nist-agent-passport 0.1.1

Verifiable, identity-rooted delegation tokens for AI agents.

Agent Passport

Verifiable, identity-rooted delegation tokens for AI agents — built on existing standards (OIDC, OAuth 2.0 Token Exchange, JWT, NIST SP 800-63 Vectors of Trust).

Status: v0 alpha. Library, CLI, and three runnable examples work end-to-end against a hermetic mock OIDC provider. Live CSP integration needs your CSP_* configuration in .env.

Why

When a user tells an AI agent "do X on my behalf," there is no standard, verifiable way for a downstream tool, MCP server, or another agent to know:

1. Who the principal is (and how strongly that identity was proofed),
2. What authority the agent was actually granted,
3. For how long the grant is valid,
4. What chain of delegation got us here (user → agent A → agent B → tool C).

Most agent frameworks paper over this with bare API keys. Agent Passport closes the gap with short-lived, scope-bound, NIST-identity-rooted delegation tokens that downstream verifiers check cryptographically — with chain attenuation enforced at issuance and re-checked at verification.

This project is a concrete contribution to the NIST AI Agent Standards Initiative and the related NCCOE Software and AI Agent Identity and Authorization project.

Install

Requires Python 3.11+.

pip install nist-agent-passport

The install registers a nist-agent-passport console script.

For local development (running the test suite, editing source), see CONTRIBUTING.md for the editable-install instructions.

Quickstart

The fastest path to seeing the full loop without any external CSP credentials is to run one of the bundled examples:

python examples/quickstart.py

That script boots an in-process mock OIDC provider, mints an ID token, exchanges it for an Agent Passport (RFC 8693), verifies it against a policy, and demonstrates two typed-error paths. Output is annotated section-by-section.

For real CSP integration, copy .env.example to .env, fill in your sandbox credentials, then drive the CLI:

nist-agent-passport login                                                  # OAuth code + PKCE; browser opens
nist-agent-passport issue \
    --agent-id agent:alice \
    --agent-model claude-opus-4-7 \
    --tool-scope 'flights:*' \
    --task-purpose 'book a flight SFO->JFK' \
    --aud https://my-mcp-server.example.com/ \
    --ttl 900 > passport.jwt

nist-agent-passport inspect < passport.jwt                                 # decode and pretty-print
nist-agent-passport verify --aud https://my-mcp-server.example.com/ \
    --require-ial 2 --required-scope 'flights:book' < passport.jwt

To delegate further (e.g., from agent Alice to agent Bob):

nist-agent-passport delegate \
    --agent-id agent:bob \
    --agent-model claude-opus-4-7 \
    --tool-scope 'flights:book' \
    --aud https://other-svc.example.com/ \
    --ttl 300 < passport.jwt > child.jwt

nist-agent-passport --help lists all subcommands; each has its own --help.

Configure your CSP

Agent Passport works with any OIDC + PKCE provider via a generic CSP_* env-var namespace. Discovery-driven by design (per OIDC Discovery 1.0 / RFC 8414), so only the well-known URL is hardcoded:

Variable	Purpose
CSP_DISCOVERY_URL	Full URL to your CSP's /.well-known/openid-configuration.
CSP_CLIENT_ID	OAuth client identifier for your registered app.
CSP_CLIENT_SECRET	OAuth client secret (omit / leave blank for public clients).
CSP_REDIRECT_URI	Loopback callback URL for the OAuth code flow; RFC 8252 requires http://localhost:<port> or http://127.0.0.1:<port>.
CSP_SCOPES	Space-separated OIDC scopes (e.g. "openid email profile").
CSP_ACR_MAPPING	Which acr → IAL/AAL/FAL mapping to use: ial (default — handles NIST 800-63-3 …/ial/N URIs plus the legacy …/loa/1 and …/loa/3 URIs that some providers still emit), or a Python import path pkg.module:func_name for a custom mapping when your CSP emits ACR URIs outside the built-in set.

For most CSPs, only CSP_DISCOVERY_URL and CSP_CLIENT_ID/SECRET need changing — the built-in ial mapping handles the common URI forms. Custom CSPs slot in via a one-function AcrMapping referenced by Python import path; no library changes needed.

CLI reference

Command	Purpose
login	OAuth Authorization Code + PKCE against the configured CSP (RFC 8252). Stores the ID token under $XDG_DATA_HOME/nist-agent-passport/. --id-token <jwt> skips the OAuth dance for paste-in / scripted use.
issue	Mint a root Passport from the stored ID token. Flags: --agent-id, --agent-model, --tool-scope (repeatable), --task-purpose, --aud, --ttl (default 900s).
verify <token>	Verify against a policy and print the verified claims as JSON. Flags: --aud (required), --require-ial/--require-aal/--require-fal, --required-scope, --issuer (repeatable). Token from arg or stdin.
inspect <token>	Decode (no signature check) and pretty-print every claim, including namespaced agent claims and any chained act.
delegate <parent>	Mint a child Passport from a parent (with attenuated scope). Flags: --agent-id, --agent-model, --aud, --tool-scope (repeatable), --task-purpose, --ttl (default 300s).
where	Print the XDG data directory used for the ID-token store and the local issuer's signing key.

All token args read from stdin when - or absent, so the commands compose:

nist-agent-passport issue ... | nist-agent-passport delegate --aud ... --agent-id ...

