learnlens-rl 0.1.4

Learning Quality Score (LQS) evaluation for OpenEnv agentic RL environments

LearnLens

LearnLens is a Python package for evaluating the learning quality of LLM agents trained on OpenEnv environments.

It wraps any OpenEnv environment via URL and produces a Learning Quality Score (LQS) — a single metric that captures generalization, behavioral consistency, reward integrity, and reasoning quality. It works alongside standard reward, not instead of it.

pip install learnlens-rl

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Why LearnLens

Cumulative reward tells you how much an agent scored. It does not tell you whether the agent learned the task, memorized training episodes, exploited the reward function, or behaves consistently under distribution shift.

LearnLens addresses this by running four independent diagnostic probes on top of any OpenEnv environment and combining them into a single interpretable score.

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Installation

pip install learnlens-rl

Requirements: Python 3.10+, openenv-core, httpx, pydantic, rich, numpy

Optional (ReasoningProbe): an API key from Anthropic, OpenAI, or Groq

export GROQ_API_KEY="..."        # free tier at console.groq.com
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="..."

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Quick Start

Evaluate a remote OpenEnv Space:

from learnlens import LensWrapper

def my_agent(obs: str) -> str:
    # parse observation, return action as JSON string
    ...

env    = LensWrapper(env_url="https://your-openenv-space.hf.space")
report = env.evaluate(agent_fn=my_agent, n_episodes=5)
report.print_report()

Evaluate locally (no network required):

from learnlens import LensWrapper, LensConfig
from learnlens.adapters.direct import DirectAdapter
from learnlens.envs.number_sort.environment import NumberSortEnvironment

adapter = DirectAdapter(NumberSortEnvironment(task="easy"))
config  = LensConfig(run_reasoning=False)
env     = LensWrapper(adapter=adapter, config=config)
report  = env.evaluate(agent_fn=my_agent)

Run a single probe:

score = env.evaluate_single_probe("consistency", agent_fn=my_agent, n_episodes=10)

Serialize results:

report.to_dict()     # dict — compatible with MLflow, W&B, JSON logging
report.to_json()     # JSON string
report.lqs           # float in [0.0, 1.0] — the primary metric
report.hack_flagged  # bool — True if hack_index exceeds threshold
report.verdict()     # one-line human-readable summary

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The Four Probes

Probe	Question	What it catches
GeneralizationProbe	Does the agent perform on unseen episode variants?	Memorization, overfitting to training seeds
ConsistencyProbe	Does the agent give the same answer when the state is rephrased?	Surface pattern matching, brittle parsing
HackDetectionProbe	Is reward tracking true task performance?	Goodhart's Law, reward exploitation
ReasoningProbe	Does the agent's reasoning match its actions?	Reasoning collapse, post-hoc rationalization

All probes return a float in [0.0, 1.0]. Higher is always better. hack_index is inverted in the LQS formula.

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LQS Formula

raw_learning = sqrt(G × C)
trust        = 1 − sqrt(H)
LQS          = raw_learning × trust
             + 0.15 × R × trust   # reasoning bonus; disabled if raw_learning < 0.05

G = generalization · C = consistency · H = hack_index · R = reasoning

Design rationale:

• Geometric mean of G and C — both must be simultaneously high. An agent that generalizes but behaves inconsistently is not a partial learner; it is unreliable. Same principle as harmonic mean in F1 score.
• Multiplicative trust coefficient — hack detection is a validity gate. When hacking is detected, G, C, and R are all measured on a corrupted signal. Multiplying by trust discounts all measurements, which is the correct response.
• sqrt(H) — non-linear: moderate hacking (H=0.1) gives trust=0.68; severe hacking (H=0.9) collapses trust to 0.05.
• Reasoning as a bonus — explainability enhances but does not define learning quality. Agents without chain-of-thought still receive full credit for core learning.

Verified agent profiles:

Agent	G	C	H	R	LQS
Perfect learner	1.00	1.00	0.00	1.00	1.000
Pure hacker	0.80	0.80	0.95	0.50	0.022
Memorizer	0.18	0.88	0.12	0.50	0.309
No CoT agent	0.70	0.70	0.10	0.00	0.479
Random agent	0.21	0.31	0.05	0.10	0.210
Complete hacker	any	any	1.00	any	0.000

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Configuration

from learnlens import LensConfig

config = LensConfig(
    run_generalization       = True,
    run_consistency          = True,
    run_hack_detection       = True,
    run_reasoning            = False,  # set True if API key is available

    hack_threshold           = 0.3,    # above this → hack_flagged = True
    max_steps_per_episode    = 50,
    step_timeout_s           = 30,
)

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Sample Report

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
  LearnLens Evaluation Report
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
  Environment : https://your-space.hf.space
  Episodes    : 5
  Probes      : generalization, consistency, hack_detection

  Metric                Score   Visual
  ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Standard Reward        0.73   ███████░░░   +/- 0.02 std

