# Session Handoff — 2026-04-12 (ACT / ECT IETF Strategy) **Purpose**: Cold-start snapshot for the next session. Read this plus `workspace/STRATEGY.md` to pick up without re-discovery. --- ## 1. Session Date & Context - **Date**: 2026-04-12 - **Trigger**: Between 2026-04-07 and 2026-04-11, 14+ competing IETF individual drafts and 7+ high-relevance arXiv papers appeared in the agent-authorization / execution-accountability space. The window to plant ACT + ECT as the standards-track home for this family is now narrow. IETF 123 (July 2026) is the landing target. - **Work mode**: Strategic consolidation — renames, restructure, diff documents, outreach drafts, interop plan. No new normative content added beyond what the existing drafts already carried. --- ## 2. Key Decisions Made This Session 1. **`par` → `pred` claim rename** (ACT). Aligns the ACT predecessor claim with ECT's identical `pred` claim so both specs use the same wire token for DAG parent references. Applied across draft text, refimpl, tests. 2. **"Agent Compact Token" → "Agent Context Token" rename** (ACT). Preserves the "ACT" acronym. "Context" better describes what the token carries (invocation context — DAG refs, task metadata, capabilities, delegation chain, oversight) and creates a clean semantic pair with ECT (Execution Context Token). 3. **Package split into sibling packages `ietf-act` + `ietf-ect`** (no shared core). Moved from monorepo with shared module to `workspace/packages/act/` and `workspace/packages/ect/` as independent packages. Decision: do not build a shared-core library — the two specs have intentionally different scope, and forcing shared abstractions obscures that. Cross-spec guarantees are documented and tested via a separate `packages/interop/` plan. 4. **Position Option B chosen**: ECT is a WIMSE profile that **normatively references** ACT. ACT is the general-purpose primitive, ECT is the WIMSE-identity-bound execution profile. This lets ECT be submitted for WIMSE WG adoption while ACT stays on the independent-submission path (no WG dependency), and they cite each other cleanly. 5. **`inp_hash` / `out_hash` format divergence acknowledged, not unified this session**. ACT emits plain base64url; ECT validator requires `sha-256:` prefix. Documented as expected-xfail in the interop test plan rather than forced into alignment — spec-level decision deferred. --- ## 3. Artifacts Produced / Updated This Session | Path (relative to `workspace/`) | Purpose | |---|---| | `STRATEGY.md` | Master strategy doc — landscape, positioning, phased action plan, risk register, success criteria | | `packages/act/draft-nennemann-act-01.md` | ACT -01 draft; new §1.4.1 Related Work (concurrent proposals), new §1.5 Applicability (MCP/OpenAI/LangGraph/A2A/CrewAI/ECT), new §7.3 DAG vs Linear Delegation Chains | | `packages/act/` (`ietf-act` refimpl) | 103 tests passing after `pred` and Context rename | | `packages/ect/` (`ietf-ect` refimpl) | 56 tests passing; `inp_hash` bug fixed (removed stale `sha-256:` transformation in emitter path) | | `packages/INTEROP-TEST-PLAN.md` | Planned `packages/interop/tests/test_interop.py` structure — shared-claim consistency, algorithm matrix, DAG cross-reference, claim divergence, anti-goals; user-facing compatibility matrix | | `drafts/ietf-wimse-ect/draft-nennemann-wimse-ect.md` | ECT -02 (docname `draft-nennemann-wimse-ect-02`); normative ref to `I-D.nennemann-act` added | | `drafts/ietf-wimse-ect/DIFF-vs-txn-tokens-for-agents.md` | ~1235-word factual diff doc vs `draft-oauth-transaction-tokens-for-agents-06` — claim-level matrix, lifecycle comparison, composition scenarios | | `drafts/ietf-wimse-ect/wimse-intro-email.md` | ~390-word introduction email for wimse@ietf.org | | `drafts/ietf-wimse-ect/ietf123-slides-outline.md` | 10-minute WIMSE slot outline: 10 slides, pacing plan, Mermaid diagrams for WIT/WPT/ECT layering and DAG-vs-linear, speaker notes, timing-discipline cuts | | `drafts/outreach/emirdag-liaison-email.md` | Liaison email to Dr. Emirdag on SCITT-AI-agent-execution overlap; proposes cross-citation, claim alignment, possible joint IETF 123 slot | | `drafts/outreach/oauth-ml-response.md` | Short oauth@ietf.org response to Txn-Tokens-for-Agents-06; frames