Agora

Agents, Governance, Orchestration, Roles & Artifacts

Agora is a local, Markdown-first, Git-native framework for governing software delivery across humans, AI agents, services, and swarms. It materializes the roles, lifecycle rules, permissions, evidence, and durable work records that a team chooses for each project.

Agora is independent of the project's programming language, LLM provider, agent environment, and development process. Its Python CLI coordinates the protocol; it does not introduce an LLM SDK or runtime into the governed codebase.

Project status

Agora is an alpha (0.x) framework that is ready for controlled pilots. The published CLI can initialize and adopt repositories, execute complete governed workflows, authenticate actors, coordinate recursive swarms, run reviewed external tools, and validate its durable state.

Area	Current maturity
Core lifecycle	Implemented, exercised end to end, and covered by automated tests
Bundled workflows	Spec-Driven, Scrum, and Kanban Method Packs
Actor forms	Human, AI, service, automation, and recursively composed swarm
Integrations	Provider-neutral Tool Packs plus reviewed native CLI adapters
Persistence	Human-readable Markdown in the filesystem, designed for Git review
Compatibility	Explicit project migrations and agora upgrade support
Stability	Alpha: CLI and Markdown contracts may still evolve before 1.0

Use Agora now for evaluation and controlled team adoption. Before production use, review the selected Method Pack, actor permissions, execution environment, external adapters, and recovery policy for your organization.

Why Agora

• One governance model for every participant. A role can be held by a human, an AI, a service, or a swarm without changing the lifecycle contract.
• Process is configuration. Method Packs define roles, states, transitions, gates, evidence, and work-in-progress rules; Scrum and Kanban are examples, not hard-coded behavior.
• The LLM remains replaceable. Codex, Claude, local models, and custom runners consume the same portable commands without provider dependencies in the core.
• Work survives the session. Decisions, handoffs, approvals, signatures, artifacts, Tool Runs, and usage records remain inspectable in .agora/ and Git.
• External tools stay governed. Provider-neutral capabilities are translated by reviewed, bounded adapters that prefer an installed native CLI.

Agora complements issue trackers, source hosts, CI/CD systems, documentation platforms, and cloud providers. It is not a project-management UI, an agent runtime, or a replacement for those systems.

Architecture

flowchart LR
    H[Human] --> CLI[Agora CLI]
    A[AI agent] --> CLI
    S[Swarm] --> CLI

    CLI --> P[Project protocol<br/>.agora/]
    P --> M[Method Packs]
    P --> T[Tool Packs]
    P --> R[Durable records<br/>work, evidence, actions]

    T --> C[Reviewed native CLI adapters]
    C --> E[GitHub, GitLab, Jira,<br/>Confluence, CI/CD, cloud]

    G[Git] <--> P

Configuration is resolved predictably:

Agora defaults < ~/.agora < project .agora < swarm configuration

Install

Agora requires Python 3.11 or newer. Install the published CLI with uv:

uv tool install agora-framework
agora self-test

To work from this repository:

uv sync --extra dev
uv run agora self-test

self-test runs the role conformance harness in temporary workspaces. It exercises every bundled method with human, AI, and swarm role holders without changing the current project.

See Installation and customization for user-level configuration, upgrades, editable installs, and team rollout options.

Guided setup

The recommended first experience is an interactive review of runtime, model, Method Pack, starter team, actor security, Git branch, and persistence scope:

cd my-project
agora setup

For an existing Git repository, agora adopt runs the read-only preflight before showing or applying the plan. Both wizards collect one decision at a time and write nothing before final confirmation. See the guided setup guide.

Create and advance daily work without assembling long commands:

agora work start
agora continue
agora work finish

work start selects a ready swarm and compatible assigned actor, collects acceptance criteria one at a time, and writes only after review. continue previews one bounded action. At a human boundary it lets the role holder act directly, use a capability-compatible AI executor without surrendering the role, or create a formal handoff when responsibility truly changes. work finish reviews criteria, artifacts, evidence, Git policy, and approvals before recording explicit acceptance and the Method Pack completion transition. The declarative commands remain the stable automation surface.

