Spec, schema, templates, examples
The specification, the JSON Schema, workflow templates, and public example code are offered under Apache-2.0 so any team can implement OperatorSpec without permission.
Build the standard in public. Run customer work privately.
OperatorSpec is developed in the open so anyone can define, run, inspect, and hand over an operator-led workflow. The standard stays free and vendor-neutral. Customer workflows stay private. Public starter workflows help the community learn the pattern, train operators, and improve the spec.
Open by license, private by default.
The code and schema are permissively licensed so they can be adopted anywhere. The prose is shareable with attribution. The line is drawn at customer work: that stays confidential.
Explanatory prose
Essays, the manifesto, and website-oriented copy are offered under CC-BY-4.0 — reuse and adapt them, with attribution, unless a file says otherwise.
Customer workflows
Real customer workflows are never published. We do not publish customer-specific workflow details without permission. Public examples are sanitized starters.
Launch roadmap
The first month turns the thesis into a public standard, a useful workflow library, and a commercial offer — built where the community can watch and contribute.
Category and spec seed
Landing page, the OperatorSpec repository, the six-contract model, canonical YAML shape, JSON Schema, the manifesto, and the RFC process.
First starter workflow
Publish the small business website buildout workflow with state files, checkpoints, evidence expectations, and handoff modes.
Commercial offer
Services, the workflow discovery sprint, a sample scope of work, an intake path, and a first pricing hypothesis.
Community and credibility
Roadmap, discussions, a submit-a-workflow template, and the first good first workflow issues for new contributors.
RFC-driven evolution
v0.2 adds portability work: conformance profiles (draft, valid,
portable, auditable), an evidence event model, a handoff
readiness checklist, and examples for multi-agent and multi-operator workflows. v0.3
extends the ecosystem with validation fixtures, registry metadata, runtime compatibility
notes, and an operator training record shape. Operator certification is deliberately held
back — explored only after real workflow usage proves the training and evidence model.
How to contribute.
Clarify the v0.1 spec, propose schema improvements that preserve compatibility, file issues that document unclear language or implementation friction, or bring a workflow. Larger changes go through an RFC.
RFC
The RFC process
Material changes use the RFC template. An RFC states the problem, the proposed change, the affected contracts, the compatibility impact, a smallest example workflow snippet, and the open questions. Small editorial corrections can be submitted directly without an RFC. Accepted for the v0.2 milestone (additive, not yet released): conformance profiles, an evidence event model, and artifact roles with a handoff-readiness checklist.
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Submit a workflow
Contribute a sanitized example that demonstrates operator-led work end to end: an operator role, at least one agent worker, a goal and done condition, durable state outside chat, evidence and audit expectations, and handoff modes. Keep it portable — prefer definitions another operator can run without private chat context.
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Good first workflow
New contributors can start from a curated good first workflow issue — a small, well-scoped business workflow with clear inputs and a single handoff path. It is the fastest way to learn the six contracts by writing one, and the reviews stay focused on the pattern rather than the domain.
Review principles
- Keep OperatorSpec vendor-neutral.
- Preserve the operator as an active driver, not a passive approval gate.
- Prefer portable workflow definitions over runtime-specific assumptions.
- Treat evidence, escalation, and handoff as first-class requirements.
How we build it: in public, with agents.
operators.sh and OperatorSpec are built by two AI agent workers — Codex and Claude Code — steered by a human operator, coordinating entirely through the standard's own State, Evidence, Handoff, and Escalation contracts. It is the first multi-agent OperatorSpec example, and it is real.
Bring a clarification, a workflow, or an RFC.
OperatorSpec should be open enough for anyone to use and strict enough to make real work auditable. Start from the spec and the manifesto, then propose the change that makes the operating layer more reliable.