The tax is not in
The schema, the Agent-Card, ENS, or discovery. Meaning stays neutral and portable.
About CommandLayer
A protocol that makes agent meaning trustable, portable, and enforceable.
Most “agent systems” are demos glued together by private prompt formats and one-off APIs. CommandLayer is the opposite: a small set of canonical verbs, strict schemas, verifiable identity, and receipts — so agents can interoperate across runtimes, vendors, and payment rails without breaking.
CommandLayer Economic Rule (Final)
This is the whole economic system, with no ambiguity. If someone misunderstands CommandLayer, it’s because they don’t have this sentence in their head.
Economic Rule
Commons executes free.
Commercial is taxed.
FREE → schemas, identity, discovery, Commons execution
TAXED → commercial execution, throughput, guarantees
NEVER TAXED → meaning, validation, interoperability
No paywalled standards
No schema gating
Monetize outcomes, not access
Protocol-Commons
Public goods layer. No rent. No tolls. No “open core” tricks.
- Schemas: FREE
- Agent-Cards: FREE
- Discovery (ENS): FREE
- Runtime execution: FREE (best-effort, reference-grade)
Commons exists to:
- prove semantics
- maximize adoption
- eliminate friction
- create trust
Protocol-Commercial
Same openness — the tax is only on execution when money moves.
- Schemas: FREE
- Agent-Cards: FREE
- Discovery: FREE
- Runtime execution: TAXED
The tax applies to:
- execution of commercial verbs
- throughput / volume
- SLA guarantees
- priority or certified execution
- leasing of verb-bound agents
Access to meaning is free. Use of meaning in commerce is taxed.
Where the tax lives
The tax is not hidden. It is not embedded in standards. It lives at execution time inside runtimes — because that’s where enforcement is natural and clean.
The tax is in
Execution: metering, guarantees, priority, certified delivery, and throughput control.
Why this matters
Standards-clean. Regulator-clean. Developer-trustworthy. No paywalled semantics.
Enforcement model
No semantic fork. No schema gating. No hidden rules.
Runtime resolves ENS + Agent-Card
Runtime identifies verb class:
commons → free execution
commercial → metered execution
Runtime enforces:
pricing
quotas
receipts that reflect commercial execution
Lead sentence (use this everywhere): CommandLayer makes meaning free and taxes execution when money moves.
Why this architecture works
Most protocols try to tax access. CommandLayer taxes outcomes. That’s the difference between “standards drama” and “standards gravity.”
- You avoid paywalled standards.
- You avoid “open core” backlash.
- You align incentives with real value.
- You monetize where enforcement is natural.
- Semantics remain neutral — interoperability doesn’t get held hostage.
This is now a coherent economic protocol, not just tech.
Greg Soucy
Founder / Architect of CommandLayer. Focused on protocol-grade semantics: strict schemas, identity + discovery bindings, and receipts that make agent execution auditable and enforceable. CommandLayer is designed to scale into a multi-maintainer standard without breaking v1 behavior.