Start a governed project

Adopt an existing repository

Run the read-only adoption preflight, then create the governed feature branch and workspace:

cd existing-service
agora adopt --check --id payment-idempotency --base main
agora quickstart \
  --id payment-idempotency \
  --base main \
  --objective "Deliver payment idempotency"

The preflight checks repository state, branch safety, runtime availability, reserved identities, existing Agora state, and ignore rules. Quickstart is transactional: if a later step fails, Agora rolls back the branch and state it created.

The executable existing-codebase pilot demonstrates this path without requiring an LLM account or network service.

Start in a new repository

mkdir my-project
cd my-project
git init
agora quickstart --objective "Ship the first increment"

Quickstart initializes the protocol, registers a human and an AI actor, creates a swarm, assigns the roles required by the active Method Pack, and writes the selected environment adapter.

Add --secure to generate an external Ed25519 keypair for each quickstart actor and require signed authentication:

agora quickstart --objective "Ship the first increment" --secure

Private keys remain outside Agora. Only public identity, rotation or revocation history, and signed verification evidence become durable protocol records.

What Agora creates

Agora installs operational Markdown rather than a hidden database:

<project>/
├── .agora/
│   ├── project.md              # Effective project configuration
│   ├── constitution.md         # Project principles and restrictions
│   ├── PROTOCOL.md             # Collaboration protocol
│   ├── STANDARDS.md            # Cross-actor engineering standards
│   ├── PACKS.lock.md           # Deterministic pack composition
│   ├── methods/                # Roles, transitions, gates, and policy
│   ├── actors/                 # Actor identity and public-key history
│   ├── swarms/                 # Work state and usage ledgers
│   ├── actions/                # Prepared and applied mutations
│   ├── artifacts/              # Governed artifact references
│   ├── sessions/               # Resolved execution context
│   └── tool-runs/              # External invocation requests and results
└── .agents/ or .claude/        # Environment-specific command projection

The repository ships the sources for these files under packs/. Actor, swarm, action, work, evidence, and Tool Run records are created dynamically as work progresses. The artifact location reference maps distribution sources to their materialized project paths.

Choose a workflow

The active Method Pack defines the lifecycle, not the CLI core.

Bundled method	Best fit	Governs
spec-driven	Feature work that needs explicit intent before implementation	Clarification, specification, planning, implementation, validation
scrum	Time-boxed delivery with accountable product and facilitation roles	Backlog, sprint flow, review, acceptance, increment evidence
kanban	Continuous pull-based delivery	Queue policy, WIP limits, review, service acceptance

Teams can author and install a custom Method Pack for another process without changing Agora's kernel. Start with the Method Pack reference and the custom lifecycle sample.

Choose an agent environment

agora configure --integration codex
agora configure --integration claude
agora configure --integration generic --provider internal --model reviewed-model

Integration	Execution model
codex	Materializes portable commands for the installed Codex CLI
claude	Materializes the same protocol for the installed Claude CLI
generic	Uses an explicit structured runner supplied at launch time by the team

The configured model and provider are project or user choices. Agora governs the resulting work; it does not embed provider credentials or an LLM client in its core. See LLM environments. Generic sessions accept the runner explicitly, for example agora run --runner "company-agent run" --launch.

Run the daily loop

sequenceDiagram
    participant O as Role holder
    participant A as Agora
    participant F as Filesystem and Git
    participant X as External runtime or tool

    O->>A: Inspect next authorized action
    A->>F: Resolve method, role, work, and evidence
    A-->>O: Return bounded action and context
    O->>X: Perform or launch governed work
    X-->>A: Submit result and evidence
    A->>F: Validate and persist transition
    O->>F: Review and commit durable records

Use the guided controller for one reviewed action at a time. The explicit controller remains available for bounded automation:

agora continue
agora work finish
agora next
agora run --until-blocked --max-steps 10
agora inbox
agora validate
git status --short

Every lifecycle mutation is checked against the active Method Pack at the time it is applied. In authenticated projects, mutations use prepared ACTION.md intents whose signatures bind the actor, operation, work preconditions, and materialized session context.

