KQML as an Agent Communication Language
Reference: Tim Finin, Richard Fritzson, Don McKay, and Robin McEntire (1994). CIKM ’94 (Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management). Source file: 191246.191322.pdf. URL
Summary
Foundational paper on the Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language (KQML), developed under the ARPA Knowledge Sharing Effort. KQML is both a message format and a message-handling protocol for run-time knowledge sharing among intelligent agents. It builds on speech-act theory: each message (a performative) carries an illocutionary force (ask, tell, subscribe, advertise, recommend, broker, recruit, etc.) atop a content language (often KIF) and an ontology reference.
The paper describes the three-layer structure (content / message / communication), facilitator agents that provide matchmaking, brokering and content-based routing, and implementations including routers, facilitators, and KRIL interface libraries. KQML became the reference point against which later ACLs (notably FIPA-ACL) were designed.
Key Ideas
- Performatives as speech-act-inspired message types
- Separation of content language, message layer, and transport
- Facilitators for advertise/subscribe, brokering, recruitment, routing
- Reserved performatives: ask-if/ask-all, tell, stream-all, subscribe, monitor, advertise, recruit
- KIF + ontologies as the assumed content layer
Connections
Conceptual Contribution
- Claim: Interoperable knowledge sharing among heterogeneous intelligent agents requires a three-layer communication language (content / message / communication) whose message layer is built from speech-act-inspired performatives, and whose runtime infrastructure provides facilitator agents for matchmaking and brokering.
- Mechanism: Specify ~30 reserved performatives (ask-if, tell, subscribe, advertise, recruit, broker-one, …) that wrap a content expression (typically KIF) with an ontology reference and transport metadata; implement via routers, facilitators, and per-application KRIL interface libraries; demonstrate advertise/subscribe, content-based routing, and recruitment patterns.
- Concepts introduced/used: KQML, Performatives, Speech Act Theory, Facilitators, Facilitator Agents, Mentalistic Semantics, KIF, Ontologies, Agent Communication Languages, Conversation Policy, Interaction Protocols
- Stance: engineering / standard-proposal
- Relates to: Foundational reference against which FIPA-ACL, A Common Ontology Of ACLs, ACL Rethinking Principles, and Agent Communication Languages - Rethinking the Principles argue (over mentalistic vs commitment-based semantics). Performatives-as-protocol anticipates Agora’s Protocol Documents in A Scalable Communication Protocol for Networks of LLMs and the MCP/A2A/ANP layer of modern LLM agents (Model Context Protocol, Agent-to-Agent Protocol, Agent Network Protocol).
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