This page is related to an active IETF Working Group.
The DISPATCH WG is chartered to facilitate the introduction of new work in the Applications and Real Time (ART), Security (SEC), and non-transport (see below) aspects of the Web and Internet Transport (WIT) areas of IETF. DISPATCH provides a mailing list and has sessions at IETF meetings to recommend appropriate next steps for proposed work in those areas. Our mailing list and meetings are attended by experienced IETFers, including many workgroup chairs and area directors, with the experience to make these recommendations.
If you have questions about the Dispatch process, feel free to get in touch with the chairs (Shuping, Jim, and Rifaat) at dispatch-chairs@ietf.org.
To clarify what "non-transport aspects of WIT" means, the following non-transport working groups in WIT are chartered as of July 2026:
Dispatch functions for transport aspects of the WIT area are handled by tsvwg.
Dispatch functions for other IETF areas and technologies are handled by the following working groups:
If you are not already a subscriber to the dispatch@ietf.org mailing list, begin by subscribing so that you receive any responses regarding your idea. You can subscribe to the list by visiting this page and following the instructions there.
Then send an email with your idea to dispatch@ietf.org. In almost all cases, the best way to express an idea to be dispatched is to first write one or more internet-drafts describing it in some detail, and refer to that draft in your message. In some cases, participants may recommend courses of action for the idea, particularly if there is already a relevant IETF working group. There is no requirement that new ideas pass through the Dispatch working group; Dispatch is a forum for recommendations.
It's easier to dispatch work when it's been discussed on the mailing list; it gives the group a good idea of what the work will involve. Even if there's not much interest or chatter, it lets participants see what is coming up at the meeting and can help discussion in the meeting.
In your initial message to the mailing list, it's also usually helpful to describe the interoperability requirements of your proposal, as well as whether you have engaged with other parties outside your own organization who plan to implement and deploy it. Protocol interoperability is at the heart of what IETF does, and evidence of outside interest helps establish that a proposal will not become an orphan that is not a good use of IETF resources.
The dispatch process is inspired by the guidance and methodology of RFC 7957 and subsequent experience.
To request a timeslot at a dispatch meeting, email the dispatch chairs and the dispatch mailing list. Meeting slots are allocated based on relevance, with evidence of outside interest and interoperability requirements receiving the highest priority. Proposals of similar relevance will be handled on a first-come first-served basis, so it is helpful to submit requests several weeks in advance of the meeting.
In order to present at a Dispatch meeting, the following are required:
Timeslots at Dispatch meetings are short, generally 15 minutes each. The presentation itself should be limited to five minutes, allowing ten minutes for discussion. The focus of the meeting is to answer the "dispatch question" (recommendation) and not to discuss the details of the proposal more than required to describe its function and the need it fulfills. It's worth briefly describing the overall shape of your proposed solution, but Dispatch isn't the right place to go into detail on packet formats and the like. The chairs will provide a template for presentation slides.
If you have not presented to Dispatch before, you might want to review materials from previous Dispatch meetings. These are available from Datatracker.
Possible recommendations as a result of a DISPATCH meeting are:
Note that these are recommendations. Existing working groups are not required to accept new recommended work items, and Area Directors are not required to sponsor recommended work.
Expressions of interest to present at a Dispatch meeting are appreciated 4-8 weeks in advance of the meeting. Later requests will be accommodated as time permits.
Since internet-drafts describing Dispatch proposals are required, the internet-draft submission deadline (2 weeks prior to the start of the IETF meeting) is a hard deadline. Specific deadlines are specified at the Important Dates webpage.
Slide decks describing proposals should be sent to the chairs or posted via Datatracker by the Thursday prior to the meeting to permit review by the chairs and possible revision.