Agent Operating Systems (AOS): Integrating Agentic Control Planes into, and Beyond, Traditional Operating Systems

Agent Operating Systems (AOS): Integrating Agentic Control Planes into, and Beyond, Traditional Operating Systems | Authorea try { document.documentElement.classList.add('js'); } catch (e) { } var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'G-8VDV14Y67G']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); Skip to main content Preprints Collections Wiley Open Research IET Open Research Ecological Society of Japan All Collections About About Authorea FAQs Contact Us Quick Search anywhere Search for preprint articles, keywords, etc. Search Search ADVANCED SEARCH SCROLL This is a preprint and has not been peer reviewed. Data may be preliminary. 11 February 2026 V1 Latest version Share on Agent Operating Systems (AOS): Integrating Agentic Control Planes into, and Beyond, Traditional Operating Systems Author : Ankur Sharma 0009-0006-4788-2292 [email protected] Authors Info & Affiliations https://doi.org/10.22541/au.177083718.83864768/v1 498 views 157 downloads Contents Abstract Supplementary Material Information & Authors Metrics & Citations View Options References Figures Tables Media Share Abstract Traditional operating systems were designed around deterministic programs, explicit control flow, and human initiated workflows. Their core abstractions processes, threads, system calls, files, and permissions assume bounded behavior and predictable interaction patterns. Agentic AI systems introduce a different execution model: long-lived, goal-directed entities that reason probabilistically, invoke tools dynamically, and adapt behavior based on feedback. While agents can be implemented as user-space applications today, their execution characteristics stress OS boundaries in scheduling, memory and state management, security, observability, and governance. This paper introduces the concept of an Agent Operating System (AOS), a systems architecture that integrates an agentic control plane into existing operating systems or, in some models, subsumes selected OS responsibilities over time. We provide a precise definition of an AOS, explicit assumptions and non-goals, and a structured decomposition of AOS responsibilities into schedulers, context and memory management, tool and capability registries, policy and trust enforcement, and observability and audit. We analyze limitations of classical OS abstractions for agent workloads, propose integration models from user-space runtimes to distributed control planes, and map AOS concepts onto Linux and Windows primitives. We present security and safety implications, including agent specific threat models, and define evaluation criteria that emphasize deterministic enforcement, auditability, and operator comprehensibility. The objective is not to replace operating systems wholesale, but to establish a rigorous systems foundation for agentic computation that remains controllable, accountable, and secure at scale. Supplementary Material File (agent operating systems - integrating agentic control planes into, and beyond, traditional operating systems.pdf) Download 378.36 KB Information & Authors Information Version history V1 Version 1 11 February 2026 Copyright This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License Keywords agent operating systems agentic ai agentic control plane ai agents auditability capability security deterministic boundaries distributed systems linux scheduling windows Authors Affiliations Ankur Sharma 0009-0006-4788-2292 [email protected] Independent Researcher San Francisco View all articles by this author Metrics & Citations Metrics Article Usage 498 views 157 downloads .FvxKWukQNSOunydq8rnd { width: 100px; } Citations Download citation Ankur Sharma. Agent Operating Systems (AOS): Integrating Agentic Control Planes into, and Beyond, Traditional Operating Systems. Authorea . 11 February 2026. 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