The operational loop guide covers stopping, resuming, human handoffs, and durable failure recovery.

Ecosystem integrations

Agora separates stable capabilities from provider-specific translation:

• Provider-neutral Tool Packs cover repositories, code review, work management, CI/CD, releases, repository governance, security scanning, documentation, cloud infrastructure, observability, and portfolio management.
• Reviewed CLI adapters currently cover the GitHub and GitLab delivery ecosystems, Jira, Confluence, Terraform, and read-only AWS and Google Cloud inventory.
• Native CLIs are preferred when they are installed, version-compatible, and non-interactive. MCP remains an explicit alternative transport rather than an implicit dependency.

flowchart TD
    W[Governed work] --> P[Provider-neutral operation]
    P --> A[Reviewed adapter]
    A --> V{CLI version and<br/>capability valid?}
    V -- no --> B[Block with durable reason]
    V -- yes --> Q[Prepared structured command]
    Q --> R[Bounded external runner]
    R --> E[Redacted result and evidence]
    E --> D[Durable Tool Run]

Adapter commands are structured and shell-free, contain no credentials, and have explicit timeout and captured-output limits. Write or destructive capabilities such as merge, deployment, release publication, infrastructure apply, and incident resolution remain opt-in and policy-controlled.

See the GitHub ecosystem guide, CLI-first adapter guide, and Tool Pack reference.

Security model

Agora enforces governance at the protocol boundary while leaving operating-system isolation and credential custody to the execution environment:

• Actor private keys and provider credentials are never stored by Agora.
• Public-key rotation and revocation history remain auditable.
• Authenticated changes are prepared, signed externally, verified, and revalidated before apply.
• Tool permissions are bounded by actor capability, role, Method Pack policy, evidence, and explicit approvals.
• Tool Sync is read-only and explicit; Agora performs no background reconciliation.
• Containers or external runners provide filesystem, network, syscall, and resource isolation.

Read Actor authentication, Signed lifecycle actions, and Execution boundaries before enabling authenticated or write-capable integrations.

Verify Agora

Run the installed role harness:

agora self-test

Run the repository's complete verification pipeline:

uv sync --extra dev
uv run python scripts/verify_all.py

The verifier formats and lints Python, runs unit and failure-path tests, validates documentation links and packaging, exercises the role harness, discovers and runs every executable sample, and builds the distribution. CI repeats the supported Python-version matrix and the complete verifier.

For focused commands and expected output, see Complete verification and Role conformance test harness.

Current boundaries

Agora deliberately does not claim that governance files alone make arbitrary agent output safe or correct. Teams remain responsible for reviewing their Method Packs, custom runners, external tool authority, product evidence, and infrastructure isolation.

During the alpha series:

• CLI and Markdown schemas may change with explicit migrations.
• Custom Method and Tool Packs need organization-specific conformance and failure-path tests.
• Provider behavior outside a reviewed adapter's exact operation subset is unsupported.
• Production authorization should use organization-managed identities and keys, not quickstart credentials.
• External systems remain sources of operational state; Agora persists their verified references and evidence rather than silently mirroring them.

Documentation

Start with:

• Visual adoption guide
• Quickstart guide
• Getting started
• Installation and customization

Understand the model:

• Architecture
• Domain model
• Documentation and artifact locations
• Full documentation index

Operate and extend it:

• Operations and validation
• Project upgrades
• Method Pack reference
• Tool Pack reference
• Pack registries and trust

Executable scenarios live under samples/. They are part of the verification suite and show the protocol working without requiring live provider credentials.

Development

uv sync --extra dev
uv run python scripts/verify_all.py

Contributions must preserve Agora's language, model, provider, and process independence; keep the protocol Markdown-first; and use Conventional Commits. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

Agora is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.