| description | vCon is the open container for conversations. Signed, consent aware, and portable, it lets organizations record what was said, by whom that both machines and auditors can read and trust. |
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Every business runs on conversations. Calls, chats, video meetings, agent dialog. Until now there has been no shared way to record what was said, on whose behalf, and under what authority, in a form that survives moving between systems.
vCon (virtual conversation) is that container. It is an open IETF standard for packaging the parties, the dialog, the recording or transcript, the consent, and the analysis into one signed, portable JSON object. The Conserver is the open source platform that creates and manages vCons at scale.
{% columns %} {% column %} If you read one page, read this:
{% content-ref url="vcons/a-vcon-primer.md" %} a-vcon-primer.md {% endcontent-ref %} {% endcolumn %}
{% column %} If you watch one video, watch this:
{% embed url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDh0phRx0bM" %} {% endcolumn %} {% endcolumns %}
{% hint style="info" %} Provenance over policy. vCon does not ask you to trust a vendor that says the right things. It puts cryptographic provenance, parties, and consent inside the file itself, so the next system in line can verify them on its own. {% endhint %}
{% tabs %} {% tab title="Architects and CTOs" %} You want to know where vCon fits in your stack and whether it is real.
- vCons are... — the one paragraph mental model
- Why vCons need a file — conversations as durable digital artifacts in the AI era
- Conserver Introduction — the reference platform that produces and processes vCons
- Day in the Life of a vCon — end to end flow {% endtab %}
{% tab title="Business and compliance" %} You care about consent, regulatory exposure, and AI governance.
- A vCon Primer — the full story, written for non specialists
- Privacy Primer — how vCon handles PII, deletion and lawful basis
- Lawful Basis extension — consent that travels with the data
- PII Compliance use case — what this looks like in practice {% endtab %}
{% tab title="Developers and engineers" %} You want to read code and get something running.
- Conserver Quick Start — a vCon pipeline on your machine
- vCon Library (Python) Quickstart
- vCon JS Library Quickstart
- vCon Adapters Quick Start — wire your platform into the ecosystem
- MCP Server — expose vCons to AI agents safely {% endtab %}
{% tab title="Standards and policy" %} You are tracking the working group and the surrounding standards.
- IETF VCON working group
- Core draft
draft-ietf-vcon-vcon-core - SCITT and vCon together
- IETF sessions, talks and press {% endtab %} {% endtabs %}
{% tabs %} {% tab title="The vCon object" %}
A signed JSON object that carries parties, dialog (recording or transcript), attachments, analyses, consent, and a tamper evident history. The same format works for a phone call, a chat session, a video meeting, or a human to agent conversation.
{% endtab %}{% tab title="The Conserver" %}
The open source platform that creates vCons from business systems, runs them through pipelines of links (transcribe, redact, analyze, store, forward), and emits archive copies plus projections into the tools the business already uses.
{% endtab %}{% tab title="MCP server and adapters" %}
Applications consume vCons through the Conserver API, the MCP server, or the language libraries. Adapters let CPaaS providers, contact centers, and recording vendors plug their platforms into the ecosystem without inventing a new format.
{% endtab %} {% endtabs %}vCon is developed in the open at the IETF, the same standards body that produced the protocols the internet runs on, from TCP/IP and DNS to HTTP, TLS, and SIP. IETF work is rough consensus, running code, and a public record. Anyone can read the drafts, join the list, and challenge a design decision in writing.
The format itself carries no patent encumbrance, by design, the same way PDF and vCard do not. The working group brings together telecom regulators, carriers, hyperscale platforms, and human rights organizations, and public statements from those constituencies appear in Talks, Articles and Press.
{% embed url="https://github.com/vcon-dev/vcon" %} Open source repository for vCon and the Conserver {% endembed %}
{% embed url="https://datatracker.ietf.org/group/vcon/about/" %} IETF VCON working group {% endembed %}
{% content-ref url="vcons/a-vcon-primer.md" %} a-vcon-primer.md {% endcontent-ref %}
{% content-ref url="vcons/why-vcons.md" %} why-vcons.md {% endcontent-ref %}
{% content-ref url="vcons/concepts.md" %} concepts.md {% endcontent-ref %}
{% content-ref url="conserver/conserver-quick-start.md" %} conserver-quick-start.md {% endcontent-ref %}
{% content-ref url="use-cases-studies/overview.md" %} overview.md {% endcontent-ref %}
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