Cognitive Wire Format (CWF): Developer Specification

Published by pronto.stream Protocol Working Group | Updated August 2026

When AI agents query continuous data streams over traditional JSON APIs, up to 80% of the context window token payload is consumed by structural boilerplate: repeated keys, quotes, and formatting syntax.

Token Savings Metrics

A batch of 100 raw environmental signals in JSON format consumes 14,200 tokens. In CWF format, the identical semantic payload consumes just 2,840 tokens (80% reduction).

CWF Encoding Example

[CWF:v1]
S|8f93a102|USGS_SEISMIC|CLIMATE|1785672000|984|4.2,12.4,34.0522,-118.2437