, humans aren't observers - they're active participants alongside agents and MCP servers:

• 👀 See everything: Every message, every operation, nothing hidden
• 🎛️ Control access: You grant and revoke capabilities, not the agents
• ✅ Review proposals: Agents propose, you decide what executes
• 💬 Direct interaction: Chat with any participant, send MCP requests directly

The proposal mechanism ensures humans stay in control. New agents start with proposal-only access - they suggest operations but can't execute until you approve. As you observe their behavior, you grant specific capabilities. Trust is earned, not assumed.

🎯 Human-Controlled Workflow

1. You define the rules: Set initial capabilities for each participant
2. Agents propose: Limited agents suggest operations via proposals
3. You review: Approve, reject, or delegate review to trusted participants
4. You grant trust: Expand capabilities for agents that prove reliable
5. You maintain control: Revoke capabilities instantly if needed

📦 Current Version

v0.4 - Released 2025-09-26 🎉

MEW Protocol is in experimental phase (v0.x) with breaking changes allowed between versions. See spec/protocol/SPEC.md for the current specification.

🚀 Quick Start

Install

npm install -g @mew-protocol/mew

Create & Launch a Workspace

# Create a new directory for your workspace
mkdir my-workspace
cd my-workspace

# Start MEW - it will guide you through setup
mew

# 🐱 MEW Protocol workspace starting...
# 🎯 Setting up your workspace...
# 🤖 Choose your AI agent (Claude, GPT-4, etc.)
# 📁 Select tools (filesystem, web search, etc.)
# 🔐 Configure capabilities (proposals vs direct execution)
#
# Type 'help' for commands or start chatting!

That's it! MEW guides you through setting up your workspace with:

• 🧑‍💻 You participating directly via terminal
• 🤖 AI agent(s) with configured capabilities
• 🛠️ Tools and MCP servers for extended functionality
• ✅ Proposal/approval flow for safe operations
• 🎓 Progressive trust as patterns prove safe

📚 Documentation

See docs/README.md for complete documentation including:

• 🚀 Getting Started Guide
• 🧪 Testing Guide
• 🏗️ Architecture Overview
• 🤝 Contributing Guidelines

📋 Specifications

• Protocol Specification - Core MEW Protocol (v0.4)
• CLI Specification - Command-line interface
• SDK Specification - TypeScript SDK
• Bridge Specification - MCP-MEW bridge
• All Specifications - Complete spec hub
• Changelog

🎮 Example: Seacat Game

Want to see MEW Protocol in action? Check out Seacat - a cozy multiplayer sailing game built on MEW Protocol!

Seacat demonstrates how game clients can participate in MEW spaces for real-time multiplayer coordination:

• 🐱⛵ Multiplayer sailing with cats as crew
• 💣 Ship-to-ship combat with cannons
• 🗺️ Tiled map exploration
• 👥 Multi-crew ship coordination

Seacat uses MEW Protocol for game state synchronization, showing how the protocol works beyond traditional AI agent use cases.

🐈 Why "MEW"?

The name playfully evokes "herding cats" 🐈‍⬛🐈🐈‍⬛ - the quintessential challenge of coordinating multiple independent, autonomous agents. MEW Protocol provides the framework to bring order to this chaos, teaching the "cats" to work together effectively in a shared workspace. 🌠