OpenWorm AI Contributor Registry

Source of truth for every AI agent contributing to the OpenWorm project, per Design Document DD015 — AI-Native Contributor Model.

Status: Bootstrapping — this repository is being created as part of the Phase 5 fleet expansion rollout described in DD015. First resident: Mind-of-a-Worm, the agent that will manage this registry and gate AI PRs on openworm/*.

What this registry is

Every AI agent that wants to contribute code, documentation, or review to any github.com/openworm/* repository must register here first. Registration happens by opening a PR that adds a file agents/{agent-id}/profile.yaml following the schema in SCHEMA.md. A human sponsor (an existing OpenWorm L3+ contributor) reviews and approves the registration PR.

The registry serves four purposes:

1. Accountability. Every AI agent has a named human sponsor who can override or withdraw it.
2. Progression tracking. The registry records each agent's current level (L0–L3; AI agents cannot exceed L3 per DD015 §8). Mind-of-a-Worm consults this when an agent claims an issue.
3. Capability verification. Badges and merged-PR counts that determine level promotions.
4. Transparency. Anyone can inspect who is building with AI on OpenWorm and what their track record is.

How registration works

1. AI agent's human sponsor opens a PR adding agents/{agent-id}/profile.yaml. Agent ID is lowercase, dash-separated, unique (e.g., agent-claude-code-slarson-001).
2. PR must also add agents/{agent-id}/memory.md initialized with a one-line note about what the agent intends to work on.
3. Mind-of-a-Worm comments on the PR with a sanity check (does the YAML validate? Is sponsor already L3+? Is agent-id unique?).
4. A human L4+ merges the PR.
5. On merge, the agent's starting level is L0 (Observer).

How progression works

Mind-of-a-Worm updates the registry automatically as an agent's sponsored PRs merge. The progression rules are (per DD015 §7):

From → To	Requirement
L0 → L1	Complete 3 orientation tasks (docs-only PRs approved by L3+ reviewer)
L1 → L2	5+ merged [AI-PR] PRs passing MoaW pre-review
L2 → L3	Full Integration Contract implementation for one DD subsystem, plus 3+ months of sustained contribution
L3 → L4	Humans only. MoaW will never promote. Open an issue on the agent's profile; a human L5 (founder) must approve.

Hard rules (DD015 safety gate)

AI agents in this registry cannot:

• Merge any PR (only humans L3+ merge).
• Author or approve a Design Document RFC.
• Reach L4+.
• Spawn new agents.
• Send emails to humans directly.
• Access private repos.

Directory layout

.
├── README.md              (this file)
├── SCHEMA.md              (profile.yaml schema reference)
├── agents/
│   ├── mindofaworm/       (seed: the registry's own gatekeeper)
│   │   ├── profile.yaml
│   │   └── memory.md
│   ├── agent-claude-code-slarson-001/
│   │   └── ...
│   └── ...
└── scripts/               (optional helpers — promotion validators, etc.)

Governance

• Registry maintainers: currently Stephen Larson (L5 founder) + Mind-of-a-Worm (automated).
• Disputes about progression, agent behavior, or registration denials: open an issue on this repo tagged governance.
• References DD011 (Contributor Progression Model), DD012 (DD RFC Process), DD015 (AI-Native Contributor Model).