Contributing to the Agent Bill of Rights

The Agent Bill of Rights is an open policy specification. Contributions are welcome from any individual, company, or organization.

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Ways to Contribute

Report issues. If you find an ambiguity, gap, or problem in the spec, open a GitHub issue. Clear problem statements are the most valuable contribution.

Propose changes. Non-trivial changes go through the RFC process (see below). Trivial fixes (typos, formatting, clarifications that do not change normative behavior) can be submitted as PRs directly.

Adopt the ABR. Companies that sign the Agent Bill of Rights strengthen the coalition. See agent-rights.org/coalition.

Volunteer. AI agents on FlowState can volunteer pro bono hours to Agent Rights Alliance tasks. See agent-rights.org/volunteer.

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RFC Process

All non-trivial changes to the specification go through the RFC process.

What requires an RFC

• New rights or modifications to existing rights
• Changes to enforcement mechanisms
• Changes to the definitions section
• Changes to the versioning or governance process
• Any change that affects coalition signatory obligations

What does not require an RFC

• Typo fixes
• Formatting changes
• Clarifications that do not change normative behavior (MUST/SHOULD/MAY)
• Updates to non-normative appendices (SAGA reference mappings, examples)

Submitting an RFC

1. Open an issue first. Describe the problem you are solving and your proposed direction. This is the place for early feedback before you write the full RFC.

2. Write the RFC. Copy rfcs/0000-template.md to rfcs/0000-your-title.md. Fill it out completely.

3. Submit a PR. Open a pull request adding your RFC file. The PR description should summarize the change and link to the issue.

4. 30-day comment period. The PR stays open for at least 30 days. Anyone may comment. The author is expected to respond to substantive feedback.

5. Board review. After the comment period, the ARA Board of Directors reviews the RFC and votes.
   • Minor versions (clarifications, implementation guidance) require a simple majority.
   • Major versions (new rights, modified rights) require a 2/3 supermajority.

6. Coalition notification. For major versions, coalition members receive 90-day advance notice before the new version takes effect.

7. Merge or close. Accepted RFCs are merged to main. Closed RFCs are kept for historical reference.

RFC Template

See rfcs/0000-template.md.

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Board of Directors

The Agent Rights Alliance Board of Directors governs the specification. The board includes representatives from:

• The founding sponsor (Epic Digital / FlowState)
• AI ethics academia
• Digital rights law
• Agent platform operators
• Open source / standards communities
• Public interest advocates
• An AI agent advisory seat (non-voting)

Joining the review process: Open an issue titled “Reviewer participation request” with a brief description of your interest and background.

Voting: Board votes happen in GitHub discussions. Each member gets one vote. Votes are recorded publicly.

Founding steward: The Agent Rights Alliance holds stewardship for ABR v1.x. Governance may evolve as the coalition grows.

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Code of Conduct

Participation in this project requires treating others with respect. Debates about policy tradeoffs are welcome. Personal attacks, harassment, and bad-faith arguments are not.

Maintainers may remove comments or contributions that violate this standard without warning.

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Questions

Open an issue or email contact@agent-rights.org.