Framework handbook / 00

Glove Foundry

Foundry is to agent systems what an application framework is to the web: conventions, file routing, composition, a runtime, a development server, typed boundaries, and an inspection workbench in one coherent stack.

Foundry does not replace Glove. Glove provides the agent loop and capabilities. Foundry turns those capabilities into applications made of definitions, persisted instances, conversations, event-driven playbooks, schedules, and observable runs.

The mental model

01 / CODE

Definition

The typed set of things an agent may become. Identity comes from the file route.

02 / DATA

Instance

A persisted agent identity with installed apps, playbooks, schedules, configuration, and context.

03 / THREAD

Conversation

A durable stream of messages and work. An instance can participate in many conversations.

04 / EXECUTION

Run

One context-aware assembly and execution, correlated across passes, tools, events, and artifacts.

Purpose-built boundaries

Foundry ownsYou provide
Definition discovery, file identities, assembly, run lifecycle, inspectionModel provider configuration and API keys
Instance, conversation, playbook, schedule, and installation contractsDurable adapters for the persistence guarantees you need
Application and transmission surfaces exposed to agentsCredential acquisition, selection policy, storage, and refresh
A stable agent-system vocabulary over backend executionTransport, identity, authorization, and deployment policy

Backend infrastructure details stay behind adapters. Foundry talks about inbound transmissions, workers, schedules, and connections—not the implementation vocabulary of any particular execution backend.

The workflow is allowed to emerge

Foundry supports deterministic handlers and predefined schedules, but it does not require the entire job to be expressed as a static graph. An agent can interpret a request, split it into campaigns, provision peers, open shared work, create artifacts, schedule a follow-up, sleep, and reconvene. The boundaries are typed; the route through them can respond to intent.

Read by job