nl-protocol 1.0.0a1

Reference implementation of the Never-Leak Protocol for AI agent secret governance

NL Protocol -- Python Reference Implementation

The canonical reference implementation of the Never-Leak Protocol -- an open standard for AI agent secret governance.

"Agents request actions, not secrets."

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What is the NL Protocol?

The Never-Leak Protocol (NL Protocol) defines a layered security architecture for AI agent systems that need to interact with secrets -- API keys, database credentials, tokens, certificates -- without ever exposing those secrets to the agents themselves.

In traditional integrations, secrets are passed directly to agents as environment variables, configuration files, or tool arguments. This creates a fundamental risk: any agent that can read a secret can also exfiltrate it, whether through prompt injection, model hallucination, or compromised tool code. The NL Protocol eliminates this attack surface entirely.

Instead of receiving secrets, agents submit action requests that contain opaque placeholders ({{nl:api/DEPLOY_TOKEN}}). An NL-compliant provider resolves these placeholders inside an isolated execution boundary, runs the action, sanitizes the output, and returns only the result. The agent never sees the secret value at any point in the pipeline.

The protocol is organized into 7 security levels, from agent identity verification through cross-agent delegation, plus a wire protocol layer for transport. Each level can be adopted incrementally, allowing teams to start with basic access control and progressively harden their deployments.

Quick Start

Installation

pip install nl-protocol

With optional extras:

pip install nl-protocol[re2]    # RE2 pattern engine for deny rules
pip install nl-protocol[http]   # HTTP transport support
pip install nl-protocol[all]    # All optional dependencies

Minimal Example

import asyncio
import uuid
from datetime import UTC, datetime, timedelta

from nl_protocol import NLProvider, NLProviderConfig
from nl_protocol.core.interfaces import (
    InMemoryAgentRegistry,
    InMemoryAuditStore,
    InMemorySecretStore,
    InMemoryScopeGrantStore,
)
from nl_protocol.core.types import (
    AID, ActionPayload, ActionRequest, ActionType,
    AgentURI, ScopeConditions, ScopeGrant, SecretRef,
    SecretValue, TrustLevel,
)

async def main() -> None:
    # 1. Create the provider with in-memory stores
    secret_store = InMemorySecretStore()
    provider = NLProvider(
        config=NLProviderConfig(provider_id="my-provider"),
        secret_store=secret_store,
        agent_registry=InMemoryAgentRegistry(),
        scope_grant_store=InMemoryScopeGrantStore(),
        audit_store=InMemoryAuditStore(),
    )

    # 2. Register an agent
    agent_uri = AgentURI("nl://acme/web-deployer/1.0.0")
    aid = AID(
        agent_uri=agent_uri,
        display_name="ACME Web Deployer",
        vendor="acme",
        version="1.0.0",
        scope=["api/*"],
        trust_level=TrustLevel.L1,
        capabilities=[ActionType.HTTP],
        expires_at=datetime.now(UTC) + timedelta(days=365),
    )
    await provider.register_agent(aid)

    # 3. Add a secret (admin-only, out-of-band)
    secret_store.put(
        SecretRef("api/DEPLOY_TOKEN"),
        SecretValue("sk-live-abc123-NEVER-SHOWN-TO-AGENTS"),
    )

    # 4. Create a scope grant
    grant = ScopeGrant(
        grant_id=str(uuid.uuid4()),
        agent_uri=agent_uri,
        secret="api/*",
        actions=[ActionType.HTTP],
        conditions=ScopeConditions(
            valid_until=datetime.now(UTC) + timedelta(hours=8),
            max_uses=50,
        ),
    )
    await provider.create_scope_grant(grant)

    # 5. Process an action request
    request = ActionRequest(
        agent_uri=agent_uri,
        action=ActionPayload(
            type=ActionType.HTTP,
            template="curl -H 'Authorization: Bearer {{nl:api/DEPLOY_TOKEN}}' https://api.example.com/deploy",
            purpose="Trigger production deployment",
            timeout=30,
        ),
    )
    response = await provider.process_action(request)

    print(f"Status: {response.status}")
    # The agent never saw the secret value.

asyncio.run(main())

