User Input Metadata Format with Prefix Detection

Status: 🟢 In-use Category: Features & Enhancements Date: November 7, 2025

Overview

Implemented a structured metadata format for collecting user input in Agent-Forge when sub-agents or tools require additional information. The platform-engineer agent now uses a UserInputMetaData: prefix to signal that interactive input fields should be rendered.

Field Type Reference

Type	Use Case	Example
text	Short text input	Names, titles, identifiers, usernames
textarea	Long text input	Descriptions, comments, code snippets
number	Numeric input	IDs, counts, percentages
select	Dropdown selection	Priority levels, branch names, statuses
boolean	Yes/No toggle	Feature flags, confirmation switches

Testing Strategy

Test Queries:

1. GitHub PR Creation:

   "Create a GitHub pull request"

2. Jira Issue Creation:

   "Create a new Jira issue"

3. Configuration Update:

   "Update configuration setting"

Expected Behavior:

1. Agent responds with UserInputMetaData: prefixed JSON
2. Agent-Forge detects prefix and parses JSON
3. Interactive form is rendered with specified fields
4. User fills out form and submits
5. Agent continues workflow with provided data

Benefits

1. Structured Data Collection - Consistent format for user input across all agents
2. Rich Input Types - Support for text, numbers, selections, and toggles
3. Clear Detection - Prefix-based detection is explicit and reliable
4. Validation Support - MetadataInputForm handles field validation
5. Better UX - Interactive forms instead of free-text prompts
6. Type Safety - Structured JSON with defined field types
7. Extensible - Easy to add more field types in the future

Related

• 2025-10-31: Metadata Input Implementation - Original metadata implementation
• Agent-Forge Backstage Plugin - Plugin documentation
• A2A Protocol - Agent-to-Agent communication

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Date: November 7, 2025 Status: ✅ Complete Signed-off-by: Sri Aradhyula <sraradhy@cisco.com>

• Architecture: architecture.md