Agent Processes
Agent Processes is an open format for writing down your organization's recurring work, so agents and people can run it together.
A process is a workflow written in plain text. It says what starts the work, the steps and their order, who owns each step, and what each step hands to the next.
An orchestrator is the software that runs a process. It reads the process, starts each step when its turn comes, and gives the step to an agent, a system or a person.
You decide step by step how far to automate, from a person doing the work to an agent doing it unattended, and some steps stay with a person for good.
The specification is at version 0.4.0-draft, dated 2026-09-17.
Agent Processes, explained
This video follows one recurring process, employee offboarding, as it is written down so agents and people can run it. It shows which steps agents take on and where people stay in charge.
Who it is for
Agent Processes is for operations leads and process owners, who get their department's recurring work written down in one format and a map of what can be automated. It is also for the people who build orchestrators and agents, who get one format to run whatever organization the process comes from.
Where Agent Processes fits
Agents work together in three ways, and this site covers the first: process-led orchestration, where an orchestrator follows a process that someone wrote down.
How agents work together
Process-led orchestration
A written process leads.
Best for recurring work that must run the same way every time.
Harness-led orchestration
An agent's own loop leads.
Best for open-ended work where nobody knows the steps yet.
Choreography
Nobody leads.
Best for loosely connected teams that each react to the same news.
They mix: a process can hand one step to a harness, and an event can start either.
The three combine. A process can hand one step to a harness, which is an agent running its own loop, and in the process that is written as a step an agent works out on its own, with runs <work pattern> from Agent Work Patterns. An event carried by Agent Messaging can start a process, and agents that react to the same news can work beside a process without being part of it.
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People and automation
Each step carries one of five automation levels, and some steps stay with a person for good.
Example: employee offboarding
Three steps run side by side, and a person signs the run closed.
The catalog
One table for each department shows what work exists and where to automate first.
Writing a process
A handful of fields is enough to start, and the rest can wait until you need them.
The specification
The full text holds every rule a process document and an orchestrator follow.
The Common Agent Standards
Agent Processes is one of a family of open standards for agents.