AIF — Agent Instruction Format

A plain-text format for expressing executable instructions to autonomous agents, orchestration systems, and automated pipelines — with unambiguous syntax, explicit typing, and deterministic parse semantics.

Get Started

Try it live: AIF Playground — no install needed.

Install a parser:

# Python
pip install aif-parser

# TypeScript / Node.js
npm install aif-parser

Parse a document:

from aif_parser import parse_aif

result = parse_aif(open("pipeline.aif").read())
if result.valid:
    print(result.ast)
else:
    for err in result.errors:
        print(err)

import { parseAIF } from 'aif-parser'

const result = parseAIF(document)
if (result.valid) {
    console.log(result.ast)
} else {
    result.errors.forEach(e => console.error(e))
}

Validate any document:

python -m aif_parser pipeline.aif

Example

---
aif-version: 1.0
id:          deploy-pipeline-v1
title:       Production Deployment Pipeline
author:      platform-team
---

@Agent[test-runner] {
    name:        "Test Runner Agent"
    capabilities: [ test, coverage ]
    timeout:     10m
    on-error:    @ErrorPolicy::stop
}

@Task[run-tests] {
    title:     "Run test suite with coverage"
    agent:     test-runner
    priority:  @Priority::high
    input {
        branch:   String
        coverage: Boolean = true
    }
    output {
        passed:   Boolean
        coverage: Number
    }
}

@Rule[require-coverage] {
    title:    "Minimum 80% test coverage"
    severity: @Severity::error
    assert:   "output.coverage >= 80"
    message:  "Coverage below required threshold."
}

@Workflow[deploy-production] {
    title:   "Full Production Deployment"
    trigger: @Trigger::manual
    steps:   [ run-tests ]
    timeout: 60m
}

Why AIF?

Markdown was designed to convert plain text to HTML for humans. When repurposed as an agent instruction medium, its structural ambiguity becomes operational risk.

Block Types

Full syntax reference in docs/AIF-Specification-v1.0.0.md.

Interoperability

Packages

Project Status

AIF is a v1.0 draft, open for community review. See SPEC.md for implementation status.

Spec changes follow the RFC process — open a GitHub Discussion before proposing changes to block types, field syntax, or the AST.

Resources

• Full Specification — complete grammar, AST schema, operator reference
• CONTRIBUTING.md — how to contribute, RFC process
• GOVERNANCE.md — project governance
• CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md — community standards
• CHANGELOG.md — version history

License

Format specification: CC BY 4.0

Reference implementations: MIT