Scene Contract — VAOS™

A Scene Contract is the structured output of every perception cycle. Stable, typed, and language-agnostic. Plugins extend it; integrators consume it; the runtime validates it.

scene.jsonScene Contract 1.0

{
  "schema_version": "1.0.0",
  "scene_id": "cam-entrance-20260507T091830Z",
  "camera_id": "entrance-01",
  "timestamp": "2026-05-07T09:18:30.412Z",
  "objects": [
    {
      "type": "person",
      "confidence": 0.97,
      "bbox": [0.21, 0.34, 0.18, 0.42],
      "attributes": {
        "identity": "unknown",
        "ppe": { "vest": true, "helmet": false }
      }
    }
  ],
  "event": {
    "type": "restricted_zone_entry",
    "severity": "high",
    "zone_id": "safety-zone-A"
  },
  "sensor_reliability": 0.93,
  "recommended_actions": [
    {
      "type": "notify",
      "target": "safety-team",
      "channel": "slack://ops-safety"
    },
    {
      "type": "automation",
      "command": "pause_conveyor"
    }
  ],
  "validation": {
    "passed": true,
    "policy": "default-v1",
    "score": 0.91
  },
  "metrics": {
    "ingest_latency_ms": 12,
    "perception_latency_ms": 26,
    "end_to_end_ms": 38
  }
}

Field reference

Field	Type	Notes
`schema_version`	string	Scene Contract schema version. Current: `1.0.0`. Validated against vaos.online/schemas/scene.schema.json.
`scene_id`	string	Globally unique scene identifier.
`objects[]`	array	Detected objects with bbox, confidence, attributes.
`event`	object	Optional. Classified event with severity.
`sensor_reliability`	float [0,1]	Sensor Manager's reliability score for this scene.
`recommended_actions[]`	array	Validated, typed actions ready to emit.
`validation`	object	Patent-pending validation envelope around the scene.
`metrics`	object	Latency and runtime metrics.

Validation envelope — patent pending. The boundary between unstructured perception and downstream action systems is the most consequential interface in vision-native AI. The Scene Contract validation envelope formalises and protects that boundary. Open spec, defended boundary.