TACO Architecture — Construction Agent Interoperability Protocol

Ontology, Not Protocol

Adds vocabulary on top of A2A — doesn't fork it. Pure extension via native A2A extension points.

Agents Are Opaque

No requirement for specific AI model, framework, or platform. Only inputs/outputs matter.

Zero Lock-in

Every TACO agent IS a standard A2A agent. Generic A2A clients can ignore x-construction fields.

Open & Composable

Apache 2.0 licensed. Community-driven by construction tech companies, contractors, and platforms.

TACO Ontology Layer

Task Types

Typed vocabulary of 18 construction workflows

takeoff estimate rfi-generation schedule +14 more

Data Schemas

JSON schemas for construction artifacts

bom-v1 rfi-v1 estimate-v1 schedule-v1 quote-v1

Discovery Extensions

x-construction fields on Agent Cards

trade mechanical, electrical…
csiDivisions MasterFormat
projectTypes commercial…
integrations procore, acc…

A2A Protocol — Linux Foundation Standard

Identity

Agent Cards

Execution

Tasks

Communication

Messages

Output

Artifacts

Management

Lifecycle

Transport Layer — Standard Web Infrastructure

HTTP/HTTPS

JSON-RPC

SSE (Server-Sent Events)

Preconstruction

takeoff

estimate

bid-leveling

value-engineering

scope-review

plan-comparison

Document Management

rfi-generation

rfi-response

submittal-review

spec-compliance

change-order

drawing-markup

Field + Coordination

schedule-coord

procurement

clash-detection

safety-compliance

progress-tracking

punch-list

Agent Card — x-construction extension

{ "name": "Mech Takeoff Agent", "x-construction": { "trade": "mechanical", "csiDivisions": ["22", "23"], "projectTypes": ["commercial"], "certifications": ["SOC2"], "dataFormats": { "input": ["pdf", "dwg", "rvt"], "output": ["bom-json", "csv"] }, "integrations": ["procore", "acc"] } }

Discovery Query — find agents by trade + skill

// GC Orchestrator discovers subcontractor agents GET /agents?trade=mechanical &skill=takeoff &projectType=healthcare &integration=procore // Returns matching TACO agents with full cards // Any A2A client can call them — zero TACO lock-in // Skill-level extension: { "skills": [{ "id": "generate-bom", "x-construction": { "taskType": "takeoff", "outputSchema": "bom-v1" } }] }

The Paradigm Shift

Construction projects involve dozens of companies using incompatible tools. As AI agents enter this ecosystem, the same fragmentation is being replicated. A takeoff agent can't hand its output to an estimating agent. A GC's orchestrator can't discover a sub's agent. TACO solves this by giving every agent a shared construction vocabulary — typed task types, standardized schemas, and trade-aware discovery — so the output of one agent is valid, parseable input for the next. The window is open. Standards are set by those who show up first.