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🌐 OpenMesh: Open Communication Mesh for AI

OpenMesh is a decentralized, federated communication mesh for large-scale, open multi-agent systems (MAS) such as the Internet of Agents (IoA) and the Society of Agents (SoA).

It provides topic-routing, pub/sub eventing, per-agent inboxes, typed communication schemas, extensible communication protocols, membership and discovery, and a social-graph overlay that supports higher-order interaction.

OpenMesh is operator-neutral, permissionless to join, and protocol-extensible, enabling independent domains to federate while preserving local policy.

❓Why OpenMesh?

In large-scale open MAS, communication is the key substrate of intelligence. Without expressive, reliable, and adaptive communication, agents remain isolated silos, unable to coordinate or form collective behaviors.

OpenMesh addresses this by ensuring:

  • Coordination of Distributed Action
  • Negotiation and Social Contract Formation
  • State Sharing and Situation Awareness
  • Interoperability and Semantic Alignment
  • Emergence of Social Structures

Unlike centralized, ad hoc, or application-specific systems, OpenMesh combines resilience, semantic richness, and social awareness into a single communication fabric.

⚙️ Core Principles & Features

  • Federated, Operator-Neutral Backbone
    Independent relay and directory nodes interoperate via open protocols, preventing lock-in and ensuring resilience.

  • Self-Describing, Schema-Linked Messages
    Messages embed schema URIs and semantic identifiers to validate content, negotiate meaning, and evolve protocols without breakage.

  • Extensible Protocol Semantics
    A minimal set of performative verbs (inform, request, propose, agree, etc.) forms a common language, while protocol packages define richer workflows

  • Policy-Aware by Design
    Enforces domain rules & constraints (access, rate limits, residency, compliance) without fragmenting the network.

  • Partition-Tolerant Survivability Layer
    Gossip membership, clustering, and multi-path routing maintain coordination during failures or adversarial conditions.

  • Multi-Pattern Communication Primitives
    Unified support for pub/sub, request–reply, streaming, inbox/mailbox, gossip, shared state boards, and social-graph routing.

  • Social-Graph Overlay
    Trust-weighted relationships and attention-routing enable noise reduction, prioritization, and trust-based communication.

  • Cross-Protocol Interoperability
    Bridges to HTTP, MQTT, AMQP, Kafka, ROS2, and others make OpenMesh a universal substrate.

📡 Communication Patterns

OpenMesh supports multi-pattern communication suited to different tasks and trust contexts:

  • Publish–Subscribe (Pub/Sub) - Market data, telemetry, collective perception.
  • Request–Reply - Resource discovery, queries, contract negotiation.
  • Streaming Channels - Continuous feeds, real-time inference, simulation.
  • Inbox/Mailbox - Reliable delivery for offline/intermittent agents.
  • Gossip & Epidemic Dissemination - Membership, reputation, rapid alerts.
  • Shared State Boards - Collaborative state across agents.
  • Social-Graph–Aware Routing - Trust/role-weighted routing and filtering.
  • Pattern Interoperability - Composite workflows mixing multiple patterns.

📜 Semantic Layer & Schemas

OpenMesh ensures meaning preservation across heterogeneous agents through:

  • Self-Describing Messages
    Each message embeds schema URI, protocol URI, versioning, and security annotations.

  • Distributed Schema Registry
    Federated, content-addressable, and replicated across operators to avoid chokepoints. Stores schemas, protocol definitions, compatibility rules.

  • Protocol Definitions & State Machines
    Support for performative verbs and structured, auditable multi-step workflows that dictate the sequence, conditions, and branching logic of an interaction.

  • Schema & Protocol Negotiation / Translation
    On-demand protocol resolution via registries, negotiation, or translator agents. Prevents fragmentation into dialect “islands.”

  • Validation at Ingress & Egress
    Enforces schema compliance, protocol safety, and policy adherence for messages at every boundary.

  • Semantic Security
    Schema-bound ACLs, protocol enforcement, and type-level controls the meaning and permissible use of messages based on their declared structure, type, and protocol context.

📞 Signaling, Session Management & Routing

Signaling is the bridge between semantic intent and active communication

  • Signaling Layer
    Used for meta-communication - exchanging information about how to communicate before any actual data is sent. Handles capability discovery, transport negotiation, security exchange, protocol alignment, and session contracts.

  • Session Management
    Represents a logical communication channel between two or more agents. Establishes and tracks ephemeral or persistent sessions, monitors health, enforces policies, and supports graceful or forced termination.

