AgentIndicator

AgentIndicator is a concept used in artificial intelligence and software agent architectures to denote a component that publicly signals the current state, capabilities, and context of an autonomous agent within a system. It serves as a lightweight communication surface that other agents, orchestration layers, or human operators can read to understand what an agent is doing and what it can do.

A typical agent indicator describes a compact set of attributes, such as agent_id, status (for example idle, active, waiting, or error), last_updated timestamp, declared goals or intents, available capabilities, confidence levels, and contextual information like location or current task context. In many designs, the indicator is decoupled from the agent’s core decision logic and exposed through a stable interface or protocol to ensure reliable visibility even during planning pauses or failures.

Indicator data can be delivered in various formats and transport mechanisms, including RESTful endpoints, WebSocket streams, or publish-subscribe channels. Common data formats include JSON or RDF-based representations, enabling both human inspection and machine interpretation. Use cases range from coordination in multi-agent systems and automated planning to monitoring, auditing, and safety oversight by operators.

Key design considerations include accuracy and timeliness of the reported state, privacy and security of disclosed attributes, and resilience to indicators failing or being spoofed. Designers may implement access controls, cryptographic signing, and fallbacks to maintain trustworthy visibility of agent behavior.

See also: presence service, heartbeat, agent registry, capability description language.