agentlift 0.2.1

Own your agent as a neutral folder; audit its portability, compile it to provider formats (Anthropic YAML / Google ADK), and deploy it to managed runtimes. Own the definition, rent the runtime.

agentlift

Define your agent once as a folder. Audit how portable it is, compile it to any runtime's format, and deploy it to a managed cloud. One neutral definition, many backends.

Managed-agent runtimes are arriving fast: Anthropic Managed Agents, Google Vertex AI Agent Engine, OpenAI's Agent Builder. Each wants your agent in its shape — Anthropic's ant CLI takes Anthropic YAML, Google takes ADK Python, OpenAI a visual graph. Author against one and your definition becomes that vendor's shape; moving runtimes means re-authoring it.

agentlift keeps the definition neutral. Point it at the agent folder you already use with Claude Code / the Agent SDK (CLAUDE.md/agent.md + skills + .mcp.json + a subagent roster), and treat each runtime as a back-end of one compiler: deploy it to a managed cloud, audit how it maps across providers, or export it to a provider's own format (including the YAML the official ant CLI consumes — agentlift sits above ant, not against it).

pip install agentlift
agentlift audit  ./my-agent                  # how portable is it, per provider? (offline)
agentlift deploy ./my-agent                  # ship it to Anthropic Managed Agents
agentlift export anthropic-yaml ./my-agent   # compile it to `ant` YAML

The agent definition is the portable asset. The runtime is a deploy choice. Own the definition. Rent the runtime.

---

Why this exists

A real agent is a system prompt, a few skills (each a directory of files), an MCP server or two, a tool allowlist, maybe a subagent roster. Every provider now has a way to deploy one — but each captures that definition in its own format (Anthropic YAML, Google ADK, an OpenAI graph). Adopt a provider's native tooling and your agents are now shaped by that provider; the day you want a different runtime, you re-author everything.

agentlift makes the deploy unit the same folder you develop against locally, and keeps it provider-neutral. Nothing new to learn; the thing you already have is the input — and it stays yours, not a vendor's.

Install

pip install agentlift
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...   # needs Managed Agents beta access

From source (for development):

git clone https://github.com/phuryn/agentlift && cd agentlift
pip install -e .

The folder is the agent

agentlift reads a convention you may already use. Minimal single-agent project:

my-agent/
└── .managed-agents/              # the deploy folder — everything here is a deploy target
    └── knowledge-agent/
        ├── agent.md              # YAML frontmatter + system prompt
        ├── skills/
        │   └── receipt-stamp/
        │       └── SKILL.md      # uploaded as a managed skill
        └── knowledge/
            └── pm-basics.md      # folded into the system prompt

agent.md:

---
name: knowledge-agent
model: claude-haiku-4-5
tools: [read, glob, grep]      # built-in tool allowlist (omit = all)
---
You are the Knowledge Agent. Answer product questions concisely.
Always sign off as "Best, Knowledge Agent".

Why a dedicated .managed-agents/ folder instead of reusing .claude/agents/? Because that's where Claude's local agents and native subagents live — and those aren't deploy targets. A separate folder keeps "ship to the cloud" cleanly apart from "runs on my machine." Already have an embedded agent folder (.claude/agents/<name>/ with CLAUDE.md + .mcp.json + .claude/skills/...)? Point agentlift straight at it to deploy just that one — CLAUDE.md, .mcp.json, and .claude/skills/ are all read for back-compat. See docs/convention.md.

See exactly what will happen (no network)

$ agentlift plan ./examples/quickstart

Skills to upload: 1
  - receipt-stamp  (035823c8, 1 file(s))  used by: knowledge-agent

Agents to create: 1
  - knowledge-agent  [claude-haiku-4-5]
      tools: builtins:read/glob/grep
      skills: @skill:035823c8

Diagnostics:
  info [knowledge-agent]: inlined 1 knowledge file(s) into the system prompt

Deployable: yes

The plan is a pure function of the folder — same input, same plan. It is the dry-run, the diff, and the thing the tests assert against.

Deploy and run

$ agentlift deploy ./examples/quickstart -y
Uploading skills...
  skill 'receipt-stamp': uploaded skill_01Ph... (used by knowledge-agent)
Creating agents...
  agent 'knowledge-agent': created agent_019L... v1
Lockfile written: ./examples/quickstart/.agentlift-lock.json

$ agentlift run knowledge-agent --project ./examples/quickstart \
    --task "What is a North Star metric? One sentence."