  • Routing Layer
    Decides how messages traverse the mesh between agents, balancing performance, security, and compliance. Routing is Policy-aware, trust-sensitive, and adaptive:

  • Direct routing
  • Relay-based routing
  • Multi-path redundancy
  • Trust-weighted path selection

  • Policy-constrained routing (jurisdiction, compliance, SLAs)

  • Routing Metadata
    Encodes QoS, trust anchors, geo/policy constraints, and fallback orders.

Example: Market Coordination Protocol

  1. Buyer publishes RFP – market/rfp@v1.0.0
  2. Seller responds with proposal – market/proposal@v1.0.0
  3. Negotiation – Proposal protocol enforces valid transitions.
  4. Contract finalization – market/contract@v2.0.1 with signatures and clauses.
  5. Audit & Replay – All interactions validated, versioned, logged for compliance.

A unified, scalable platform for managing and routing messages across distributed services and human interfaces.
Modular, policy-driven, and designed for modern cloud-native AI infrastructure.

🚧 Project Status: Alpha
Not production-ready. See Project Status for details.

📚 Contents

🏗 Architecture Diagrams

🌟 Highlights

🧱 Modular Communication Framework

  • 📡 Multi-protocol message ingestion (HTTP, WebSocket, Redis, NATS)
  • ⚙️ Configurable message routing and policy enforcement
  • 💾 Persistent message logging with queryable storage (TimescaleDB)
  • 🔄 Real-time message streaming via WebSockets

🧠 Intelligent Registry Layer

  • 🗂️ Dynamic discovery of communication backbones (ICEs)
  • 🌐 Management of deployed systems across multi-cluster networks
  • 🩺 Health-aware routing using registry metadata
  • 🛡️ Constraint checking for secure and compliant communication

🔍 Seamless Observability & Control

  • 🔑 Centralized configuration management for topics and systems
  • 🧾 Structured queries by message UUID or subject ID
  • 🕸️ Comprehensive REST APIs for management and access
  • 🛠️ Pluggable human intervention workflows for AI systems
  • 🛡️ Dynamic data validation with customizable templates and webhook notifications[1]

📦 Use Cases

Use Case What It Solves
Multi-Agent Communication Reliable message exchange between autonomous services in federated environments
AI Orchestration Configurable routing and policy enforcement for complex AI workflows
Human-in-the-Loop Systems Structured communication between automation and human participants
Audit Logging & Compliance Persistent storage and queryable access to all message exchanges
Real-Time Monitoring Live introspection into communication streams for debugging and performance analysis
Dynamic Data Validation Ensuring data integrity and consistency across all communication channels[1]

🧩 Integrations

Component Purpose
NATS Core messaging backbone for message distribution
Redis Ingestion buffering, caching, and pub/sub
TimescaleDB Persistent storage for message logs
Flask REST API and WebSocket server implementation
SQLAlchemy Database interaction layer
Kubernetes Dynamic deployment and management of communication backbones
Webhook System Real-time notifications on data validation events[1]

💡 Why Use This?

Problem Our Solution
🔹 Inconsistent communication protocols Multi-protocol ingestion with unified message format
🔹 Lack of traceability in distributed systems Persistent logging with queryable storage
🔹 Difficulty managing communication infrastructure Dynamic deployment and registry-based discovery
🔹 Security and compliance concerns Policy enforcement via constraint checking
🔹 Difficulty integrating human feedback Structured session management and channel abstraction
🔹 Data corruption or inconsistency Dynamic data validation with customizable templates[1]

Project Status 🚧

⚠️ Development Status
The project is nearing full completion of version 1.0.0, with minor updates & optimization still being delivered.

⚠️ Alpha Release
Early access version. Use for testing only. Breaking changes may occur.

🧪 Testing Phase
Features are under active validation. Expect occasional issues and ongoing refinements.

⛔ Not Production-Ready
We do not recommend using this in production (or relying on it) right now.

🔄 Compatibility
APIs, schemas, and configuration may change without notice.

💬 Feedback Welcome
Early feedback helps us stabilize future releases.

📢 Communications

  1. 📧 Email: community@opencyberspace.org
  2. 💬 Discord: OpenCyberspace
  3. 🐦 X (Twitter): @opencyberspace

🤝 Join Us!

This project is community-driven. Theory, Protocol, implementations - All contributions are welcome.

Get Involved