Stage 0: Assistant

The foundational stage where the agent serves primarily as an interface layer:

• Project content generation and documentation

• Community interaction and support

• Knowledge base and data pipeline

• Protocol interaction through natural language

At this stage, the agent functions primarily as a Natural Language Interface (NLI) for the project's knowledge base and selected data pipelines. It has no meaningful impact on project operations or performance, instead serving as an information conduit and communication facilitator. The NLI can optionally streamline user interactions with the project, including tool-based function calling.

The Assistant phase is largely universal rather than project-specific. This represents the current implementation level of most existing DeFAI projects, providing baseline functionality without operational autonomy.