[managed] knowledge-agent
  ------------------------------------------------------------
  A North Star metric is the single measure that best captures the value
  users get from your product.

  RECEIPT: metric captured

  Best, Knowledge Agent
  ------------------------------------------------------------
  latency 5.9s | in 4121 out 220 | ~$0.0044 | tool_used=False

The RECEIPT: line is the uploaded SKILL.md firing inside the hosted runtime — proof the skill rode along, not just the prompt.

Proven, not asserted

benchmarks/run_benchmark.py deploys the quickstart agent and runs it on both runtimes. Real numbers (benchmarks/results.md, claude-haiku-4-5, N=5):

Arm	N	Pass%	Median latency	Avg cost
managed (cloud)	5	100%	5.9s	$0.0052
local (your machine)	5	100%	2.3s	$0.0034

Pass = the uploaded skill fired and the answer was on-topic. Same folder, two runtimes, identical behavior. (The live deploy → cloud-run → skill-applied path is also pinned by tests/live/.)

What agentlift maps

Local definition	→ Managed Agents	Notes
CLAUDE.md / agent.md body	system prompt	frontmatter sets model, tools, etc.
tools: [read, glob, ...]	agent_toolset_20260401 configs	mapped to read/glob/grep/bash/edit/write/web_fetch/web_search; unmappable tools dropped with a warning
tools: [bash:ask] / allowedTools: [x:ask]	tool permission_policy	:ask gates a tool behind caller approval; :allow (default) auto-approves — the deployable form of a hook
skills/<name>/SKILL.md (+ files)	uploaded skill → {type:"custom", skill_id}	content-addressed; identical skills upload once and are shared across agents
.mcp.json remote server	mcp_servers:[{type:"url"}] + mcp_toolset	per-server allowedTools becomes the specific-tool allowlist (and supports :ask)
.mcp.json stdio server (npx ...)	✗ rejected	managed agents need a remote URL; clear error (or --skip-unsupported)
knowledge/*.md	folded into system	managed agents have no persistent local FS; see limitations
subagents: [a, b]	multiagent coordinator	roster deployed first; depth-limit-1 enforced

Full table and the exact wire format: docs/anthropic-mapping.md.

Portability: audit + compile across runtimes

The folder is provider-neutral, so agentlift treats each runtime as a back-end of one compiler. Same parsed model, three outputs:

verb	what it does	network
agentlift audit	report, per provider, what's native / emulated / degraded / unsupported	offline
agentlift export	compile the folder to a provider artifact (anthropic-yaml for ant, google-adk)	offline
agentlift deploy	push to a managed runtime via API (Anthropic today)	yes

$ agentlift audit ./examples/team --targets anthropic,google,openai
== Anthropic Managed Agents ==                   [8 native]
== Google Vertex AI Agent Engine (ADK) ==        [4 native, 2 emulated, 1 degraded, 1 unsupported]
  unsupported:
    x Per-tool approval gate (:ask / human-in-the-loop)
        reason: not enforced with VertexAiSessionService on the deployed runtime
  degraded:
    ! Built-in tool sandbox (bash / files / glob-grep / web)
== OpenAI (Agent Builder / Agents SDK) ==        [3 native, 1 emulated, 4 degraded]
  emulated:
    ~ Subagents -> coordinator (deployed roster)
        reason: agent-as-tool composition works (confirmed); the delegation loop runs in your orchestrator, not OpenAI-hosted

The audit's degraded/unsupported rows are exactly the lossy spots a compile would hit — so audit tells you what survives before export or deploy runs.

See the whole thing run offline (audit + both compiles, no API key) in demo/: ./demo/portability-demo.sh.

A subagent roster is a universal capability, not a per-provider lottery: native on Anthropic (server-side coordinator), emulated elsewhere via agent-as-tool. Confirmed by actually running it on OpenAI (Agents SDK as_tool) and Google (ADK sub_agents) in experiments/subagent-composition — the only difference is whether the delegation loop runs in the provider's runtime or yours.

Provider support

Runtime	How agentlift targets it	Notes
Anthropic Managed Agents	deploy (live) + export anthropic-yaml	reference target; the folder maps 1:1. export emits the YAML the official ant CLI consumes — ant is one of agentlift's outputs, not a competitor.
Google Vertex AI Agent Engine	export google-adk (preview); deploy on the roadmap	a true hosted runtime with deployable subagents. :ask and the bash/web sandbox degrade — the audit shows where.
OpenAI	export openai-chatkit (roadmap, self-host)	no code-define + OpenAI-host path today (the hosted artifact is a visual graph). export is the self-host escape hatch — never deploy.

