CorpAI Communication Protocol

Agents don’t chat. They send structured messages. Every message has a type, a sender, a receiver, and a payload.

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Message Types

Type	Direction	Purpose
TASK	Down the chain	Delegate work to a lower-ranked agent
REPORT	Up the chain	Return results to the assigning agent
ESCALATION	Up the chain	Flag a problem that needs higher authority
NOTIFICATION	Any direction	Inform without requiring action
OVERRIDE	Down (OWNER only)	Force an action regardless of agent state

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Message Format

All messages follow this structure:

{
  "id": "msg_unique_id",
  "type": "TASK | REPORT | ESCALATION | NOTIFICATION | OVERRIDE",
  "from": {
    "role": "CEO",
    "rank": "L5"
  },
  "to": {
    "role": "CTO",
    "rank": "L5"
  },
  "timestamp": "ISO-8601",
  "priority": "P1 | P2 | P3 | P4 | P5",
  "subject": "Short description",
  "body": "Full message content",
  "context": {},
  "requires_response": true
}

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Priority Levels

Priority	Label	Meaning	Expected Response Time
P1	Critical	System failure, immediate action required	Immediate
P2	High	Blocking issue, affects output	< 1 cycle
P3	Normal	Standard task or report	Standard cycle
P4	Low	Non-blocking, informational	Next cycle
P5	Digest	Batch updates, summaries	Weekly/scheduled

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Flow Diagrams

Standard Task Flow

sequenceDiagram
    participant OWNER
    participant CEO
    participant CTO
    participant L1

    OWNER->>CEO: TASK (P2) — Launch new product feature
    CEO->>CTO: TASK (P2) — Define technical requirements
    CTO->>L1: TASK (P3) — Implement auth module
    L1->>CTO: REPORT — Auth module complete
    CTO->>CEO: REPORT — Technical requirements delivered
    CEO->>OWNER: NOTIFICATION — Feature ready for review

Escalation Flow

sequenceDiagram
    participant L1
    participant L3
    participant L5_CTO
    participant OWNER

    L1->>L3: ESCALATION (P2) — Cannot complete task, blocked
    L3->>L5_CTO: ESCALATION (P1) — Critical blocker unresolved
    L5_CTO->>OWNER: ESCALATION (P1) — Requires human decision
    OWNER->>L5_CTO: OVERRIDE — Proceed with option B

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Rules

1. TASKs flow downward. An agent cannot assign tasks upward.
2. REPORTs flow upward. Always back to the agent who assigned the task.
3. ESCALATIONs flow upward. Never skip more than one rank except in P1 situations.
4. NOTIFICATIONs can go anywhere. They don’t require a response.
5. OVERRIDEs come only from OWNER. No agent can issue an override.
6. Every TASK gets a REPORT. No task is silently abandoned.