Architecture

Package Structure

nl_protocol/
    __init__.py              # Public API re-exports
    provider.py              # NLProvider -- main orchestrator
    core/
        types.py             # AID, ScopeGrant, ActionRequest, SecretValue, ...
        errors.py            # NLProtocolError hierarchy (40+ error codes)
        config.py            # NLProviderConfig
        interfaces.py        # Protocol classes + InMemory* implementations
    identity/                # Level 1: Agent Identity
        aid.py               # AIDManager
        lifecycle.py         # LifecycleManager
        trust_levels.py      # TrustLevelManager
        attestation.py       # AttestationService (JWT ES256/EdDSA)
    access/                  # Level 2: Action-Based Access
        scope_grants.py      # ScopeEvaluator
        placeholders.py      # PlaceholderResolver ({{nl:...}})
        policy.py            # PolicyEvaluator (5-step evaluation)
        sanitization.py      # OutputSanitizer
        actions.py           # ActionValidator
    isolation/               # Level 3: Execution Isolation
        subprocess.py        # IsolatedExecutor
        environment.py       # EnvironmentManager (env var injection)
        memory.py            # SecureMemory (memory wipe)
        sandbox.py           # SandboxConfig, ResourceLimits
    defense/                 # Level 4: Pre-Execution Defense
        deny_rules.py        # DenyRuleEngine (25+ built-in rules)
        pattern_engine.py    # PatternEngine (RE2 support)
        validation.py        # CommandValidator, evasion detection
    audit/                   # Level 5: Audit Integrity
        chain.py             # ChainManager (SHA-256 hash chain)
        hmac.py              # HMAC-SHA256 signing
        records.py           # Record creation, canonical JSON (RFC 8785)
        verification.py      # Chain verification, fork detection
        migration.py         # Chain migration utilities
    detection/               # Level 6: Attack Detection
        threat_scoring.py    # ThreatScorer (T1-T11 threat types)
        behavioral.py        # BehavioralBaseline (EWMA)
        honeypot.py          # HoneypotManager
        response.py          # ResponseEngine (automated response actions)
    federation/              # Level 7: Cross-Agent Trust
        delegation.py        # DelegationManager
        verification.py      # DelegationVerifier (8-step verification)
        cascade.py           # CascadeEngine (cascade revocation)
        nonce.py             # NonceManager (replay prevention)
        token_binding.py     # TokenBinding
    wire/                    # Level 8: Wire Protocol
        messages.py          # MessageEnvelope, parse/serialize
        ndjson.py            # NDJSONReader, NDJSONWriter, StdioTransport
        http.py              # HTTPTransport
        discovery.py         # Service discovery (DiscoveryDocument)

The 7 Security Levels

Level	Name	Module	Key Components	Purpose
1	Agent Identity	identity	AIDManager, AttestationService, TrustLevelManager	AID lifecycle, trust levels (L0-L3), JWT attestation (ES256, EdDSA)
2	Action-Based Access	access	ScopeEvaluator, PlaceholderResolver, PolicyEvaluator	Scope grants, {{nl:...}} placeholders, 5-step policy evaluation
3	Execution Isolation	isolation	IsolatedExecutor, EnvironmentManager, SecureMemory	Subprocess env injection, memory wipe, timeout enforcement
4	Pre-Execution Defense	defense	DenyRuleEngine, PatternEngine, CommandValidator	25+ deny rules, RE2 pattern matching, unicode evasion detection
5	Audit Integrity	audit	ChainManager, sign_record, verify_chain	SHA-256 hash chain, HMAC-SHA256 signing, canonical JSON (RFC 8785)
6	Attack Detection	detection	ThreatScorer, BehavioralBaseline, HoneypotManager	T1-T11 threat scoring, EWMA behavioral baseline, honeypot secrets
7	Cross-Agent Trust	federation	DelegationManager, DelegationVerifier, CascadeEngine	Delegation tokens, subset rule, 8-step verification, cascade revocation
8	Wire Protocol	wire	StdioTransport, HTTPTransport, DiscoveryDocument	NDJSON stdio, HTTP transport, service discovery

Usage

Setting Up the Provider

The NLProvider is the main entry point. It composes all level-specific components and routes action requests through the pipeline.

