Phase 0: Why Multi-Agent, and the Primitives · ~60 minutes · Python (stdlib)

Heritage of FIPA-ACL and Speech Acts

Before MCP, before A2A, there was FIPA-ACL.

Hiring signal: Can operate heritage of fipa-acl and speech acts in production

Introduction

In 2000 the IEEE Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents ratified an agent communication language with twenty performatives, two content languages, and a set of interaction protocols — contract net, subscribe/notify, request-when. It faded from industry because the ontology overhead was too heavy for the web, but the LLM revival of multi-agent systems is quietly reimplementing the same ideas without the formal semantics: JSON contracts stand in for performatives, natural language stands in for ontologies. This lesson reads FIPA-ACL seriously so you can see which 2026 protocol decisions are reinvention, which are novelty, and where the current wave is going to rediscover problems the 2000s already solved.

Type: Learn Languages: Python (stdlib) Prerequisites: Phase 16 · 01 (Why Multi-Agent) Time: ~60 minutes

Objective

Learning objectives

Unlock the full lesson

You've read the first 2 sections. The rest of this lesson covers The Problem, The Concept, Build, Check Yourself, Key Terms & Next — plus a hands-on lab, quiz, and project artifact.

Create a free account to unlock Phase 0 and Phase 1 of every course — no credit card.