Directory-as-ID Pattern Offers Simple Capability Discovery for AI Agents

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Capability discovery in software systems is often solved inconsistently, but a pattern called directory-as-ID proposes using a service's directory path as its capability identifier. Under this approach, a schema and metadata file are stored alongside the implementation, and the runtime recursively walks the directory tree to build a capability catalog. The structure benefits developers by keeping git, code review, and search tools central, while governance rules such as access controls can be applied at directory boundaries. AI models and offline indexers can also infer capability semantics directly from stable paths and metadata files without requiring custom discovery code. The pattern allows capabilities to be projected into multiple interfaces — including HTTP endpoints, CLIs, and MCP tools — with governance managed centrally through the catalog.

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