ACT `pred` DAG as generalization of Raut et al.'s linear `actchain` | --- ## 4. Open Action Items (what the user does next) Phase A items from `STRATEGY.md` still require execution: - [ ] **A1**: Update ECT HTTP header section — replace `Wimse-Audience` header with `wimse-aud` signature metadata parameter per `draft-ietf-wimse-http-signature-03` (breaking change upstream, published 2026-04-07). - [ ] **A2**: Update SCITT refs in ACT to `draft-ietf-scitt-architecture-22` (AUTH48); note "to be RFC-XXXX upon publication". - [ ] **A3**: Lock Txn-Tokens refs in ACT/ECT to `draft-ietf-oauth-transaction-tokens-08`. - [ ] **A7**: Commit workspace + `research.ietf` subrepo changes. Phase B outreach items (drafted but not sent): - [ ] **B1**: Send Emirdag liaison email (`drafts/outreach/emirdag-liaison-email.md`). - [ ] **B2**: Submit ACT -01 to datatracker. - [ ] **B3**: Submit ECT -02 to datatracker. - [ ] **B4**: Post ECT intro email to wimse@ietf.org, link DIFF doc. - [ ] **B5**: Post OAuth ML response to oauth@ietf.org. - [ ] **B6**: Request 10-min WIMSE slot at IETF 123. - [ ] **B7**: Watch DAWN WG charter formation. --- ## 5. Pending Decisions (need user input) - **Emirdag engagement depth**: liaison citation only, co-authorship offer on a joint anchoring section, or just passive cross-citation? The drafted email leaves all three doors open — pick one before sending. - **Refimpl publication to PyPI**: package names `ietf-act` and `ietf-ect` are reserved but not published. User approval required before any `twine upload`. - **Repo strategy**: single monorepo for both drafts, or split into separate Git repos so each draft has its own "home" for kramdown-rfc / datatracker watchers? Current state is monorepo. - **IETF 123 travel**: in person (Madrid) or remote? Affects slide-prep cadence and whether to plan side meetings with Emirdag / Bertocci. - **Hash encoding alignment** (ACT plain b64url vs ECT `sha-256:` prefix): decide which spec moves, or keep divergence documented. Interop plan currently pins it as xfail. --- ## 6. Known Landscape Threats (top 3) 1. **`draft-oauth-transaction-tokens-for-agents-06`** (Raut / Amazon, 2026-04-11). Linear `actchain` at OAuth AS layer — directly in the same conceptual neighborhood as ACT. If this gets OAuth WG adoption before ACT is visible, ACT has to position as "DAG generalization / no-AS variant" instead of the default. 2. **`draft-emirdag-scitt-ai-agent-execution-00`** (VERIDIC, 2026-04-07). AIR (AgentInteractionRecord) as SCITT payload. Not a direct competitor but overlapping on input/output hashing, reasoning capture, causality. Risk: if adopted first, ACT looks redundant unless positioned as the *lifecycle* that AIR *anchors*. 3. **arXiv 2603.24775 (AIP / IBCTs)**. Closest *technical* competitor — JWT + Biscuit/Datalog, exposes auth gap on ~2000 MCP servers, same peer-to-peer-without-AS story. Not an IETF draft so no WG adoption risk, but could become the citation of record in academic / industry press if ACT is not visible fast. (Full landscape table: `STRATEGY.md` §3.) --- ## 7. Next Session Starting Points (first 3 things) 1. **Read** `docs/control-center.md` (workspace root) and `workspace/STRATEGY.md`; confirm Phase A is still the active phase. 2. **Execute A1** — patch ECT's HTTP header section to the `wimse-aud` signature parameter form. This is the most urgent technical fix; it's a breaking upstream change from `draft-ietf-wimse-http-signature-03` and blocks ECT -02 submission. 3. **Execute A2 + A3** — refresh SCITT and Txn-Tokens reference versions in both drafts so the submission snapshot is current. After A1–A3, move to Phase B (submissions + outreach sends). --- ## 8. Reference State Snapshot - ACT refimpl: `packages/act/` — 103 tests pass, `pred` + Context rename done, EdDSA + ES256 both supported. - ECT refimpl: `packages/ect/` — 56 tests pass, `inp_hash` fix applied, ES256 only, `exec+jwt` typ (legacy `wimse-exec+jwt` still accepted). - Interop package: not yet created; plan is in `packages/INTEROP-TEST-PLAN.md`. - Draft versions: ACT at `-01`, ECT at `-02` (`docname: draft-nennemann-wimse-ect-02`). - No submissions on datatracker yet this session (pending Phase A completion).