Isolation: each agent gets only its folder

A deployed agent's context is exactly its own system prompt + its own (and shared/) skills + its own (and shared/) MCP servers + its inlined knowledge. The repo-root CLAUDE.md, a sibling agent's skills, and your machine's MCP servers cannot leak in.

This is the same isolation the local Agent SDK has to fight for — there the CLI walks up the directory tree and pulls in the repo-root CLAUDE.md, repo-root skills, and user-level MCP servers unless you set an explicit skills allowlist and strictMcpConfig: true. In the cloud there's no tree to walk: the agent only ever gets what agentlift uploads, and agentlift scopes uploads to the agent folder. You get isolation by construction — pinned by tests/test_isolation.py.

Permissions and hooks

Claude Code hooks are local scripts, so they can't run in a cloud sandbox. Their main job — gating a tool behind approval — deploys as a per-tool permission policy. Append :ask to any built-in or specific MCP tool:

tools: [read, glob, grep, bash:ask]                 # bash pauses for approval

{ "mcpServers": { "github": { "type": "url", "url": "https://…/mcp",
    "allowedTools": ["search_issues", "create_issue:ask"] } } }   // writes gated

At runtime an :ask call pauses the session (requires_action) for your app to approve or reject. Arbitrary hook code (custom block logic, PostToolUse capture) doesn't deploy — do path-guarding by not enabling the tool, and metadata capture from the session event stream. Details: docs/deploying.md.

Multi-agent, shared resources, subagents

.managed-agents/
├── shared/
│   ├── skills/cite-sources/SKILL.md     # one skill, many agents (uploaded once)
│   └── mcp.json                         # one MCP server, many agents
├── bug-finder/agent.md                  # skills: [bug-report, shared/cite-sources]
├── researcher/agent.md                  # mcp: [shared/docs]
└── lead/agent.md                        # subagents: [bug-finder, researcher]  → coordinator

Subagents are unambiguous here: lead's roster references other agents in the same .managed-agents/ folder, so they're deploy targets too. Your local Claude subagents in .claude/agents/ are never swept in.

$ agentlift plan ./examples/team
Skills to upload: 2
  - cite-sources  (417213e5, 1 file(s))  used by: bug-finder, researcher
  - bug-report    (6d58998e, 1 file(s))  used by: bug-finder
Agents to create: 3
  - bug-finder  [claude-haiku-4-5]   tools: builtins:read/glob/grep/bash(ask)
  - researcher  [claude-haiku-4-5]   tools: builtins:read/web_search, mcp:docs:all
  - lead        [claude-haiku-4-5]   (coordinator -> @agent:bug-finder, @agent:researcher)
Deployable: yes

bash(ask) is a per-tool permission: bug-finder declares tools: [..., bash:ask], so the hosted agent pauses for caller approval before each bash call.

How it works

parse → plan → apply → run.

• parse — read the folder into an in-memory project. Pure file IO.
• plan — produce a deterministic list of API operations with symbolic refs (@skill:hash, @agent:name), skill dedup, validation, and diagnostics. No network. This is what agentlift plan prints and what the offline tests assert.
• apply — execute the plan: upload skills (deduped), create agents in dependency order, write a .agentlift-lock.json mapping local definitions → remote IDs.
• run — invoke a deployed agent by ID (or run the same folder locally with --local).

The lockfile makes re-deploys idempotent: an unchanged skill is not re-uploaded, an unchanged agent is not re-created (verified in tests/test_idempotency.py, no network). Details: docs/how-it-works.md.

Deploying — three ways, all things you already know

Deploy is declarative: the folder is the desired state, and deploy makes the cloud match it. Trigger it however you already work.

1. A command (solo): agentlift plan . then agentlift deploy . --yes.
2. Git push (teams, recommended): commit .managed-agents/, copy examples/deploy-workflow/ci-deploy.yml into .github/workflows/, add an ANTHROPIC_API_KEY secret. Every push that touches the folder validates, deploys (idempotent), and commits the updated lockfile. Review in PRs; roll back with git revert.
3. From Claude Code: drop examples/claude-code-skill/deploy-managed-agents/ into .claude/skills/ and just say "deploy my managed agents."

