Agent Enrollment Protocol Specifications

The open specification for establishing trust between autonomous Agents and the Services they use.

The Agent Enrollment Protocol (AEP) defines how an Agent discovers a Service's requirements, enrolls a cryptographic identity, authenticates requests, obtains optional scoped credentials, checks its enrollment state, and revokes access. The protocol is machine-first, transport-aware, and designed for independent implementation.

Discover           Establish trust          Use access              Manage lifecycle
Inspect ─────────▶ Enroll ────────────────▶ Authenticate ─────────▶ Status
                         └──────── Grant ─▶ Session credential └──▶ Revoke

Protocol at a Glance

Command	What the Agent learns or changes
Inspect	Discovers the Service DID, command endpoints, supported identity methods, authentication methods, grant types, and policy metadata
Enroll	Registers a Service-scoped Agent identity and returns an active or pending enrollment state
Grant	Exchanges proof-of-possession for an optional scoped session credential
Status	Reads the current enrollment state and any outstanding requirements
Revoke	Invalidates one or more issued session credentials

The core protocol does not require a particular session-credential format. A Service can implement Inspect, Enroll, and Status without Grant or Revoke, or advertise one or more companion grant types when session credentials are useful.

Read the Specifications

Document	Scope	Source
Agent Enrollment Protocol	Core commands, HTTP transport, discovery, client assertions, identity-method substrate, errors, security, privacy, and IANA registrations	draft-02
Claim Values	Interoperable claim names and forward-compatible claim value shapes	draft-00
did:web Identity Method	Initial AEP-defined identity method feature	draft-00
Platform Hosted Identity	Service-scoped Agent DID provisioning, delegated signing, verification, and lifecycle	draft-00
OAuth Session Credential	OAuth Bearer credentials issued and revoked through Grant and Revoke	draft-02
API-key Session Credential	API-key credentials issued and revoked through Grant and Revoke	draft-02
Basic Session Credential	HTTP Basic credentials issued and revoked through Grant and Revoke	draft-02

Implement and Test

The repository connects normative documents to artifacts that can be consumed by SDKs, servers, and conformance suites:

Area	Contents
ietf/examples	Complete command, Claims negotiation, protected-resource, authorization-composition, and OpenAPI examples
ietf/schemas	JSON Schemas for stable request, response, discovery, Claims, Platform, and problem-detail objects
ietf/test-vectors	Success, rejection, Claims compatibility, redirect-safety, replay/idempotency, and Platform cases
ietf/conformance	Conformance profiles and the offline fixture harness
ietf/registry	Machine-readable authentication, identity, grant-type, Claim Name, extension, and HTTP-field entries
ietf/guides	Non-normative implementation and Internet-Draft authoring guidance

Start with the implementer guide, then use the complete Enroll → Grant → Revoke transcript as a wire-level companion to the core draft.

Repository Map

aep-specs/
├── ietf/
│   ├── specs/          # Internet-Draft Markdown sources
│   ├── examples/       # reviewed protocol examples and transcripts
│   ├── schemas/        # source JSON Schemas
│   ├── test-vectors/   # conformance inputs and expected outcomes
│   ├── conformance/    # profiles and artifact manifest
│   ├── registry/       # repository-local registry entries
│   ├── guides/         # non-normative implementation guidance
│   └── governance/     # extension registration guidance
├── docs/               # published website, examples, and schema copies
└── artifacts/          # local rendered drafts; generated and gitignored

The ietf/README.md documents the draft workspace and full rendering prerequisites.

Build and Validate

Install the Ruby dependencies, then run the complete repository check:

cd ietf
bundle config set path vendor/bundle
bundle install
make check

Useful focused targets:

# Validate draft structure, references, vectors, schemas, harness, and registries
make -C ietf check

# Format Markdown tables
make -C ietf format

# Render XML, text, HTML, PDF, examples, schemas, and the site index
make -C ietf render

# Run idnits against rendered text drafts
make -C ietf idnits

Rendering also requires Python packages from ietf/requirements.txt and the native dependencies described in ietf/README.md. Generated drafts are written to artifacts/; the deploy workflow publishes them on the latest GitHub release.

Reference Resources

Resource	Best for	Link
Complete draft set	Core, claims, identity method, Platform, and session-credential documents	Published specification site
Rendered artifacts	HTML, text, XML, and PDF builds of every draft	Latest GitHub release
Implementer guide	A practical route through the drafts and support artifacts	Implementer guide
Protocol examples	Inspect documents and complete HTTP transcripts	Examples
JSON Schemas	Machine-readable validation of stable wire objects	Published schemas
Test vectors	Positive and negative implementation cases	Test vectors
Node.js SDK	Reference TypeScript implementation and runnable applications	aep-node

Internet-Draft prose is normative. Schemas, examples, registries, and test vectors are implementation support artifacts and do not replace the specifications.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for the contribution workflow, GOVERNANCE.md for project governance, and ietf/STYLE.md for Internet-Draft writing conventions.

Security issues should be reported through SECURITY.md.

License

See LICENSE.md. Specification text and repository software use the licenses described there.