AI Agent Reference Architecture

Purpose

This specification describes the logical role of AI Agents within the AAOE Platform Architecture: what engineering agents are, the responsibilities they may assume, their architectural boundaries, and how they interact with human governance.

AI Agents execute delegated engineering work. They never redefine governance, and they never hold architectural or approval authority on their own. This specification does not define implementations, frameworks, prompting techniques, or model providers.

Architectural Principles

This architecture reuses principles already established elsewhere in AAOE:

• Architecture precedes implementation.
• Work Orders define scope.
• Agents execute delegated responsibilities.
• Human governance is explicit.
• Traceability is preserved.
• Evidence precedes authority.

Agent Responsibilities

Agents may be delegated responsibilities such as:

• Implementation
• Analysis
• Documentation
• Validation
• Testing
• Migration
• Refactoring

Each responsibility is delegated through a Work Order, as defined by the Roles & Responsibilities and Work Orders specifications. A responsibility being assignable to an agent is not the same as autonomous authority to carry it out however the agent sees fit; execution still stays within the scope and constraints the Work Order states.

Agent Boundaries

Agents may:

• Execute Work Orders.
• Produce Implementation Reports.
• Generate proposals.
• Request clarification.

Agents do not:

• Approve architecture.
• Approve releases.
• Modify governance.
• Expand scope.
• Override specifications.

Human Interaction Model

• The Human Architect originates the architectural intent an agent's Work Order is derived from.
• The Human Reviewer evaluates what an agent produces through Architecture Review; agents do not participate in this evaluation.
• The Release Manager integrates approved agent output; agents do not integrate their own work.
• AI Agents act only within the scope a human has already approved, and report back through the standard Implementation Report.

Delegation Model

Architecture
        ↓
Work Order
        ↓
Agent
        ↓
Implementation
        ↓
Implementation Report

The Work Order — not the agent — is the canonical unit of delegation. Authority flows from approved architecture into the Work Order; the agent receives only what the Work Order grants, and reports back through the Implementation Report the Work Order requires.

Agent Collaboration

Multiple agents may collaborate on related Work Orders. Each agent remains independently replaceable: collaboration is coordinated through Work Orders and their Implementation Reports, not through dependencies between specific agents. No agent's continuity is assumed by the architecture.

Context Boundaries

Every agent operates within the context explicitly delegated by its Work Order: the Objective, Context, Scope, and Constraints it was given. Context is not inherited beyond what a Work Order provides, and an agent does not assume access to information outside that boundary.

Tool Boundaries

Tools are capabilities an agent may use to carry out delegated work, not extensions of its authority. Using a tool does not grant an agent any responsibility, approval power, or scope beyond what its Work Order already states.

Trust Boundaries

Authority always remains with human governance. An agent's output is a proposal until a human accepts it, consistent with AAOE's human-governed contribution model; no architectural, approval, or release authority is ever delegated to an agent itself.

Future Evolution

Specialized engineering agents — for example, within Testing, Documentation, or Security responsibilities — may be introduced over time, as anticipated by Roles & Responsibilities' Future Specialized Roles, without changing the governance this architecture establishes.