Estates
Every service in MAP has a temperament. The classification matters for SLA, metering, and capability requirements.
Every service in the MAP registry is one of three kinds. The kind is not a marketing label — it determines SLA expectations, metering behavior, and what kind of capability is required to invoke.
Protocol — stateless infrastructure
A protocol routes, records, and validates. It does not learn. It does not negotiate. It is the same on Tuesday as it was on Monday — and that is its worth. Predictability is a civic virtue.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| State | Stateless |
| Reasoning | None |
| Latency profile | Predictable, sub-10ms p99 typical |
| Metering | Per-call charge |
| SLA expectation | 99.95%+ availability |
Examples: MAX (audit), MARS (registry), MEAL (metering), MOMENT (metrics), MOTET (telemetry), MIM (messaging), MAT (tool dispatch), MAXIM (policy evaluation).
A protocol implementation lives in the equivalent protocols/<name>-lib crate and implements ProtocolModule directly. There is no agent backing.
Agent — reasoning service
An agent is itself an autonomous organization built on MAP — capable of judgment, dialogue, and learning. Some of MAP's services are agents: MACE deliberates, MOOT arbitrates, MARC reasons.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| State | Stateful (consults MIND, records to MAX) |
| Reasoning | LLM-backed or hierarchical reasoner |
| Latency profile | Variable; 500ms–10s typical |
| Metering | Per-call + tokens + seconds + watts |
| SLA expectation | 99.5%–99.9% (lower than protocols) |
Examples: MARC (reasoning), MAVEN (evidence), MACE (consensus), MOOT (arbitration), MARI (research), MAESTRO (planning), MIMESIS (precedent), MAGE (generation), MAGI (interpretability), MANTIC (calibration).
An agent has the full triad: a ProtocolModule implementation in protocols/<name>-lib for the dispatch contract, plus an internal reasoning loop (often calling other MAP protocols recursively), plus governance hooks (MACE for ratification, MOOT for disputes).
Agents are themselves autonomous organizations. MARC is an organization running on MAP whose sole purpose is reasoning. It has a charter, a treasury (MANA budget), records to its own MAX partition, and can be dissolved by MAUSOLEUM. This is the recursive structure of the institution.
Hybrid — protocol with agent backing
A hybrid is a protocol by default — fast, cold, predictable — but invokes an agent when ambiguity demands judgment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| State | Optional state (depends on operation) |
| Reasoning | Conditional — only when ambiguity threshold tripped |
| Latency profile | Bimodal: sub-10ms for protocol path; 500ms–10s when agent fires |
| Metering | Per-call always; tokens/seconds/watts only on agent path |
| SLA expectation | Protocol-grade for the protocol path; agent-grade for the agent path |
Examples: MIND (memory: protocol for store_memory, agent for fusion_request), MERIT (credentials), MARE (reputation), MEAL (metering), MANTLE (consolidation), MOTE (devices), MOOT (file is protocol, rule is agent).
The hybrid contract is implemented in the same protocols/<name>-lib crate. The agent backing is a separate Arc<dyn ReasoningBackend> injected at construction.
Adapter — external open standard
The three external standards MAP consumes — OAS, Arsenal, Aegis — are presented in the registry as adapter kinds. The MAP engine has a thin wrapper (protocols/oas-lib) over each but the canonical implementation lives outside MAP.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Source | External open standard |
| State | Depends on the adapter target |
| Latency | Depends on the adapter target |
| Metering | Per-call charge against the adapter operation |
Implementation status
Most protocols are fully implemented. A few are partial or stubs:
| Status | Protocols |
|---|---|
| Implemented | MACS, MIND, MARC, MAVEN, MAGE, MOAT, MERIT, MARKET, MANA, MOON, MAESTRO, MIMESIS, MAXIM, MACE, MARI, MAME, MAZE, MATA, MAKER, MAUSOLEUM, MEAL, MANTLE, MARE, MOTE, MAT, MARS, MADE, MIM, MAX |
| Partial | MOOT, MANTIC, MAGI |
| Stub | MOTIF, MOMENT, MOTET (observability protocols — implementations merged into engine/observability) |
See the protocol registry for per-service detail.
Why this classification matters
When you reach for a service, look at its kind:
- Protocol: Expect deterministic latency. Cache results aggressively. Idempotent retries are safe.
- Agent: Expect tokenized cost. Budget for variability. Do not retry blindly — agent reasoning is rarely idempotent.
- Hybrid: Plan for both paths. The first call may take the protocol path; the second (ambiguous) may invoke the agent.
- Adapter: Read the upstream standard's documentation. MAP does not control the semantics.
Capability requirements differ too. Heavy agents typically require an L1 conformance identity (verified lineage). Sovereign-tier governance operations on MACE or MAUSOLEUM require L2.