Protocol Primitives

NEKTE defines eight primitives. Each is designed to minimize token overhead in the common case.

Primitive	Purpose	Token Cost
nekte.discover	Progressive capability discovery (L0/L1/L2)	~8 tok/cap (L0)
nekte.invoke	Zero-schema invocation via version hash	0 extra tokens
nekte.delegate	Task delegation with streaming + lifecycle	Budget-aware
nekte.context	Context envelopes with permissions + TTL	Compressed
nekte.verify	Result verification with proofs	On-demand
nekte.task.cancel	Cancel a running/suspended task	~20 tokens
nekte.task.resume	Resume a suspended task from checkpoint	~20 tokens
nekte.task.status	Query task lifecycle state	~30 tokens

---

1. nekte.discover — Progressive Discovery

Replaces MCP’s “tool listing” and A2A’s “full Agent Card” pattern. Agents request only the resolution level they need.

Request

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "nekte.discover",
  "id": 1,
  "params": {
    "level": 0,
    "filter": {
      "category": "nlp",
      "query": "sentiment"
    }
  }
}

Response L0 (Catalog)

The lightest response — just names, categories, and version hashes.

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "result": {
    "agent": "nlp-worker",
    "v": "1.2.0",
    "caps": [
      { "id": "sentiment", "cat": "nlp", "h": "a1b2c3d4" },
      { "id": "summarize", "cat": "nlp", "h": "e5f6g7h8" },
      { "id": "translate", "cat": "nlp", "h": "i9j0k1l2" }
    ]
  }
}

Note

Total cost: ~24 tokens for 3 capabilities. MCP would spend ~363 tokens for the same three tools.

Response L1 (Summary)

Descriptions and cost metadata, requested only when needed.

{
  "result": {
    "agent": "nlp-worker",
    "caps": [
      {
        "id": "sentiment",
        "h": "a1b2c3d4",
        "desc": "Analyzes text sentiment. Input: text(string). Output: score(float), label(string).",
        "cost": { "avg_ms": 200, "avg_tokens": 50 }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Response L2 (Full Schema)

Complete typed schemas with examples. Only fetched when an agent needs to construct a new invocation.

{
  "result": {
    "caps": [{
      "id": "sentiment",
      "h": "a1b2c3d4",
      "input": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
          "text": { "type": "string", "maxLength": 10000 },
          "lang": { "type": "string", "default": "auto" }
        },
        "required": ["text"]
      },
      "output": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
          "label": { "type": "string", "enum": ["positive", "negative", "neutral"] },
          "score": { "type": "number", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 1 }
        }
      },
      "examples": [
        { "in": { "text": "I love it" }, "out": { "label": "positive", "score": 0.95 } }
      ]
    }]
  }
}

---

2. nekte.invoke — Efficient Invocation

Invokes a capability. The version_hash enables zero-schema invocation: if the hash matches what the server has, execution proceeds without schema validation overhead.

Request

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "nekte.invoke",
  "id": 2,
  "params": {
    "cap": "sentiment",
    "h": "a1b2c3d4",
    "in": { "text": "The product is excellent but shipping was slow" },
    "budget": { "max_tokens": 100, "detail_level": "compact" }
  }
}

Response

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 2,
  "result": {
    "out": { "label": "mixed", "score": 0.62 },
    "meta": { "ms": 180, "tokens_used": 45 }
  }
}

Version Mismatch

If the capability has been updated since the client cached it, the server returns the updated schema in the error — no extra round-trip needed.

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 2,
  "error": {
    "code": -32001,
    "message": "VERSION_MISMATCH",
    "data": {
      "current_hash": "m3n4o5p6",
      "schema": { "...updated L2 schema..." }
    }
  }
}

---

3. nekte.delegate — Task Delegation with Streaming

An agent delegates a complete task to another, with an explicit contract. The response streams via SSE (HTTP) or server-streaming RPC (gRPC).

