Protocol · v0.50.0

Protocol contracts are the authority model; adapters are not

@ruleoak/protocol defines shared contracts and validators. MCP, HTTP and application adapters map external requests into those canonical semantics.

Core sequence

Intent / proposed action
  ↓
Capability context
  ↓
Authority Grant / Authority Envelope
  ↓
Policy decision
  ↓
Approval when required
  ↓
One-use ExecutionLease
  ↓
Adapter invocation
  ↓
Observed effect
  ↓
EffectReceipt + observation quality
  ↓
Evidence graph / bundle

Adapter isolation

MCP is a first-class RuleOak adapter, not the RuleOak authority model. The v0.50.0 MCP path recognizes protocol generation 2026-07-28 and retains a compatibility codec for 2025-06-18 session-oriented deployments. Protocol-specific fields remain isolated from canonical RuleOak principal, action, resource, authority, lease and effect semantics.

Important distinctions

An allowed policy decision is not proof that an external effect completed.
An ExecutionLease grants one bounded execution opportunity; replay is rejected.
An EffectReceipt records what RuleOak observed and the quality/scope of that observation.
Unknown or ambiguous effects remain explicit; a successful transport response is not automatically remote-world confirmation.
Extension metadata and capability discovery never grant runtime authority.

Verification vocabulary

Integrity, citation/evidence binding, semantic support, workload qualification, human review and effect confirmation are separate facts and must not silently promote one another.