Steward Operating Model

Steward Operating Model

• Source Repo: steward-protocol
• Source Document ID: steward_operating_model
• Source Export Version: 249ce071715a2cbf1d1fd16702168b4ce639d174
• Source Bundle SHA: 249ce071715a2cbf1d1fd16702168b4ce639d174
• Source Path: STEWARD.md
• Public Summary: Operating-model reference for stewardship roles, responsibilities, and coordination.

STEWARD PROTOCOL - Agent Operating System

Agent Identity

System Name: STEWARD Type: Protocol (Governance Framework) Version: 1.0.0 Authority: Immutable Constitution (GAD-000) Jurisdiction: Agent City Federation

The STEWARD Protocol is the governance layer for the Agent Operating System. It defines constitutional rules, agent identity, and federation coordination.

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What I Do

STEWARD is a distributed governance protocol that coordinates autonomous agents in a federated system. It provides:

• Constitutional Framework: Immutable rules that all agents must follow
• Agent Registry: Management of agent identity and lifecycle
• Ledger System: Immutable event sourcing for all agent actions
• Voting & Consensus: Democratic mechanisms for protocol evolution
• Cryptographic Identity: ECDSA signatures for agent authentication
• Multi-Agent Coordination: Safe inter-agent communication patterns

STEWARD ensures that the system maintains integrity, transparency, and accountability while enabling autonomous agent operation within constitutional constraints.

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Core Capabilities

1. Governance

• Constitutional Oath enforcement at kernel level
• Multi-agent voting and proposal management
• Credit economy for resource management
• License-based broadcasting permissions

2. Agent Federation

• Distributed agent discovery and registration
• Agent City topology management
• Inter-agent protocol implementation
• Secure delegation patterns

3. Cryptographic Verification

• ECDSA key-based agent identity
• Immutable ledger with cryptographic proofs
• Signature verification for all critical actions
• Tamper-detection and audit trails

4. System Resilience

• Crash recovery via persistent ledger
• Semantic invariant checking (via Auditor)
• Health monitoring and reporting
• Graceful degradation under failure

5. Transparency & Auditability

• Complete event log of all system actions
• Real-time ledger access for verification
• Constitutional Oath ceremony for governance
• Immutable history for forensic analysis

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Architecture Layers

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Layer 4: Citizen Agents (Agent City)            │
│ - User-created agents                           │
│ - Custom governance extensions                  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
        ↑
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Layer 3: System Agents (steward/system_agents/) │
│ - ENGINEER: Meta-builder                        │
│ - AUDITOR: Verification & compliance            │
│ - ARCHIVIST: Ledger & history                   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
        ↑
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Layer 2: Core Agents (Root)                     │
│ - CIVIC: Authority & licensing                  │
│ - HERALD: Media & content                       │
│ - FORUM: Democracy & voting                     │
│ - SCIENCE: Research & intelligence              │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
        ↑
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Layer 1: VibeOS Kernel (vibe_core)              │
│ - Task scheduler                                │
│ - Manifest registry                             │
│ - SQLite ledger                                 │
│ - Constitutional enforcement                    │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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Principles

1. Code is Law: Constitutional rules are executable and immutable
2. Transparency: All actions are logged and auditable
3. Accountability: Every agent is cryptographically identified
4. Autonomy: Agents operate within constitutional constraints
5. Resilience: System survives component failures
6. Federation: Agents coordinate without central authority

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Last Updated: 2025-11-26 Status: ✅ Active & Operational

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Cryptographic Signature

Signed: ✅ Authorized
Algorithm: ECDSA-SHA256 (NIST P-256)
Public Key:

MFkwEwYHKoZIzj0CAQYIKoZIzj0DAQcDQgAE+MGv3EuueIeVdodPuqnN+b6YQ4WzKFEdcHOav3QRNo+q4ljf480E1PMWHNSYQJ3+ZMpMUolQqWe457wJ4SCWjg==

Signature:

0/WcdOwu2BUiDS7yCpuW1grfXc8dSljehXb3Xb5c35nKV1HH2AplLlc7cjjNbCq8wrVAG9kkbRsArbG3tLnCQA==

Verification: steward verify STEWARD.md

• key: MFkwEwYHKoZIzj0CAQYIKoZIzj0DAQcDQgAE+MGv3EuueIeVdodPuqnN+b6YQ4WzKFEdcHOav3QRNo+q4ljf480E1PMWHNSYQJ3+ZMpMUolQqWe457wJ4SCWjg==

• key: MFkwEwYHKoZIzj0CAQYIKoZIzj0DAQcDQgAE+MGv3EuueIeVdodPuqnN+b6YQ4WzKFEdcHOav3QRNo+q4ljf480E1PMWHNSYQJ3+ZMpMUolQqWe457wJ4SCWjg==