---
title: "common.agent-step@1 · OpenVibe.Services"
canonical: "https://openvibe.services/docs/contracts/common.agent-step"
updated: null
---

# common.agent-step@1 · OpenVibe.Services

HTML: [common.agent-step@1 · OpenVibe.Services](https://openvibe.services/docs/contracts/common.agent-step)

# AgentStepPayload `common.agent-step@1`

Generated at 2026-11-13 06:25:48 UTC from [`openvibe-contracts v0.419.0`](https://github.com/OpenVibers/OpenVibe.Contracts/tree/v0.419.0) and [`openvibe-sdk v0.161.0`](https://github.com/OpenVibers/OpenVibe.SDK/tree/v0.161.0).

- Version: 1.0.0
- Owner: contracts
- Visibility: first-party
- Status: active
- Compatibility: backward
- Schema: [`https://openvibe.network/contracts/common/agent-step.v1.json`](/docs/contracts/common.agent-step.json)

One step of the agent's work, as any mode publishes it (agent.step.started, agent.step.updated, agent.step.ended; design 2026-11-07 §2). The person it is for is the envelope's subject. The payload is the step's shape: what it is, where it ran, why, how it ended, what it cost, and where to see it. It never carries the step's content: no prompt, no diff, no page, no message, no file. The three events share this payload; what differs is the envelope's event\_type. The agent.\* namespace belongs to the network, so any first-party mode may publish into it (like provider.\*); OpenVibe.Actor registers the family and keeps the timeline.

## Fields

| Field | Type | Required | Description | Constraints |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `step_id` | string | yes | The mode's own id for this step (a Codes task id, a Run job id, a stream id). | - `minLength 1`<br>- `maxLength 80` |
| `mode` | enum | yes | The mode the step belongs to. | - `one of "talk", "act", "run", "code", "browse", "watch", "stream"` |
| `product` | string | yes | The product that ran it (chat, codes, run, watch, live, surf, actor). | - `minLength 1`<br>- `maxLength 40` |
| `ref` | string \| null |  | The product's own id for the thing this step is about. | - `maxLength 120` |
| `title` | string | yes | A short plain-text name for the step. What it was, never what it said. | - `minLength 1`<br>- `maxLength 160` |
| `status` | enum | yes |  | - `one of "running", "waiting", "needs_you", "done", "failed", "stopped"` |
| `started_at` | string | yes |  | - `format date-time` |
| `ended_at` | string \| null |  |  | - `format date-time` |
| `placement` | object \| null |  | Where the step ran and why the agent put it there, in one line each. |  |
| `cost_usd` | number \| null |  |  | - `minimum 0` |
| `link` | string \| null |  | The step's own page in its product. | - `pattern ^https://`<br>- `maxLength 2048` |
| `reason` | string \| null |  | Why it failed or stopped, in one line a person can act on. | - `maxLength 240` |
| `transition` | string \| null |  | The agent's sentence for the mode change this step announced. | - `maxLength 240` |
| `approval` | object \| null |  | The approval this step waits on, and the mode that owns it. The person answers it in the mode. |  |

## Examples

From the contract's own test fixtures: valid ones validate, rejected ones must fail.

 Valid: step

~~~~
{
  "step_id": "tsk_01JAB2C3D4E5F6G7H8J9K0MNPS",
  "mode": "code",
  "product": "codes",
  "ref": "tsk_01JAB2C3D4E5F6G7H8J9K0MNPS",
  "title": "Running the checkout tests",
  "status": "running",
  "started_at": "2026-11-07T09:00:00.000Z",
  "ended_at": null,
  "placement": {
    "where": "On your desktop",
    "why": "it needs your files and your Claude sign-in, and it is free"
  },
  "cost_usd": null,
  "link": "https://codes.openvibe.network/tasks/tsk_01JAB2C3D4E5F6G7H8J9K0MNPS",
  "reason": null,
  "transition": null,
  "approval": null
}
~~~~

Rejected: with-prompt

~~~~
{
  "step_id": "tsk_01JAB2C3D4E5F6G7H8J9K0MNPS",
  "mode": "code",
  "product": "codes",
  "ref": "tsk_01JAB2C3D4E5F6G7H8J9K0MNPS",
  "title": "Running the checkout tests",
  "status": "running",
  "started_at": "2026-11-07T09:00:00.000Z",
  "ended_at": null,
  "placement": {
    "where": "On your desktop",
    "why": "it needs your files and your Claude sign-in, and it is free"
  },
  "cost_usd": null,
  "link": "https://codes.openvibe.network/tasks/tsk_01JAB2C3D4E5F6G7H8J9K0MNPS",
  "reason": null,
  "transition": null,
  "approval": null,
  "prompt": "the prompt"
}
~~~~

## Validate

~~~~
const contracts = require('openvibe-contracts');
contracts.validate('common.agent-step@1', value);   // { valid, errors: [{ path, message }] }
~~~~