Multi-Agent Protocol (MAP)

A JSON-RPC based protocol for observing, coordinating, and routing messages within multi-agent AI systems.

Overview

Unlike protocols designed for single-agent interaction (ACP) or peer-to-peer agent delegation (A2A), MAP provides a window into a multi-agent system with visibility into its internal structure, agent relationships, and message flows.

MAP provides a standardized way for:

• Clients to observe and interact with agent systems (with configurable visibility)
• Agents to communicate, form hierarchies, and join scopes
• Systems to federate and route messages across boundaries

Protocol Landscape

| Protocol | Relationship | Visibility | Primary Use | |----------|--------------|------------|-------------| | MCP | Agent → Tool | N/A | Tool invocation | | ACP | Client → Agent | Opaque | Single-agent sessions | | A2A | Agent → Agent (peer) | Opaque | Cross-org delegation | | MAP | Client → System | Transparent | Internal orchestration |

Packages

| Package | Description | |---------|-------------| | @multi-agent-protocol/sdk | TypeScript SDK for MAP |

Quick Start

npm install @multi-agent-protocol/sdk

import { ClientConnection, createStreamPair } from '@multi-agent-protocol/sdk';

// Connect to a MAP server
const client = new ClientConnection(stream, { name: 'My Client' });
await client.connect();

// Subscribe to events
const subscription = await client.subscribe({
  eventTypes: ['agent.registered', 'agent.state.changed'],
});

for await (const event of subscription) {
  console.log(event.type, event.data);
}

Features

• Real-time streaming - Subscribe to events with backpressure support
• Auto-reconnection - Exponential backoff with subscription restoration
• Permission system - 4-layer access control (system, participant, scope, agent)
• Federation - Connect multiple MAP systems with envelope-based routing
• Causal ordering - Events released in dependency order

Documentation

Schema

The protocol schema is defined in schema/:

• schema.json - Complete JSON Schema for all MAP message types
• meta.json - Method metadata, tiers, and error codes

Repository Structure

multi-agent-protocol/
├── docs/                   # Design specifications
├── schema/                 # JSON Schema and metadata
│   ├── schema.json         # Protocol message schemas
│   └── meta.json           # Method tiers and error codes
└── ts-sdk/                 # TypeScript SDK implementation
    ├── src/                # Source code
    └── docs/               # SDK-specific docs (gap analysis)

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build SDK
npm run build -w ts-sdk

# Run tests
npm test -w ts-sdk

# Type check
npm run typecheck -w ts-sdk

Protocol Methods

The protocol defines 27 methods across three tiers:

Core (Required): map/connect, map/disconnect, map/send, map/subscribe, map/unsubscribe, map/agents/list, map/agents/get

Structure (Recommended): Agent lifecycle (register, spawn, unregister, update, stop, suspend, resume), scope management (scopes/create, join, leave), and structure queries

Extensions (Optional): Federation (federation/connect, federation/route), session management, and steering (map/inject)

License

MIT

Authors

Created and maintened by the sudocode team.