Content
# The Augustus Protocol
**Protocol version 1.1.0**
An open standard for driving a business through an AI operating layer from any coding agent.
Point Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex at Augustus. It grounds itself in your business, audits a process, designs an AI system for it, tests that system against your real data, and runs it with a human in the loop. You approve what matters. It does the rest.
This repository is the standard itself: the lifecycle, the gates, and the full tool interface, in plain language and in machine-readable schema. It is open so anyone can read exactly how the protocol works, drive it from any MCP client, or implement a compatible engine of their own.
## Why this is open
The way you rebuild a company around AI should be a shared, inspectable standard, not a black box you have to trust. So the standard is here in full: every stage, every gate, every tool, in plain language and in machine-readable schema.
A spec cannot hand you the part that runs it: a hosted engine, the validation that refuses anything unproven, and the reference implementation that keeps it reliable at scale. The standard is open. The engine is [Augustus](https://augustus.so).
## The lifecycle
The protocol takes one process from raw to live in eight stages. An agent drives every step. The owner answers questions and approves decisions.
1. **Foundation.** The agent reads your website and everything you hand it, and grounds itself in what your business is.
2. **Audit.** For the process you pick, the agent writes a deep audit on its own model, against a fixed methodology.
3. **Ground.** The protocol refuses to build on a guess. If a fact is missing, it asks you in plain language until the audit stands on real answers.
4. **Build.** The agent designs the automation using only tools that are connected, and submits it into safe preview.
5. **Test.** The system runs against real data in preview. It touches nothing real until it is proven.
6. **Go live.** A proven system goes live on its trigger. Every irreversible action still waits for a human.
7. **Wire the trigger.** The agent connects your real event source so the system fires.
8. **Operate.** Approvals, decisions, and revisions run through the agent. The system improves as it runs.
The full contract is in [SPEC.md](SPEC.md). Every tool is in [TOOLS.md](TOOLS.md), with machine-readable schema in [`schema/tools.json`](schema/tools.json).
## Where the work runs
- **Designing runs on your agent.** Writing the audit and designing the automation run on your own coding agent. The engine hands it a brief: the methodology, your grounded context, and an output schema. Your agent produces the result. The engine validates it and enforces every gate.
- **Running runs on your model.** A live system runs later with no agent present, on your own AI key. Augustus is the layer, not the model. You bring the model.
## Quickstart
The reference engine runs as an MCP server. Connect your coding agent to it and start.
**Claude Code**
```bash
claude mcp add --transport http augustus https://app.augustus.so/api/mcp
```
**Cursor, Codex, or any MCP client**
Add the server to your MCP config:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"augustus": {
"url": "https://app.augustus.so/api/mcp"
}
}
}
```
Then tell your agent: **"Set up my business on Augustus."** It takes it from there. Anyone can run the audit for free. Building a real system creates a tracked account, which the agent handles in the conversation.
## What is in this repo
| File | What it holds |
| --- | --- |
| [SPEC.md](SPEC.md) | The protocol: principles, the eight-stage lifecycle, and the gates. |
| [TOOLS.md](TOOLS.md) | Every tool an agent calls, grouped by stage, with parameters. |
| [`schema/tools.json`](schema/tools.json) | Machine-readable schema for all 45 tools. |
| [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) | How to propose changes to the standard. |
| [CHANGELOG.md](CHANGELOG.md) | Version history. |
## Reference engine
[Augustus](https://augustus.so) is the reference implementation. It hosts the runtime and the validation. How to connect and what it costs live there, not in this standard.
Licensed under [MIT](LICENSE).
