{
  "annotation_id": "9dc3a530-2cd5-4766-9fad-2130dacfb4a7",
  "date_created": "2026-02-17T05:53:16.176000Z",
  "date_modified": "2026-02-17T05:53:16.176000Z",
  "file_hash": "e92d340aea630c9bfbda6ba6447b4bc04fb5f904e6b2e0014cbfa716ea7e2fcc",
  "private": false,
  "record": {
    "abstract": "The Contract Net Protocol (1980) introduced coordination through contracts in multi-agent systems. Modern agent protocols standardize connectivity and interoperability; yet, none provide formal, resource governance-normative mechanisms to bound how much agents may consume or how long they may operate. We introduce Agent Contracts, a formal framework that extends the contract metaphor from task allocation to resource-bounded execution. An Agent Contract unifies input/output specifications, multi-dimensional resource constraints, temporal boundaries, and success criteria into a coherent governance mechanism with explicit lifecycle semantics. For multi-agent coordination, we establish conservation laws ensuring delegated budgets respect parent constraints, enabling hierarchical coordination through contract delegation. Empirical validation across four experiments demonstrates 90% token reduction with 525x lower variance in iterative workflows, zero conservation violations in multi-agent delegation, and measurable quality-resource tradeoffs through contract modes. Agent Contracts provide formal foundations for predictable, auditable, and resource-bounded autonomous AI deployment.",
    "arxiv_id": "2601.08815",
    "authors": [
      "Qing Ye",
      "Jing Tan"
    ],
    "categories": [
      "cs.MA"
    ],
    "license": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
    "title": "Agent Contracts: A Formal Framework for Resource-Bounded Autonomous AI Systems",
    "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.08815",
    "version": "v1"
  },
  "schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
  "source": {
    "execution_id": "7a8cf4b0-6e1a-48b7-8700-616b8f90a24f",
    "id": "arXiv Dataset",
    "type": "Model",
    "variant": "snapshot-2026-01-17",
    "version": "0.1.0"
  },
  "user_id": 1000002
}