IETF | Guide to the IETF standards process

The IETF works on a broad range of networking technologies that provide the foundation for the Internet's growth and evolution.
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The IETF is the premier Internet standards organization. It follows open and well-documented processes for setting these standards. Once published, those standards are made freely available.
The global IETF community works together in many different ways to produce high quality, relevant technical documents that influence the way people design, use, and manage the Internet.
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The IETF follows open and well-documented processes for its work, including setting Internet standards. This guide synthesizes various sources to describe the IETF standards process at a high level.
The IETF standards process, related processes, and the groups that guide and oversee them are defined in RFCs—many of which are further codified as Best Current Practices (BCPs)—and statements by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). A complementary guide to IETF process documents provides a more in-depth review of the variety of documents that describe the IETF standards process, as well as related groups and processes.
This guide focuses on the process once ideas are determined to be within the scope of the IETF. The IETF also works on specifications that are within its scope but not Internet standards; his page includes some information about those to provide additional clarity about and context for its work on standards.
The IETF standards process starts when an individual (or individuals) shares an idea, usually in the form of an Internet-Draft (I-D) document, for further discussion within the IETF community. IETF participation is voluntary and there is no top-down plan that requires any particular topic to be worked on or idea to be adopted. For a more complete description of how new work may be undertaken in the IETF, see the Bringing new work to the IETF webpage.
RFCs are the core output of the IETF process. An IETF RFC is produced when, as determined by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG), there is consensus that an I-D ought to be published in the IETF stream of the RFC document series. Not all RFCs are produced by the IETF and not the RFCs produced by IETF processes describe Internet Standards.
Below is a summary of groups involved in the IETF standards process. RFC 9281 provides a more complete description of these and other groups.
The vast majority of the IETF's work is done in its many Working Groups, of which there are well over one hundred active at any time. A dedicated guide to IETF Working Groups explains the basics of how they work, how to participate in one, and what to expect.
IETF Directorates (e.g. Transport Area Review Team, Security Area Directorate, General Area Review Team) provide review and advice to support Area Directors. These comprise experienced members of the IETF and the technical community represented by the Area. The specific name and the details of the role for each group differ from area to area, but the primary intent is that these groups assist the Area Director(s), e.g., with the review of specifications produced in the Area. However, they may also review other documents. For example the Security Area Directorate provides review of nearly all documents proposed to be published as RFCs.
The IESG reviews and approves working group documents and candidates for the IETF standards track.The IESG ensures that the documents are of a sufficient quality to be published as RFCs: that they describe their subject matter well, and that there are no outstanding engineering issues that should be addressed before publication. The degree of review will vary with the intended status and perceived importance of the documents.
The basic formal definition of the IETF standards process is RFC 2026. It embodies and aims to achieve the IETF’s mission while adhering to its principles, which include open processes, technical competence, and rough consensus and running code as described in RFC (BCP 95, Since publication of RFC 2026, several more RFCs have been published adding to and amending the process; these are collected in BCP 9 (BCP stands for "Best Current Practice").
The intellectual property rules are now separate, in RFC 5378 (BCP 78) (rights in contributions) and RFC 8179 (BCP 79) (rights in technology).
While there are many paths an idea may take in the IETF, a general flow for many is this:
By writing an Internet-Draft, individual authors distill an idea or problem or need, and a proposed way forward or solution, into a format that it can be shared with others in the IETF community. Anyone can write an I-D and submit it to the IETF I-D repository. The I-D format is very useful because it is familiar to IETF participants and can easily progress to an RFC document. More information about the mechanics of authoring an I-D is available at authors.ietf.org.
I-Ds may be considered in a variety of forums in the IETF. For details, see the "Bringing new work to the IETF" webpage. Not all I-Ds gain enough traction to progress further within the IETF.
Most I-Ds that do progress within the IETF do so within a Working Group. Once an I-D has been introduced to and discussed within a working group, it generally follows these steps:
The name of the I-D will be changed at this point to reflect the adopting WG and sets the stage for further consideration within the WG. The chairs may also assign an author (or authors) for the I-D different from the initial author. The WG chairs generally also assign a person as a "document shepherd", who makes sure an I-D continues to progress appropriately through the IETF processes, keeping in mind the overall IETF goal of producing technically excellent documents.
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