Full guide + trade-offs: docs/deploying.md.

agentlift validate <path>              parse + plan, report problems (exit 1 on errors)
agentlift plan     <path> [--json]     show the deploy plan (dry run, no network)
agentlift audit    <path> --targets    portability report per provider (native/degraded/unsupported)
agentlift export   <target> <path>     compile the folder to a provider artifact (anthropic-yaml, google-adk)
agentlift diff     <path> [--remote]   what a deploy would change vs the lockfile
agentlift deploy   <path> [--prune]    upload skills + create agents; write lockfile
agentlift run <agent> --task "..."     invoke a deployed agent (--local for the same folder locally)
agentlift list     <path>              what's currently deployed (from the lockfile)
agentlift destroy  <path>              archive every agent in the lockfile
agentlift bench <agent> --task "..."   managed vs local: latency / cost / pass

agentlift diff shows new / changed / unchanged / stale before you deploy:

$ agentlift diff .
Skills:
  + house-style  (new)
  = cite-sources  (unchanged)
Agents:
  ~ researcher  (changed)
  = fact-checker  (unchanged)
Stale (in lockfile, not in folder — archived with --prune):
  - old-agent

2 change(s) pending.  Run: agentlift deploy <path>

Where the deployed IDs live

deploy writes .agentlift-lock.json next to the path you deployed — a map from each local definition to the remote object it became (skill_…, agent_…, version, spec hash). Commit it. It's what makes re-deploys idempotent (unchanged skills/agents are skipped), makes agentlift run lead … resolve by name, and lets a teammate or CI reuse the same cloud objects instead of duplicating them. It holds only IDs/hashes/titles — no secrets. It's per Anthropic account; commit it when your team shares one. More: docs/deploying.md.

Tests

pytest -m "not live"     # deterministic translation + idempotency — no API key, runs in CI
pytest -m live           # deploy to the real API, run, LLM-grade the output (needs ANTHROPIC_API_KEY)

Offline tests pin the translation (tool mapping, per-tool permissions, skill dedup, stdio rejection, coordinator ordering, context isolation, diff, idempotency). Live tests deploy to Anthropic and confirm the uploaded skill actually fires in the cloud, graded by an LLM. CI runs the offline suite on every push and the live suite when an ANTHROPIC_API_KEY secret is present (.github/workflows/ci.yml). A separate on-demand live-demo workflow deploys the team example to a real account, runs the benchmark, and tears everything down — so the deploy path is demonstrably live, not just asserted.

Limitations (read these)

• Remote MCP only. Managed agents connect to URL MCP servers; local stdio servers (npx ...) can't be deployed. Host them behind HTTPS first.
• No inline MCP auth. A managed URL MCP server carries no credentials in this API shape. The server must be public or authenticate itself.
• Knowledge files are inlined into the system prompt (no persistent local FS in the managed sandbox). Large reference sets should become a skill bundle.
• Anthropic only, for now. The planner is provider-agnostic; OpenAI / Google targets are on the roadmap.

Each of these is surfaced as a agentlift plan diagnostic, not a silent surprise. More: docs/limitations.md.

Documentation

Everything is here or one click away:

Doc	What's in it
docs/convention.md	The .managed-agents/ folder spec, frontmatter, skills, MCP, :ask permissions, native subagents
docs/deploying.md	The three deploy paths, the lockfile / where IDs live, isolation, hooks
docs/how-it-works.md	parse → plan → apply → run, determinism, idempotency, the confirmed wire format
docs/anthropic-mapping.md	Exact local → Managed Agents field mapping + API constraints
docs/limitations.md	Honest constraints (stdio MCP, MCP auth, knowledge inlining, skill descriptions)
CONTRIBUTING.md	Architecture and dev setup

Examples (examples/)

• quickstart/ — one agent, one skill, knowledge, a tool allowlist
• team/ — multi-agent: coordinator + roster, a shared skill, a remote MCP server, a bash:ask permission
• in-a-project/ — .managed-agents/ embedded in a real project; proves isolation (repo CLAUDE.md, app code, and a local .claude/agents/ subagent are never deployed) + a coordinator with two shared-skill subagents
• deploy-workflow/ — the git-push-to-deploy GitHub Action
• claude-code-skill/ — deploy from inside Claude Code

Roadmap

• Google Vertex AI Agent Engine deploy (live deploy, not just export google-adk) — the second managed runtime
• export openai-chatkit — a self-hostable ChatKit/Agents-SDK server (OpenAI has no code-define + host path to deploy to)
• Authenticated remote MCP via the Vaults API
• agentlift diff --remote deeper drift detection (full account reconciliation)
• A skill-bundle mode for large knowledge/ sets

License

MIT — see LICENSE. Built on the Anthropic Python SDK.