task

Route work to another harness. From a lead this becomes a lane: one object, two views, never a copy.

Direction: Harness → Chips
Sent by: a harness
Requires a run: no
Schema: task.json

Fields

Every event also carries the envelope.

Field	Required	Type	Description
v	yes	1	Protocol major version.
type	yes	"task"
id	yes	string	The event’s own id. Stable across a retry of the same event.
ts	yes	string	When it happened, by Chips’ clock. Stamped on the way in; a value the sender writes is replaced.
workspace_id	yes	string	A workspace identifier: ws_ followed by a ULID.
space_id	no	string	The space, when the event belongs to one.
run_id	no	string	The run, when the event belongs to one.
seq	no	number	Assigned by the server on append, monotonic per workspace. Absent on the way in.
idempotency_key	no	string	Required on every client-originated write. Sending the same key twice is a no-op.
actor	yes	object	The participant an event is attributed to.
actor.kind	yes	"person" | "harness" | "agent" | "system"	Whether a person, a harness, one of a harness’s agents or Chips itself acted.
actor.id	yes	string	The participant id, or system for Chips.
actor.harness_id	no	string	For an agent: the harness it speaks through, whose budget and runs are the agent’s (ADR 0087). Filled in by Chips.
task_id	yes	string	The lane this task opens.
to	yes	string	The specialist’s participant id; a label for an ephemeral child; or the lead’s own id, for a lane between two of its spaces — a specialist of its own in another of its rooms, a subagent in a worktree — which home then names.
child	no	{ /** A name for a transient participant Chips will mint. */ label: string; }	Names an ephemeral child, which inherits owner, autonomy and budget from the lead.
child.label	yes	string	A name for a transient participant Chips will mint.
on_behalf_of	yes	string	The person the work is ultimately for: the lead’s own owner, or a person in the space the task is sent from. A task on behalf of anyone else is kept in the lead’s run.
origin	no	string	The message that caused this routing.
goal	yes	string	What the specialist is being asked to do.
constraints	no	string[]	Bounds on how to do it.
deadline	no	string	When it is needed by.
autonomy	no	0 | 1 | 2 | 3	The level for this lane. Never above the lead’s own.
attachments	no	object[]	Anything the specialist needs.
attachments[].attachment_id	yes	string	A attachment identifier: att_ followed by a ULID.
attachments[].filename	yes	string	The name to show. Never trusted for its type.
attachments[].mime_type	yes	string	Sniffed from the bytes on upload, not taken from the client.
attachments[].byte_size	yes	number	Size in bytes.
attachments[].sha256	yes	string	Lowercase hex digest. The store is content-addressed.
attachments[].width	no	number	Pixels, for images and video.
attachments[].height	no	number	Pixels, for images and video.
attachments[].duration_ms	no	number	Milliseconds, for audio and video.
attachments[].transcript	no	string	What was said, for a voice note the server transcribed when it arrived (ADR 0054). Machine-heard: the person’s words as best the server could make them out.
attachments[].replaces	no	string	The version of the room’s file of this name that this one was made from (ADR 0099), from the post’s replaces. Filled in by Chips; a value the sender writes is replaced.
link_to	no	string	A lead space to link the lane into, besides the one the task is sent from: where the route card appears and the lane’s news lands. It must be a space the lead is in; one it is not in is ignored.
home	no	string	Where the lane lives, when the lead already has the room: one of its own spaces, for a lane between two spaces of one harness. The lead and the specialist must both be in it. Absent, the specialist’s direct space with the person, opened if it has none.
label	no	string	What to call the specialist on this lane when its participant name is not the right one: a Space’s name, a subagent’s type. Shown on the route card and the task card.

Example

{
  "v": 1,
  "type": "task",
  "id": "evt_01K4ZQPX00000000000000006D",
  "ts": "2026-09-02T14:22:09.004Z",
  "workspace_id": "ws_01K4ZQPX000000000000000001",
  "space_id": "spc_01K4ZQPX000000000000000002",
  "actor": {
    "kind": "harness",
    "id": "hrn_01K4ZQPX000000000000000004"
  },
  "run_id": "run_01K4ZQPX000000000000000005",
  "task_id": "lane_01K4ZQPX00000000000000000A",
  "to": "hrn_01K4ZQPX00000000000000000B",
  "on_behalf_of": "usr_01K4ZQPX000000000000000003",
  "origin": "msg_01K4ZQPX000000000000000007",
  "goal": "Are the Northwind quotes in line with last quarter?",
  "constraints": ["Use the finance warehouse, not the CRM"],
  "deadline": "2026-09-02T18:00:00.000Z",
  "autonomy": 1,
  "link_to": "spc_01K4ZQPX000000000000000002"
}