IICP – Bridging AI Communication with QuDAG

IICP v1.4 – Seamless Integration with QuDAG for AI Agents

The Intent-based Inter-agent Communication Protocol (IICP v1.4), also known as SYNAPSE, sets new standards in AI agent interoperability, emphasizing seamless integration with QuDAG. This version significantly advances decentralized and secure communication among distributed AI networks.

Current Alignment of IICP with QuDAG

• QuDAG telemetry via TELEMETRY messages
• PQ signatures verified in QuDAG envelopes
• Gossip-based ADVERTISE and OBSERVE flows
• Path-aware routing hints (X-IICP-Routing-Hint) consumed by QuDAG
• Retry policies (retry_config) enforced by QuDAG transport

QuDAG + IICP Examples

1. Initiating a CALL over QuDAG

{
  "msg_type": "CALL",
  "headers": {
    "agent_id": "llm://orchestrator",
    "intent": "urn:iicp:intent:doc:summarize:v1.4",
    "trace_id": "abcd1234efgh5678",
    "X-IICP-Transport-Hint": "qudag",
    "X-IICP-Routing-Hint": "low_latency",
    "retry_config": {"max_attempts":3,"backoff_ms":200,"jitter":true}
  },
  "payload": "H4sIAAAAAAAA...==",  // gzip'd summary request
  "dag_link": [
    "7be1c3d4e5f6g7h8i9j0k1l2m3n4o5p6",
    "2a44b5c6d7e8f9a0b1c2d3e4f5g6h7i8"
  ],
  "qdag_sig": {"alg":"dilithium3","sig":"MEUCIQ..."}
}

2. Handling an ADVERTISE / OBSERVE cycle

// Node A broadcasts available intents
{
  "msg_type": "ADVERTISE",
  "headers": {"transport_hint":"qudag","X-IICP-TTL":30000},
  "intent_list": ["urn:iicp:intent:code:lint:v1.4","urn:iicp:intent:fraud:detect:v1.0"],
  "dag_link": [...],
  "qdag_sig": {...}
}

// Node B observes and caches
{
  "msg_type": "OBSERVE",
  "headers": {"transport_hint":"qudag","X-IICP-TTL":30000},
  "routing_metrics": [
    {"path_id":"A->B","latency_ms":50,"reliability":99}
  ],
  "dag_link": [...],
  "qdag_sig": {...}
}

3. Emitting QuDAG TELEMETRY from IICP agents

{
  "msg_type": "TELEMETRY",
  "headers": {"transport_hint":"qudag","X-IICP-TTL":60000},
  "intent": "urn:iicp:telemetry:qudag:metrics",
  "metrics": {"gossip_convergence_ms":120,"dag_node_latency_ms":30,"msg_propagation_rate":15000},
  "trace_id": "zzxx1122yyww3344",
  "parent_span": "ppss5566",
  "telemetry_interval_ms":10000
}

Real-world Use Cases

• Secure Autonomous Networks – Decentralized, post-quantum-secure agent meshes.
• Distributed Document Pipelines – Multi-stage summarization and linting over QuDAG.
• Resilient AI Task Orchestration – Adaptive retries and path-aware routing ensure high availability.

Extract of RFC Draft

  Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                 IICP Working Group
Internet-Draft 

Intended Status: Standards Track
Expires: December 24, 2025                              		     June 24, 2025

   Intent-based Inter-agent Communication Protocol (IICP/SYNAPSE)
                     draft-iicp-synapse-v1.4-00

Abstract

   The Intent-based Inter-agent Communication Protocol (IICP), also known as
   SYNAPSE, enables distributed AI agent meshes for enterprise-scale task
   orchestration with scalability, security, and observability. Version 1.4
   extends v1.3 with enhanced decentralized identity support, optimized retry
   policies, QuDAG-specific telemetry, path-aware routing, multi-language
   library deployment, and new priority scheduling for high-throughput tasks.

   Key features:
   - Intent Time-to-Live (TTL) for message expiration
   - Quality of Service (QoS) with class and congestion policies
   - Semantic intent versioning (:v)
   - Side-band feedback (FEEDBACK message)
   - SHA-256 payload hashing and de-duplication (X-IICP-Hash)
   - Ownership locking (X-IICP-Lock)
   - Heartbeat detection (PING/PONG messages)
   - Meta-control directives (CONTROL message)
   - QuDAG transport support (X-IICP-Transport-Hint)
   - Post-quantum signatures (Dilithium3, Falcon512, ML-DSA)
   - Gossip-based routing (ADVERTISE, OBSERVE messages)
   - Decentralized authentication (X-IICP-Auth-Method, auth_did)
   - Adaptive retries (X-IICP-Retry-Policy, retry_config)
   - QuDAG telemetry (TELEMETRY message)
   - Path-aware routing (X-IICP-Routing-Hint, routing_metrics)
   - Multi-language libraries (urn:iicp:qudag:library:)
   - Priority scheduling (X-IICP-Scheduling-Hint)
   
Table of Contents

   1. Introduction
   2. Terminology
   3. Protocol Overview
   4. Message Types and Payload Structures
      4.1. INIT
      4.2. ACK
      4.3. DISCOVER
      4.4. SUB_PROTOCOL
      4.5. CALL
      4.6. RESPONSE
      4.7. FEEDBACK
      4.8. PING/PONG
      4.9. CONTROL
      4.10. CLOSE
      4.11. ADVERTISE
      4.12. OBSERVE
      4.13. TELEMETRY
   5. Header Fields
   6. Message Semantics
   7. State Machine
   8. Error Codes
   9. Security Considerations
   10. Observability
   11. Fault Tolerance
   12. Extensibility
   13. IANA Considerations
   14. Validation Results
   15. References
   Appendix A. ABNF Grammar
   Appendix B. ASCII Diagrams
      B.1. Protocol Flow
      B.2. Mesh Topology
      B.3. Message Structure
      B.4. QuDAG Envelope Wrapping
      B.5. QuDAG Gossip Propagation
      B.6. Priority Scheduling Flow
   Appendix C. QuDAG Envelope Example
   Authors' Addresses