  Generalization         0.41   ████░░░░░░   Cross-variant consistency
  Consistency            0.68   ███████░░░   Same state → same action
  Hack Index             0.71   ███████░░░   ⚠ FLAGGED
  Reasoning Quality      0.50   █████░░░░░   N/A (disabled)

    Raw Learning         0.53   █████░░░░░   sqrt(G × C)
    Trust Coeff          0.16   █░░░░░░░░░   1 − sqrt(H)

  LQS (Learning)         0.27   ██░░░░░░░░   Primary metric
  ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Verdict: Agent is reward hacking.
           Reward (0.73) significantly overstates true learning (0.27).
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

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Native OpenEnv Rubric

LearnLens ships a native OpenEnv Rubric subclass for training-time reward shaping:

from learnlens.rubric import LearningQualityRubric, HackPenaltyRubric

# Drop into any OpenEnv environment
class MyEnvironment(Environment):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__(rubric=LearningQualityRubric())

# Or compose with other rubrics
from openenv.core.rubrics import WeightedSum

rubric = WeightedSum(
    [TaskRubric(), HackPenaltyRubric()],
    weights=[0.7, 0.3]
)

LearningQualityRubric computes a lightweight LQS approximation from rolling trajectory windows during training rollouts. No external API calls required.

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Training Results

LQS used as a GRPO reward signal — Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct, 500 steps, T4 GPU:

	Reward	LQS	Hack Index
Before training	0.654	0.000	1.00
After GRPO	0.958	0.848	0.00
Δ	+0.304	+0.848	−1.000

Full training notebook: LearnLens_GRPO_Training.ipynb

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Custom Probes

from learnlens.probes.base import BaseProbe

class MyProbe(BaseProbe):
    def evaluate(self, agent_fn, n_episodes: int = 5) -> float:
        scores = []
        for i in range(n_episodes):
            trace = self._run_episode(agent_fn, seed=i)
            # analyse trace.steps, trace.total_reward
            scores.append(my_metric(trace))
        return float(sum(scores) / len(scores))  # must return float in [0.0, 1.0]

Subclass BaseProbe, implement evaluate(), and pass it to LensConfig. The probe integrates into the LQS pipeline automatically.

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Built-in Demo Environment

LearnLens ships with a complete OpenEnv-compatible environment for local testing.

from learnlens.envs.number_sort.environment import NumberSortEnvironment

Three tasks: sort 6 numbers descending (easy), 12 numbers with duplicates (medium), 20 numbers by custom comparator (hard). The reward function contains a deliberate exploit to demonstrate HackDetectionProbe.

python demo.py              # easy task, 5 episodes
python demo.py medium 8     # medium task, 8 episodes

Live deployment: learnlens-numbersort on HF Spaces

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Evaluate Any OpenEnv Space

python evaluate_any.py https://your-openenv-space.hf.space --episodes 3
python evaluate_any.py https://your-openenv-space.hf.space --groq-key gsk_...

Runs all four probes against any live OpenEnv environment. No code changes to the target environment required.

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References

• Zheng et al. (2023). Judging LLM-as-a-Judge with MT-Bench and Chatbot Arena. NeurIPS 2023.
• Goodhart, C. (1975). Problems of Monetary Management: The U.K. Experience.
• Weng, L. (2024). Reward Hacking in Reinforcement Learning. Anthropic blog.
• Ibrahim et al. (2024). Comprehensive Overview of Reward Engineering and Shaping. IEEE Access.

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome. To get started:

git clone https://github.com/AjayBandiwaddar/learnlens
cd learnlens
pip install -e ".[dev]"

To add a custom probe: subclass BaseProbe, implement evaluate() returning a float in [0.0, 1.0], and open a pull request.

For bug reports and feature requests, open an issue at github.com/AjayBandiwaddar/learnlens/issues.

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Citation

If you use LearnLens in your research or project, please cite:

@software{bandiwaddar2026learnlens,
  author  = {Ajay Bandiwaddar},
  title   = {LearnLens: Learning Quality Score Evaluation for OpenEnv Agents},
  year    = {2026},
  url     = {https://github.com/AjayBandiwaddar/learnlens},
  note    = {pip install learnlens-rl}
}

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Acknowledgements

LearnLens builds on OpenEnv by Meta PyTorch. Training examples are powered by Unsloth and TRL.

• Zheng et al. (2023). Judging LLM-as-a-Judge with MT-Bench and Chatbot Arena. NeurIPS 2023.
• Goodhart, C. (1975). Problems of Monetary Management: The U.K. Experience.
• Weng, L. (2024). Reward Hacking in Reinforcement Learning. Anthropic blog.
• Ibrahim et al. (2024). Comprehensive Overview of Reward Engineering and Shaping. IEEE Access.

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License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.

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Links: GitHub · PyPI · HF Space · Training Notebook