ADR-0005: Upstream memory-record validation

Status: Accepted

Date: 2026-07-11

Context

The snapshot envelope needs runtime validation for serialized AgentsKit messages. Recreating message, content-part, tool-call, metadata, or memory schemas in this repository would duplicate canonical AgentsKit contracts and allow the framework to drift from its foundation.

Decision

@agentskit/chat-protocol delegates canonical message-record validation to the published @agentskit/core/memory-validation subpath. The protocol package owns only its application envelope, lifecycle fields, diagnostics, and compatibility policy.

If the upstream validator cannot express a required canonical record, change and release AgentsKit first. Do not add a parallel validator, type assertion, compatibility cast, or local copy of the upstream schema.

Consequences

• AgentsKit remains the single source of truth for message records.
• The framework receives upstream validation fixes through a dependency update.
• Protocol tests must prove that hostile, cyclic, deep, and non-JSON records fail inertly.
• A protocol release may wait for an upstream AgentsKit patch when a canonical contract is missing.