Open Query Agent (OQA)
OQA is a vendor-neutral specification for the knowledge that autonomous query agents read, write, and exchange. It describes how to structure a body of knowledge so an agent can navigate it, ground answers in it, and keep it current — without proprietary platforms or lock-in.
What OQA is
An OQA knowledge base is a directory of markdown files. Each file is one concept; concepts link to each other to form a navigable graph. Humans can read it in any editor; agents can traverse it deterministically. OQA adds the conventions a query agent needs on top of a plain markdown corpus: stable identity, typed concepts, and explicit relationships.
Built on Open Knowledge Format
OQA is a thin layer over Google Cloud's Open Knowledge Format (OKF) — the vendor-neutral base spec for storing organizational knowledge as markdown with YAML frontmatter. OQA does not fork OKF; an OQA bundle is a conformant OKF bundle. We adopt OKF's structure verbatim and add a query-agent profile on top.
The layers
| Layer | Owns | Status |
|---|---|---|
| OKF (Google) | File/frontmatter format, type, links, index.md/log.md | v0.1, adopted as-is |
| OQA (this spec) | Query-agent profile: concept typing conventions, relationship semantics, retrieval hints | v0.1, drafting |
| RAG platform | Searchable index + agent that answers complex questions over OKF + OQA | planned |
Status
OQA v0.1 is an early draft and will change. It follows OKF's philosophy: a small required core, generous optional metadata, and soft validation — consumers tolerate unknown types, keys, and broken links rather than rejecting a bundle.