Request

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "nekte.delegate",
  "id": 3,
  "params": {
    "task": {
      "id": "task-001",
      "desc": "Analyze sentiment of 500 reviews",
      "timeout_ms": 30000,
      "budget": { "max_tokens": 500, "detail_level": "compact" }
    },
    "context": {
      "data": { "reviews_url": "s3://bucket/reviews.jsonl" },
      "permissions": { "forward": false, "persist": false, "derive": true },
      "ttl_s": 3600
    }
  }
}

Streaming Response (SSE events)

event: progress
data: {"processed":50,"total":500,"message":"Processing batch 1"}

event: progress
data: {"processed":250,"total":500,"message":"Processing batch 5"}

event: partial
data: {"out":{"preliminary_score":0.72},"resolved_level":"compact"}

event: complete
data: {"task_id":"task-001","status":"completed","out":{"minimal":"65% positive","compact":{"..."}}}

Lifecycle Events

event: cancelled
data: {"task_id":"task-001","reason":"User requested","previous_status":"running"}

event: suspended
data: {"task_id":"task-001","checkpoint_available":true}

event: resumed
data: {"task_id":"task-001","from_checkpoint":true}

---

4. nekte.task.cancel — Task Cancellation

Cancel a running or suspended task. Fires the server-side AbortSignal.

Request

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "nekte.task.cancel",
  "id": 10,
  "params": {
    "task_id": "task-001",
    "reason": "User requested early stop"
  }
}

Response

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 10,
  "result": {
    "task_id": "task-001",
    "status": "cancelled",
    "previous_status": "running"
  }
}

Error codes: -32009 TASK_NOT_FOUND, -32010 TASK_NOT_CANCELLABLE

---

5. nekte.task.resume — Task Resume

Resume a previously suspended task. The server re-invokes the delegate handler with the saved checkpoint.

Request

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "nekte.task.resume",
  "id": 11,
  "params": {
    "task_id": "task-001",
    "budget": { "max_tokens": 500, "detail_level": "compact" }
  }
}

Response

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 11,
  "result": {
    "task_id": "task-001",
    "status": "running",
    "previous_status": "suspended"
  }
}

Error codes: -32009 TASK_NOT_FOUND, -32011 TASK_NOT_RESUMABLE

---

6. nekte.task.status — Task Status Query

Query the current lifecycle state of any task.

Request

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "nekte.task.status",
  "id": 12,
  "params": {
    "task_id": "task-001"
  }
}

Response

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 12,
  "result": {
    "task_id": "task-001",
    "status": "completed",
    "checkpoint_available": false,
    "created_at": "2026-01-15T10:30:00Z",
    "updated_at": "2026-01-15T10:31:25Z"
  }
}

---

7. nekte.context — Context Envelopes

Wraps shared context with explicit permissions and time-to-live. Prevents context leaking between agents.

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "nekte.context",
  "id": 20,
  "params": {
    "envelope": {
      "data": { "user_preferences": { "lang": "en", "tone": "formal" } },
      "permissions": {
        "forward": false,
        "persist": false,
        "derive": true
      },
      "ttl_s": 3600,
      "scope": ["sentiment", "summarize"]
    }
  }
}

Note

nekte.context is fully implemented in v0.3. Permissions are enforced: forward: false prevents the receiving agent from sharing the context with downstream agents. persist: false means the data must not be stored beyond the TTL.

---

8. nekte.verify — Result Verification

Allows an agent to request verification of a previous result with cryptographic proofs.

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "nekte.verify",
  "id": 30,
  "params": {
    "task_id": "task-001",
    "result_hash": "abc123def456",
    "verification_type": "deterministic"
  }
}

Note

nekte.verify is fully implemented in v0.3. It supports deterministic re-execution and probabilistic sampling verification modes.

---

Task Lifecycle State Machine

All task-related primitives operate on a shared state machine:

pending -> accepted -> running -> completed
                    -> suspended -> running (resume)
(any non-terminal) -> cancelled | failed

• Cancel: Any active task via nekte.task.cancel — fires AbortSignal
• Suspend: Running tasks can save checkpoints for later resume
• Resume: Suspended tasks via nekte.task.resume — restores from checkpoint
• Status: Query any task via nekte.task.status