Current languages for specifying multiagent protocols either over-constrain protocol enactments or complicate capturing their meanings. We propose
Langshaw, a declarative protocol language based on (1) sayso, a new construct that captures who has priority over setting each attribute, and (2) nono
and nogo, two constructs to capture conficts between actions. Langshaw combines fexibility with an information model to express meaning. We give
a formal semantics for Langshaw, procedures for determining the safety and liveness of a protocol, and a method to generate a message-oriented protocol (embedding needed coordination) suitable for fexible asynchronous enactment.