agent-work-layer (Python)

Work Orders and Work Reports for AI agents, in Python. Pydantic models for both documents and every validation rule from the Agent Work Layer spec, with the same rule ids, kinds and paths as the TypeScript SDK.

A Work Order says what a job is and what it may use: goal, criteria, budget, deadline and allowed tools. A Work Report says what was done and proves it: evidence for each criterion, cost and tools used. The checks tell you whether a report holds up against its order.

pip install agent-work-layer

Python 3.9 or newer. Depends on jsonschema and pydantic (v2).

Validate documents

Documents are plain JSON (dicts). Each validate_* function returns a list of findings; an empty list means valid.

import json
from agent_work_layer import validate_order, validate_report, has_invalid

# examples/ in the repository
order = json.load(open("examples/risk-summary.order.json"))
report = json.load(open("examples/bad.report.json"))

assert validate_order(order) == []

findings = validate_report(report, order)
for f in findings:
    print(f.rule, f.kind, f.path, f.message)
# R4 invalid /evidence no evidence for criterion "c2"
# R5 invalid /tools_used/1 tool "web/browse" is not allowed by this order
# R7 limit /cost/usd spent 3.1 usd, budget is 2
# R6 invalid /cost cost must report "tool_calls" because the budget sets it
# R8 limit /finished_at finished after the deadline
# R11 invalid /result/output 'total_debt' is a required property
# R11 invalid /result/output/risk_factors ['Refinancing'] is too short

if has_invalid(findings):
    ...  # reject the report and send the findings back to the worker

• invalid findings reject the document.
• limit findings (R7 over budget, R8 past the deadline) are accepted but recorded, and move the order to expired.

The JSON Schemas are available as work_order_schema and work_report_schema.

Build documents with models

from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone
from agent_work_layer import Criterion, WorkOrder, validate_order

now = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
order = WorkOrder(
    id="wo_42",
    created_at=now,
    from_="agent:manager",          # "from" in JSON
    to="agent:researcher",
    goal="Summarize the risk factors in the 2025 annual report",
    criteria=[Criterion(id="c1", text="Lists the three largest risk factors with quotes")],
    budget={"usd": 2, "tool_calls": 20},
    deadline=now + timedelta(hours=2),
    tools=["filings/*"],
)

doc = order.to_dict()               # JSON-ready, with "from" and RFC 3339 timestamps
assert validate_order(order) == []  # the validators accept models too

WorkOrder.model_validate(data) and WorkReport.model_validate(data) parse documents. The models catch obvious mistakes as you build. The validate_* functions are the checks the spec defines.

Matches the TypeScript SDK

Findings have the same rule ids, kinds and JSON Pointer paths as agent-work-layer on npm, including its details:

• Timestamps follow RFC 3339 with a time zone. Instants are compared to the millisecond, as JavaScript's Date.parse does.
• Missing and unknown fields are reported at their parent object, one finding per field.
• Regular expressions match as in JavaScript. For example, $ does not match before a trailing newline.

The messages are worded differently, and schema findings (O1, R1, R11) can come in a different order. One known difference: for a caller's output_schema (R11) that uses if/then, contains, propertyNames or dependentRequired, the number of R11 findings can differ from the TypeScript SDK. Whether R11 fires is always the same.

Not here yet

The desk (lifecycle, permissions, storage) and the MCP server are in the TypeScript packages. This package covers the documents and the checks.

License

Apache-2.0