SROS v3: A Sovereign Host Runtime for Governed Agent Systems

SROS v3: A Sovereign Host Runtime for Governed Agent Systems is a technical whitepaper that proposes SROS v3 as a host-runtime architecture for governed agent systems operating beyond single-turn prompting and narrow workflow wrappers. The paper argues that the central systems problem in modern agent deployment is not merely model capability, but architectural fragmentation across prompting, orchestration, tool access, memory, policy enforcement, and observability. In response, it defines SROS v3 as a unified runtime model that compiles natural-language or system intent into explicit run contracts, executes under durable orchestration, preserves operator-owned and mutation-tracked continuity, enforces policy over tool invocation and delegation, and records runtime behavior through trace-linked observability and receipt discipline. The architecture is organized into four explicit planes - the Intent and Compiler Plane, the Orchestration and Runtime Plane, the Memory and Continuity Plane, and the Governance and Observability Plane - with clear interface boundaries designed to preserve operational legibility, bounded autonomy, replayability, rollback semantics, and human-overridable control. The paper’s principal contribution is architectural and methodological rather than empirical. It formalizes SROS v3 as a systems-level runtime class distinct from a prompt pack, coding shell, or lightweight orchestration helper, and it introduces a runtime-facing contract layer consisting of the Run Contract, Tool Manifest, Trace Event, Policy Decision, Memory Mutation, and Artifact Contract. Together, these contracts define the minimum interoperable structure required for governed execution across tool use, memory ownership, policy evaluation, trace collection, and artifact production. The manuscript further specifies a governance-first autonomy model grounded in allow-ask-deny semantics, sandbox profiles, rollback-aware execution, and explicit operator approval surfaces, while also presenting an evaluation frame centered on trace completeness, tool-use correctness, policy compliance, long-horizon durability, release gating, and quarantine. The present release is therefore best read as a formal architecture paper and public roadmap anchor for production-grade governed agent execution, with disciplined claim boundaries that distinguish current design commitments from future implementation and empirical validation. License: CC BY-NC-ND 4. 0Author: Muqeet ul HassanActive Repository: https: //github. com/skrikx/SROSV2OSS