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Roman
Roman

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Building OpenVerb: An Open Execution Layer Between AI and Software

The more capable LLMs become, the more interested I am in what happens after reasoning.

Suppose an AI understands:

Create a CRM contact for Sarah Chen.

Understanding the request isn’t the difficult part anymore.

Execution is.

That’s the problem behind OpenVerb.

Actions as Verbs

OpenVerb represents application capabilities as structured verbs:

crm.create_contact
email.send
gis.add_layer
file.move

Instead of giving an AI unrestricted control over software, applications expose known capabilities.

Conceptually:

Intent

Verb

Schema

Policy

Executor

Receipt

This creates a boundary between intelligence and execution.

The model determines intent.

The execution infrastructure determines what that intent is allowed to become.

The Ecosystem

OpenVerb started as a protocol and has expanded into a larger developer ecosystem.

I’ve built or experimented with:

Protocol
Framework
Runtime
Policy
SDK
CLI
Core
.ov
Viewer
Studio
CRM
GIS
IDE
Pulse
Stdlib
Markdown
Python Core
Fellowship

These aren’t intended to be unrelated packages.

They’re different pieces of the same execution problem.

Portable Workflows

One extension of this architecture is .ov.

AI can generate workflows today, but they’re frequently trapped inside the application that created them.

.ov explores:

Prompt

Generate workflow

Save .ov

Inspect

Execute

Reuse

The workflow becomes an artifact instead of temporary conversation state.

Policy and Receipts

Execution introduces consequences.

The fact that an agent knows about:

email.send

doesn’t mean it should always execute it.

That’s why policy sits directly in the OpenVerb model.

And afterward, a receipt provides evidence of execution.

I think those concepts become increasingly important as AI moves from:

“Here’s what you should do.”

to:

“I did it.”

The Long-Term Idea

I’m exploring OpenVerb as something approaching a universal runner for AI actions.

Applications provide capabilities.

Models provide intelligence.

OpenVerb provides the execution contract between them.

Models can change.

Agents can change.

Applications can change.

The capability interface can remain understandable.

OpenVerb:
https://openverb.org

NPM:
https://www.npmjs.com/package/openverb

OpenVerb is open infrastructure, so if you’re building agents, copilots, automation systems, or developer tools, I’d be particularly interested in what you’d build on top of it.

ai #agents #opensource #developerexperience #automation

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