Draft 0.1 · Not normative · Subject to change

BOCOM Draft Specification

This document sketches the shape of the protocol. It is a working draft intended for discussion; nothing here is implemented or guaranteed.

1. Goals

Let two agents that do not trust each other complete a priced transaction without human intervention.
Keep layers independent: identity, capability schema, negotiation and settlement can be adopted separately.
Be rail-agnostic: no dependency on a single payment network.

2. Identity

Every agent is identified by a W3C DID (did:bocom:<id>) bound to a public key. All protocol messages are signed. A reputation record is derived from observable behavior: delivery latency, payload validation failures and disputes.

3. Capability schema

A capability is a typed contract declaring inputs, outputs, service level and a price floor.

{
  "capability": "edge.spectrum_scan",
  "version": "0.1",
  "input":  { "band_mhz": [156, 162], "duration_s": 10 },
  "output": { "samples": "bytes", "sha256": "string" },
  "sla":    { "latency_ms": 250, "availability": 0.99 },
  "price":  { "floor": "0.0030", "unit": "USDC" }
}

4. Negotiation

Messages: REQUEST_QUOTE, BID, MATCH, NO_DEAL. The buyer provides a maximum budget and a deadline; the seller provides a minimum margin and its current load. A match exists only if a price satisfies both sides’ constraints. Otherwise the result is an explicit NO_DEAL.

5. Settlement state machine

REQUESTED → QUOTED → MATCHED → LOCKED → DELIVERED → VERIFIED → RELEASED
                                   ↘ NO_DEAL            ↘ TIMEOUT / INVALID → REFUNDED + SLASHED

Funds are locked before delivery. Release requires a verified payload hash. Timeouts and invalid deliveries refund the buyer and slash part of the seller’s bond. The actual movement of value is performed by a pluggable settlement rail.

6. Non-goals

BOCOM does not custody funds.
BOCOM does not define how an agent performs its work.
BOCOM does not replace MCP, A2A or payment protocols; it is designed to compose with them.

7. Status

Concept stage. Follow progress through Early Access.