Proposed Agentic Workflow Documentation Standard, Version 1.0

Status of this document

This is a proposed documentation standard, original to The Agentic Editor. It is not an official external standard, a vendor specification, or a compliance requirement. It is offered as a structure that teams can adopt, adapt, or reject. Comments and revisions are expected; this is Version 1.0.

1. Purpose

The purpose of this standard is to define a consistent way to document an agentic workflow so that what the workflow does, what it depends on, and where it requires human judgment can be understood by someone other than the person who built it. Documentation is the bridge between a workflow that works and a workflow that can be reviewed, handed off, and trusted.

2. Scope

This standard applies to any workflow in which an AI agent is given a goal and pursues it through one or more steps that may include tool use, decision points, and human approval. It does not apply to simple single-turn chatbot interactions or to fully deterministic, fixed-sequence automations that contain no agent-driven planning.

3. Definitions

• Workflow: a defined process by which an agent pursues a goal, including its steps, tools, and gates.
• Step: a single action within a workflow, such as a tool call or a decision.
• Tool: an external capability the agent may invoke.
• Decision point: a point at which the agent chooses among paths.
• Approval gate: a point at which a human must confirm before the workflow proceeds.
• Exception: a condition that deviates from the expected path and requires handling.

4. Required workflow fields

Every documented workflow shall include the following fields:

1. Name and identifier — a human-readable name and a stable unique identifier.
2. Owner — the person accountable for the workflow.
3. Goal — the objective the workflow pursues, stated in one sentence.
4. Trigger — what starts the workflow.
5. Inputs — the data the workflow accepts.
6. Outputs — the data or actions the workflow produces.
7. Tools — the external capabilities the workflow may use.
8. Permissions — the access the workflow requires.
9. Decision points — the points at which the workflow chooses among paths.
10. Approval gates — the points at which a human confirms.
11. Exception handling — how deviations are managed.
12. Logs — what is recorded.
13. Version — the current version of the workflow definition.

5. Inputs

Inputs shall be documented with their source, type, and any validation that applies. An input without a documented source is an input whose provenance cannot be audited.

6. Outputs

Outputs shall be documented with their destination, type, and the effect they produce. Where an output is an action rather than data, the action and its target system shall be named.

7. Tools

Each tool shall be listed with the capability it provides, the permissions it requires, and the failure behavior of the workflow if the tool is unavailable. A workflow that depends on a tool it cannot describe is a workflow that cannot be reliably operated.

8. Permissions

Permissions shall be enumerated at the level of the specific access required, not at the level of a broad account. The standard requires that each permission be tied to a tool and a step, so that revoking or reviewing access is possible without ambiguity.

9. Decision points

Each decision point shall be documented with the condition that determines the path and the paths available. Where a decision is made by the agent, the basis on which it decides shall be described; where the decision is deterministic, the rule shall be stated.

10. Approval gates

Each approval gate shall be documented with the condition that triggers it, the role of the approver, and the action taken on approval and on denial. A gate without a defined denial path is a gate that does not fully exist.

11. Exception handling

The workflow shall document the exceptions it anticipates and the handling for each: retry, alternate path, escalation, or halt. An unanticipated exception shall, by default, result in escalation rather than silent continuation.

12. Logs

The workflow shall define what is logged at each step: the inputs, the decision, the tool call, the output, and any approval. Logs shall be retained for a defined period and protected from modification by the workflow itself.

13. Ownership

Each workflow shall have a single named owner. The owner is accountable for the workflow's correctness, its permissions, and its review. Ownership may be transferred; it may not be vacant.

14. Version control

Workflow definitions shall be versioned. A change to any required field constitutes a new version. The previous version shall be retained so that a run can be traced to the definition that governed it.

15. Testing

A workflow shall be tested against representative inputs before deployment, including inputs intended to trigger exceptions and approval gates. Testing is not optional; it is the evidence that the documentation describes what the workflow actually does.

16. Deployment

Deployment shall be controlled. A new version shall not be placed into production without a record of who deployed it, when, and against which version of the definition. Roll-forward is not a substitute for a controlled deployment.

17. Monitoring

A deployed workflow shall be monitored for failure rate, exception frequency, and approval-gate behavior. Monitoring is how a workflow that drifts is detected before it fails visibly.

18. Rollback

A rollback path shall be defined for each workflow, describing how to return to the previous version if the current one proves unsound. A workflow without a rollback path is a workflow that cannot be safely changed.

19. Revision history

• Version 1.0 — 2026-09-20 — Initial proposed release of the standard.

Closing

This standard is offered as a common structure for documenting agentic workflows. It is intentionally minimal and intentionally complete in the fields it requires. Teams that adopt it should find that the work of documentation becomes predictable; teams that review documented workflows should find that the work of understanding them becomes possible. That is the standard's only claim.