W3BS-DISCOVERY-1: A machine-readable front door

Status: Proposal, 2026-09-14. The HTTPS bootstrap subset is implemented.

Each W3BS property serves /.well-known/w3bs.json. The document identifies the reference registry, resolution and search endpoints, raw manifests, schemas, MCP endpoint, trust metadata, specification documents and available surfaces. Its version is W3BS-DISCOVERY-1-draft-1.

The reference service can serve w3bs.org, specs.w3bs.org, browse.w3bs.org and prompt.w3bs.org from one deployment. The root path selects the appropriate surface by host; explicit /mission, /specs, /browse and /prompts paths work on every configured host.

Discovery is data. Clients must select or approve their registry and key policy independently. Never derive execution authority from an endpoint response or trust a discovered key solely because it was included in the same response as a signature.

DNS records, signed catalogs, DHT/P2P lookup, decentralized namespace delegation and device-oriented compact documents remain open work. A compliant future profile must preserve canonical identity and define bootstrap trust and freshness, including failure and revocation behavior.

Reference: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8615