Layer 02 · Plugin First release v1.9.0

Lingo

Directive Shorthand, built in — seven tiny prefixes steer your agent's replies, their measure and voice, its memory, and its work, supercharged by the tools behind them.

Binds to the agent itself — a plugin, installed into the host, extending how the agent takes instruction. It implements the open Directive Shorthand spec and binds each command to the forge's tools.
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The Vocabulary · Directive Shorthand 3.5

Seven domains, fifty-three directives, one grammar

6re:

steers the reply's form

re:voice · re:show · re:cite

7scale:

steers the reply's measure

scale:brief · scale:deep · scale:standard

13style:

steers the reply's voice

style:plain · style:candid · style:warm

5mem:

steers the memory

mem:pin · mem:recall · mem:forget

2learn:

steers the knowledge base

learn:quick · learn:deep

8sch:

steers the timing

sch:once · sch:remind · sch:due

12gen:

steers production — what the agent makes

gen:doc · gen:art · gen:video

Stacking — watch it compose

Directives stack inside one token and compose across tokens — re:voice scale:brief is a short voice note. Type-ahead shortens every name to any unambiguous prefix (re:vo, scale:bri), and an ambiguous prefix never fires.

Counts verified against the canonical registry (Directive Shorthand 3.5, 53 directives). Type a bare prefix — re: — and the agent lists that domain's whole registry: discovery is built into the grammar.

What it is

Lingo, in full

Lingo is the Directive Shorthand spec built into the forge. Any agent can implement the open standard and hand you the same commands at normal power; Lingo binds each command to AgentForge's special tools — so a voice note, a pinned memory, or a verified check reaches the forge's real machinery instead of the agent's bare hands. It lives once in the shared tools library, and every toolkit pins the version it speaks: learn the Lingo once, and every agent you equip answers to it.

Three layers, kept straight: Directive Shorthand is the open spec — a public proposal anyone may implement, authored by Michael Nash and first published 2026-10-18. Lingo is the product: that spec built into every AgentForge toolkit, conformant at Level 1 + Level 2 and maintained as the spec's reference implementation. And beneath the commands sits the tool layer — the forge's closed, requests-only provider tools — which is what turns a conformant command into a supercharged one.

Definitions live in exactly one place: the public spec repo, versioned. Lingo pins a spec version (today: Directive Shorthand 3.5, at Lingo 1.9.0) and consumes its registry — there is no second, drifting copy of the vocabulary anywhere in the forge.

Capabilities

re: — steer the reply's form: voice, visual, steps, list, recap, citescale: — steer the reply's measure: brief, deep, executive, wordystyle: — steer the reply's voice: plain, candid, warm, dry, legal, poetic and moremem: — steer the memory: pin, recall, forgetlearn: — build knowledge from material you designate: quick skim, deep studysch: — steer the timing: once, again, remind, watch, due, snooze, pause, stopgen: — commission artifacts: a recording, a program, music, art, a photo, a graph, video, a site, an app, a doc, a deck, a sheetCommands bound to AgentForge's special toolsStacking & type-ahead — re:vo/st in eight charactersDiscovery built in: type re: for the registrySpoken forms ride the same grammarConformance-tested, same semantics everywhere

The supercharge, measured

Bindings: what is actually wired today

Every directive carries a binding state, judged in the reference environment and published without rounding up: 18 LIVE · 3 PARTIAL · 32 DESIGNED across the 53 directives of Directive Shorthand 3.5.

Lingo 1.9.0 · Binding states
18 LIVE — works today 3 PARTIAL — mem:pin, gen:podcast and gen:app, real machinery with named gaps 32 DESIGNED — specified, not yet wired

A DESIGNED binding is not a euphemism for a missing one: the baseline behavior ships built into every toolkit — known on first contact, identical everywhere — and the supercharge lands binding by binding, each promoted only when it is proven.

Keep going

Lingo, everywhere it lives

Learn the Lingo — the flagship

The full story: the live demo, the playground, and why a shorthand for agents had to exist.

Explore the flagship →

Lingo Keyboard

Lingo as a product in its own right: the vocabulary under your thumbs — chip strip, stack builder, Lingo mic — in every app on your phone.

Meet the keyboard →

Command Explorer

Every directive on its own page — meaning, shortest form, spoken form — rendered from the canonical registry.

Browse all 53 →

Product Lingo Layer Plugin Status First release Access Ships inside every toolkit