Versions and changelog

Rendered from processes/CHANGELOG.md in the Common Agent Standards repository, at commit b22979eb.

Versions#

The specification is published one version at a time. This site carries version 0.5.0-draft, dated 2026-10-18, and the specification page names it at the top.

The source of every version is in the Common Agent Standards repository, where each version is tagged as processes-v followed by the version. A tagged version is also kept at an address of its own: 0.4.0-draft, 0.5.0-draft. The main branch, which can be ahead of the published version, is rendered at agentprocesses.ai/draft/.

VersionDateWhat it changed
0.5.0-draft2026-10-18- A phase can be handed to an agent that runs its own loop, written harness: <what the agent works out> (Section 6.3)
0.4.0-draft2026-09-17The first version tagged in the Common Agent Standards repository, as processes-v0.4.0-draft

Versions 0.1.0-draft to 0.3.0-draft were written before the standard moved into the Common Agent Standards repository. The opening notes of the specification say what 0.2.0-draft, 0.3.0-draft and 0.5.0-draft each changed.

Changelog#

The changelog is part of the standard's source and is reproduced here in full, newest first.

0.5.0-draft (2026-10-18)

  • A phase can be handed to an agent that runs its own loop, written harness: <what the agent works out> (Section 6.3). The process names the output and never reaches inside the phase, and the phase closes with one HARNESS DONE record shaped like a run's close (Section 13.3). This is harness-led orchestration.
  • The form replaces runs <pattern>:, which named a pattern from Agent Work Patterns, a library that has been retired. A runtime reads runs followed by any name other than process as a harness: phase, so documents written against earlier versions stay readable.
  • A conforming runtime has a sixth set of obligations, for harness: phases (Section 17.3), and translation names the harness: phase as a part that is often lost (Section 16.2).
  • The reference profile no longer describes itself by comparison with a work pattern (Section 15).

0.4.0-draft (2026-09-17)

The first version tagged in the Common Agent Standards repository, as processes-v0.4.0-draft. Earlier changes are recorded in the history of this folder.