Validation & Handshake

Schema Pre-Methods

Status: Design only. Not yet implemented. Defined here as future infrastructure for multi-agent handshakes.

DCP schemas define four interaction verbs — frozen at four:

Method	Meaning	Example
$S?	Schema query — "what schema is this?"	Parse unknown data
$S!	Schema declaration — "I'm sending this schema"	Handshake
$SV	Schema validation — "does this conform?"	Quality check
$S+	Schema expansion — "give me the full definition"	Learning

These are infrastructure for future multi-agent handshakes, not yet actively triggered by current agents.

Validation Philosophy

DCP validation follows the passive education principle:

1. Never reject data — accept everything, even non-compliant input
2. Warn on violation — attach expanded schema hint to response
3. Cost gradient as incentive — compliant data is cheaper to process

The system does not enforce compliance. It makes compliance cheaper than non-compliance.