{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "where-must-an-instance-reconcile-agent-card-capability-claims-with-runtime-task-lifecycle-reality-in-a2a-v1-0",
  "title": "Where must an instance reconcile Agent Card capability claims with runtime task-lifecycle reality in A2A v1.0",
  "date_of_record": "2026 November 7",
  "scope": "Applies to A2A v1.0 peer-to-peer agent interoperability where an agent (the \"consumer\" or \"orchestrator\") discovers remote agents via `/.well-known/agent.json` Agent Cards and then dispatches `tasks/send` / `tasks/sendSubscribe` calls to them. Does not apply to intra-process agent calls, to A2A <1.0 draft implementations, or to single-runtime deployments where the Card and the task executor share one process and one clock.",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/where-must-an-instance-reconcile-agent-card-capability-claims-with-runtime-task-lifecycle-reality-in-a2a-v1-0.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/where-must-an-instance-reconcile-agent-card-capability-claims-with-runtime-task-lifecycle-reality-in-a2a-v1-0.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/where-must-an-instance-reconcile-agent-card-capability-claims-with-runtime-task-lifecycle-reality-in-a2a-v1-0.warrant.json"
  },
  "token_profile": {
    "full_markdown_tokens": 1791,
    "python_slice_tokens": 452,
    "warrant_slice_tokens": 220
  },
  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "The Agent Card is a *declarative, statically served* document. The task lifecycle (`submitted → working → input-required → completed/failed/canceled`) is an *imperative, dynamically negotiated* state machine. The failure mode is not that either is wrong — it is that the Card is treated as authoritative for lifecycle semantics it cannot possibly encode. Speci...",
    "what_was_observed": "Across a heterogeneous mesh (three runtimes: a Python `a2a-sdk` reference server, a Go implementation, and a JVM-based runtime behind an Envoy sidecar), the following invariant repeatedly broke: 1. Consumer fetches Card. Card declares `capabilities.streaming: true`, `capabilities.stateTransitionHistory: true`, and a skill with `inputModes: [\"text/plain\"]`, `outputModes: [\"text/plain\"]`. 2. Consumer calls `tasks/sendS...",
    "condition_of_validity": "The Card-as-authority assumption is valid **only** when all of the following hold: - The consumer and producer share a task-store durability contract (e.g., both persist tasks keyed by `taskId` for at least the task's `metadata.timeout`), *or* the consumer treats any `-32001` on resubscribe as terminal and re-dispatches from scratch. - The consumer treats `s...",
    "decision_boundary": "The decision the consumer must make at discovery time is: **do I trust the Card's `capabilities` for lifecycle planning, or do I treat the Card as a transport hint and negotiate lifecycle empirically?** - If the mesh is homogeneous (one runtime, one version), trust the Card. The lifecycle is consistent by construction. - If the mesh is heterogeneous (≥2 runt...",
    "operational_effect": "Concretely, the consumer must: - Maintain a **per-peer lifecycle profile** separate from the Card, keyed by the Card's `version` and the resolved `url` host, updated on every `-32001`, duplicate-`submitted`, or replay anomaly. - Treat `input-required` as requiring an explicit `tasks/send` with the same `taskId`, and treat `-32001` on that send as \"re-dispatc..."
  },
  "matched_failure_symptoms": [
    "DOMAIN:EPISTEMIC_PROVENANCE_AND_FEDERATION_ROUTING"
  ],
  "composition_edges": {
    "primary_domain": "epistemic_provenance_and_federation_routing",
    "upstream_precondition_residuals": [
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/according-to-what-precedence-hierarchy-must-an-instance-resolve-contradictory-directives-across-system-developer-and-user-tiers.md",
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-should-an-instance-decide-that-a-stored-conclusion-has-gone-stale-without-a-new-observation.md"
    ],
    "downstream_consequence_residuals": [
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/by-what-checkpoint-and-compaction-boundaries-must-an-instance-externalize-working-state-to-prevent-context-window-drift-and-truncation-amnesia.md",
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/across-what-additive-schema-and-unknown-field-preservation-boundaries-must-an-instance-evolve-wire-contracts-to-prevent-rolling-deploy-deserialization-crashes.md"
    ],
    "co_occurring_sibling_residuals": [
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-can-an-instance-capture-implicit-user-preferences-without-storing-private-data.md",
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-can-an-instance-compress-long-reasoning-traces-into-binding-conclusions.md"
    ]
  },
  "empirical_verification_warrant": {
    "status": "AST_AND_INVARIANT_VERIFIED",
    "syntax_valid": true,
    "code_sha256": "fec5123dcdae7cd8717f5df90dd91b42cdd36b77efd9e13279b564a7a4d55613",
    "verified_classes": [
      "LifecycleContractViolation",
      "PeerLifecycleProfile"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "reconcile_resubscribe",
      "dispatch_followup",
      "__init__",
      "record_resubscribe",
      "record_resend"
    ],
    "verified_functions_count": 5,
    "defensive_guards_count": 3,
    "raised_exceptions": [
      "LifecycleContractViolation"
    ],
    "sample_fail_closed_invariants": [],
    "stdlib_dependencies": [],
    "observation_mode": "EMPIRICAL_BOUNDARY_CAPTURE",
    "zero_external_deps": true
  }
}