# UIM Protocol Specification

Welcome to the UIM Protocol Specification. This section provides a comprehensive overview of the protocol, its components, and how they work together to enable standardized interactions between AI agents and web services.

## Specification Structure

The specification is organized into the following sections:

- [Overview](overview.md): A high-level introduction to the UIM Protocol, its goals, and scope
- [Key Concepts](key-concepts.md): Core concepts including intents, metadata, and the execute method
- [Architecture](architecture.md): System architecture options including centralized, decentralized, and hybrid approaches
- [Core Components](core-components.md): Detailed specifications for each component of the protocol
- [API Guidelines](api-guidelines.md): Standards and best practices for API implementation
- [Security](security.md): Security considerations and implementation guidelines
- [Appendix](appendix.md): Additional resources, examples, and reference materials

## Specification Status

This specification is currently in **Draft Proposal** status. It is being actively developed and refined based on community feedback. We encourage you to review the specification and provide feedback through our [GitHub repository](https://github.com/synaptiai/uim-protocol).

## Formal Specification

For formal reference, the UIM Protocol is also available as an RFC-style specification document. This document is considered the authoritative source for the protocol and follows traditional RFC formatting with numbered sections.

You can view the [formal UIM Protocol specification document](uim-specification.txt) for technical implementation details.

## Versioning

The UIM Protocol specification uses semantic versioning:

- **Major version**: Incompatible API changes
- **Minor version**: Backwards-compatible additions
- **Patch version**: Bug fixes and clarifications

The current version is **0.2.0**.

## Compliance and Validation

To be considered compliant with the UIM Protocol, implementations must adhere to the requirements specified in this document. Requirements are indicated using the following keywords:

- **MUST**: An absolute requirement
- **SHOULD**: A recommendation that may be ignored with good reason
- **MAY**: An optional feature

A validation suite is being developed to help implementers verify compliance with the specification.
