macp-sdk-python

Python SDK for the MACP Rust runtime.

What this package does

• Connects to the Rust runtime over gRPC
• Provides typed session helpers for all 5 standard coordination modes
• Maintains in-process projections for local state tracking
• Supports envelope builders, retry helpers, and structured logging

Important runtime boundary

This SDK calls the Rust runtime. The runtime does not call into this Python package. If you need runtime-driven business logic, run a Python agent/orchestrator as a separate process and let it communicate with the runtime over MACP transport.

Install

pip install macp-sdk-python

Requires Python >= 3.11 (requires-python in pyproject.toml); CI runs the unit suite on Python 3.11, 3.12 and 3.13.

Quick start

1. Start a local runtime

docker run -p 50051:50051 -e MACP_ALLOW_INSECURE=1 -e MACP_MEMORY_ONLY=1 ghcr.io/multiagentcoordinationprotocol/macp-runtime:0.9.0

This is the runtime image CI pins. MACP_ALLOW_INSECURE=1 permits plaintext and dev-agent auth (local development only); MACP_MEMORY_ONLY=1 skips on-disk persistence. Since runtime v0.5.0, a runtime with no authentication configured (MACP_AUTH_TOKENS_* / MACP_AUTH_ISSUER unset) refuses to start unless MACP_ALLOW_INSECURE=1 is set, and the image does not bake it in.

2. Connect

Local dev (the runtime above)

from macp_sdk import AuthConfig, DecisionSession, MacpClient

client = MacpClient(
    target="127.0.0.1:50051",
    allow_insecure=True,                                # dev only
    auth=AuthConfig.for_dev_agent("coordinator"),
)

Dev-agent auth rides the standard Authorization: Bearer header — the runtime's dev_authenticate fallback binds the token value verbatim as the sender.

Production (Bearer + TLS)

from macp_sdk import AuthConfig, DecisionSession, MacpClient

# TLS is the default; Bearer + expected_sender binds the session to this identity.
client = MacpClient(
    target="runtime.example.com:50051",
    auth=AuthConfig.for_bearer("tok-coord", expected_sender="coordinator"),
)

3. Drive a decision

session = DecisionSession(client)
session.start(
    intent="pick a deployment plan",
    participants=["coordinator", "alice", "bob"],
    ttl_ms=60_000,
)
session.propose("p1", "deploy v2.1", rationale="tests passed")
session.evaluate(
    "p1", "approve", confidence=0.94, reason="low risk",
    sender="alice", auth=AuthConfig.for_dev_agent("alice"),
)
session.vote(
    "p1", "approve", reason="ship it",
    sender="bob", auth=AuthConfig.for_dev_agent("bob"),
)

winner = session.decision_projection.majority_winner()
if winner and not session.decision_projection.has_blocking_objection(winner):
    session.commit(
        action="deployment.approved",
        authority_scope="release-management",
        reason=f"winner={winner}",
    )

4. Async (asyncio)

AsyncMacpClient is a grpc.aio client with the same methods, auth and errors as MacpClient. RPCs and session actions are coroutines, watch_* RPCs are async iterators, and every mode has an Async*Session helper. Here is the quickstart session, async (examples/async_first_session.py):

import asyncio

from macp.v1.envelope_pb2 import SessionState

from macp_sdk import AsyncDecisionSession, AsyncMacpClient, AuthConfig


async def main() -> None:
    async with AsyncMacpClient(
        target="127.0.0.1:50051",
        allow_insecure=True,  # local dev only
        auth=AuthConfig.for_dev_agent("coordinator"),
    ) as client:
        session = AsyncDecisionSession(client)
        await session.start(
            intent="pick a deployment plan",
            participants=["coordinator", "alice", "bob"],
            ttl_ms=60_000,
        )
        await session.propose("p1", "deploy v2.1", rationale="tests passed")
        await session.evaluate(
            "p1", "APPROVE", confidence=0.94, reason="low risk",
            sender="alice", auth=AuthConfig.for_dev_agent("alice"),
        )
        await session.vote(
            "p1", "APPROVE", reason="ship it",
            sender="bob", auth=AuthConfig.for_dev_agent("bob"),
        )