Examples

File	What it shows
examples/quickstart.py	The full loop: login → issue → verify, plus two failure-mode demos (AudienceMismatch, IALInsufficient).
examples/multi_agent_chain.py	Alice → Bob → Carol delegation; the leaf service walks the full chain, re-checking attenuation and IAL monotonicity; prints the delegation tree.
examples/mcp_middleware.py	A PassportMiddleware class that wraps a tool dispatcher, enforces per-tool required_scope, and shows defense-in-depth refusal of overbroad and wrong-audience tokens. Drop-in pattern for MCP servers.
examples/langchain_tool_wrapper.py	A PassportProtectedTool shape-compatible with langchain_core.tools.BaseTool. Demonstrates scope enforcement and signature-tamper detection.

Every example runs from a clean checkout against the hermetic in-process mock OIDC provider — no external creds needed:

python examples/quickstart.py
python examples/multi_agent_chain.py
python examples/mcp_middleware.py
python examples/langchain_tool_wrapper.py

Library use

Three primitives compose to cover every use case:

from nist_agent_passport import (
    Issuer, IssuanceRequest, DelegationRequest,
    Verifier, VerificationPolicy, InMemoryKeyStore,
    IDTokenValidator, ial_acr_mapping,
)

• Issuer takes an OIDC-validated identity assertion (via IDTokenValidator + an AcrMapping) and mints signed delegation Passports. issue() for roots; delegate() for children (with issuer-side scope-attenuation enforcement).
• Verifier validates a Passport against a VerificationPolicy: signature, time window with clock-skew tolerance, trusted issuer, audience exact-match, IAL/AAL/FAL floors, wildcard policy, required scope. For chained tokens, verify(token, chain=[...]) walks the chain root-first and re-checks every link.
• IDTokenValidator validates an OIDC ID token against a CSP discovered via /.well-known/openid-configuration (no hardcoded endpoints). ial_acr_mapping is the built-in acr → IAL/AAL/FAL translation; supply your own AcrMapping for CSPs that emit non-standard URIs.

Typed exceptions inherit from AgentPassportError:

• VerificationError branch: InvalidSignature, Expired, NotYetValid, AudienceMismatch, IALInsufficient, ScopeViolation, WildcardScopeNotAllowed, ChainBroken, MalformedClaims, …
• IssuanceError branch: DiscoveryError, JWKSError, UnsupportedAcr, ScopeAttenuationError.

Branch on the type, not the message.

Standards

Agent Passport composes existing standards rather than inventing new ones:

• RFC 7519 — JSON Web Token
• RFC 7515 — JSON Web Signature
• RFC 8693 — OAuth 2.0 Token Exchange (the act claim and nested actor chains)
• RFC 7636 — PKCE
• RFC 8252 — OAuth 2.0 for Native Apps (local-loopback redirect)
• RFC 8485 — Vectors of Trust
• NIST SP 800-63-3 — Digital Identity Guidelines (IAL/AAL/FAL)
• OpenID Connect Core 1.0 and Discovery 1.0

Project layout

nist-agent-passport/
├── pyproject.toml
├── README.md
├── CLAUDE.md                              # full design context
├── .env.example                           # CSP config template
├── src/nist_agent_passport/
│   ├── claims.py                          # Pydantic Passport / AgentClaims / ActClaim
│   ├── issuer.py                          # Issuer, IssuanceRequest, DelegationRequest
│   ├── verifier.py                        # Verifier, VerifiedPassport, chain walking
│   ├── policy.py                          # VerificationPolicy
│   ├── keys.py                            # KeyStore Protocol + InMemoryKeyStore
│   ├── errors.py                          # typed exception hierarchy
│   ├── cli.py                             # Typer-based CLI
│   └── oidc/
│       ├── base.py                        # OIDCClient Protocol, AssuranceLevels, ial_acr_mapping
│       └── validator.py                   # IDTokenValidator (discovery + JWKS)
├── examples/                              # see "Examples" above
└── tests/
    ├── fixtures/mock_oidc/                # in-process OIDC provider for hermetic tests
    └── test_*.py                          # 141+ tests; full coverage of every error path

Versioning & deprecation policy

The project follows Semantic Versioning 2.0.0.

While in 0.y.z (alpha) — any release MAY contain breaking changes. Breaking changes are flagged under ### Changed (breaking) in CHANGELOG.md. Adopters should pin a specific version or version range (e.g. nist-agent-passport>=0.1,<0.2).

Once 1.0.0 ships:

• Breaking changes require a major-version bump (1.x.y → 2.0.0).
• Deprecations are announced at least one minor version before removal — so a feature deprecated in 1.4.0 cannot be removed before 2.0.0, and a feature deprecated in 1.4.0 will continue to work (with a DeprecationWarning) through every 1.x release.
• Security fixes may ship as patch releases on supported versions without notice; see SECURITY.md for the supported-versions table.
• The CHANGELOG's ### Deprecated section is the authoritative list of deprecated APIs and their planned removal versions.

Governance: see GOVERNANCE.md.

Development

pip install -e '.[dev]'

pytest                                     # full suite, hermetic
pytest --cov=nist_agent_passport --cov-report=term-missing
ruff check . && ruff format --check .
mypy                                       # --strict, covers src/ + tests/

The test suite is fully hermetic (the mock OIDC provider runs in-process on a random port) — no creds or network needed.

See CLAUDE.md for the design context behind every decision in this codebase: the trust model, why each RFC is used, security guardrails, and the suggested order of work.

License

Apache-2.0.