        winner = session.decision_projection.majority_winner()
        await session.commit(
            action="deployment.approved",
            authority_scope="release-management",
            reason=f"winner={winner}",
        )

        meta = (await session.metadata()).metadata
        print("winner:", winner)
        print("state:", SessionState.Name(meta.state), "mode:", meta.mode)


asyncio.run(main())

winner: p1
state: SESSION_STATE_RESOLVED mode: macp.mode.decision.v1

Create the client inside the running loop: grpc.aio channels bind to the loop that is current when they are created. See docs/guides/async.md for streaming, watches and concurrency.

Supported modes

Each standard-mode helper has an asyncio twin (AsyncDecisionSession, AsyncProposalSession, AsyncTaskSession, AsyncHandoffSession, AsyncQuorumSession) for use with AsyncMacpClient.

Multi-round support is codec-only: the MODE_MULTI_ROUND constant, build_contribute_payload(), and ProtoRegistry encode/decode of Contribute (canonical protobuf, with legacy JSON still decoded). There is no session helper or projection — build and send its envelopes with the low-level MacpClient API.

Development

# Setup
make setup              # pip install -e ".[dev,docs]"

# Quality
make lint               # ruff check + ruff format --check
make fmt                # ruff format
make typecheck          # mypy strict
make test               # unit tests + coverage gate (85% branch, from pyproject)
make test-integration   # integration tests (auto-skip without a running runtime)
make test-all           # lint + typecheck + all tests
make coverage           # HTML + terminal coverage report

# Build
make build              # build sdist + wheel, then twine check

# Proto definitions (provided by macp-proto package)
make dev-link-protos    # link local proto package for development

make test-integration-docker starts the same pinned runtime image as the quick start, runs tests/integration/, and cleans up.

Documentation

Full docs available in docs/ — build with mkdocs serve after make setup.

Runtime compatibility

CI runs tests/integration/ against the pinned runtime image on every PR (make test-integration-docker runs the same suite locally). Runtimes older than 0.9.0 are best-effort: the wire stays compatible, but the mode helpers model the 0.9.0 rules (task rule 2a, handoff rule 3a, quorum threshold overrides, Decision casing), so a session on an older runtime may diverge from what the projections predict.

Architecture boundary

This SDK is a thin typed client library. It provides:

• Typed state models and action builders
• Session helpers (propose(), vote(), commit())
• Local state projections (because GetSession returns metadata only)

Business logic — voting rules, AI decision heuristics, policy enforcement — belongs in the orchestrator/agent layer above the SDK.

Known runtime limitations

• GetSession returns metadata only (not mode state/transcript) — hence the local projection pattern; use StreamSession + send_subscribe for the full transcript
• StreamSession is scoped to one session per stream; use MacpStream.send_subscribe(session_id) (RFC-MACP-0006-A1, since SDK 0.2.3 / macp-proto 0.1.2) to replay accepted history before live broadcast
• For cross-session observability, use MacpClient.list_sessions() and SessionLifecycleWatcher (SDK 0.3.0) to enumerate active sessions and stream CREATED / RESOLVED / EXPIRED / CANCELLED / SUSPENDED / RESUMED lifecycle events
• Pause and cancel sessions with MacpClient.suspend_session() / resume_session() / cancel_session() (SDK 0.4.0 / macp-proto 0.1.3). A suspended session is non-terminal and rejects messages until resumed; an accepted cancel_session() now terminates as CANCELLED (previously surfaced as EXPIRED)
• ListRoots currently returns an empty list and WatchRoots idles — the runtime does not yet populate roots
• Business policy (majority, quorum, veto) belongs in your orchestrator/policy layer