from nl_protocol import NLProvider, NLProviderConfig
from nl_protocol.core.interfaces import (
    InMemoryAgentRegistry,
    InMemoryAuditStore,
    InMemorySecretStore,
    InMemoryScopeGrantStore,
    InMemoryNonceStore,
    InMemoryDelegationStore,
)

provider = NLProvider(
    config=NLProviderConfig(
        provider_id="production-provider",
        supported_levels=[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7],
        default_action_timeout=30,
        audit_fail_closed=True,
    ),
    secret_store=InMemorySecretStore(),        # Replace with your backend
    agent_registry=InMemoryAgentRegistry(),     # Replace with your backend
    scope_grant_store=InMemoryScopeGrantStore(),# Replace with your backend
    audit_store=InMemoryAuditStore(),           # Optional: Level 5
    nonce_store=InMemoryNonceStore(),           # Optional: replay prevention
    delegation_store=InMemoryDelegationStore(), # Optional: Level 7
)

Working with Scope Grants

Scope grants bind agents to permitted secrets and actions. They support glob patterns, time windows, and use limits.

from nl_protocol.core.types import (
    ActionType, AgentURI, ScopeConditions, ScopeGrant,
)

grant = ScopeGrant(
    grant_id="grant-001",
    agent_uri=AgentURI("nl://acme/deployer/1.0.0"),
    secret="production/db/*",       # Glob pattern
    actions=[ActionType.EXEC, ActionType.TEMPLATE],
    conditions=ScopeConditions(
        valid_from=datetime.now(UTC),
        valid_until=datetime.now(UTC) + timedelta(hours=4),
        max_uses=100,
    ),
)
await provider.create_scope_grant(grant)

# Revoke when no longer needed
await provider.revoke_scope_grant("grant-001")

Processing Actions

Agents submit action requests with opaque {{nl:...}} placeholders. The provider resolves secrets, executes the action, and returns a sanitized result.

from nl_protocol.core.types import (
    ActionPayload, ActionRequest, ActionType, AgentURI,
)

request = ActionRequest(
    agent_uri=AgentURI("nl://acme/deployer/1.0.0"),
    action=ActionPayload(
        type=ActionType.EXEC,
        template="psql -U admin -d mydb -c 'SELECT 1' --password={{nl:production/db/PASSWORD}}",
        purpose="Health check on production database",
        timeout=15,
    ),
)
response = await provider.process_action(request)

if response.status == "success":
    print(response.result.stdout)
elif response.status == "denied":
    print(f"Denied: [{response.error.code}] {response.error.message}")
elif response.status == "error":
    print(f"Error: [{response.error.code}] {response.error.message}")

# Every response includes an audit reference
if response.audit_ref:
    print(f"Audit ref: {response.audit_ref}")

Audit Chain

The audit system produces a tamper-evident hash chain. Each record includes the SHA-256 hash of the previous record and an optional HMAC signature.

from nl_protocol.audit import (
    ChainManager,
    create_audit_record,
    compute_hash,
    sign_record,
    verify_chain,
)

# Records are created automatically by the provider pipeline.
# For manual chain verification:
chain = await audit_store.get_chain(limit=100)
result = verify_chain(chain)
print(f"Chain valid: {result.valid}")
print(f"Records verified: {result.records_checked}")

Configuration

NLProviderConfig controls all tunable parameters. Every field has a sensible default, so a minimal configuration requires only provider_id.

Field	Type	Default	Description
provider_id	str	(required)	Unique identifier for this NL Provider instance
supported_levels	list[int]	[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]	NL Protocol levels implemented by this provider
max_delegation_depth	int	3	Maximum allowed re-delegation depth (Level 7)
default_action_timeout	int	30	Default action timeout in seconds (1-600)
max_output_size	int	10485760	Maximum output size in bytes (10 MiB)
sanitization_timeout_ms	int	500	Max time for output sanitization before withholding
threat_score_decay_per_hour	float	1.0	Points/hour subtracted from cumulative threat score
hmac_key_id	str	"default"	Identifier for the HMAC key used in audit records
clock_drift_tolerance_seconds	int	30	Allowable clock drift for timestamp validation
audit_fail_closed	bool	True	Block actions if the audit subsystem is unavailable
max_message_size_bytes	int	1048576	Maximum wire-protocol message size (1 MiB)
idempotency_window_seconds	int	300	Duration for message-id idempotency enforcement
timestamp_tolerance_seconds	int	300	Max message timestamp deviation from server time
rate_limit_requests_per_minute	int	120	Default per-agent rate limit

Backend Interfaces

The protocol defines six abstract interfaces (Python typing.Protocol classes) for persistence. You provide implementations that match your infrastructure; the library ships in-memory versions for testing and development.

Interface	Purpose	In-Memory Implementation
SecretStore	Secret value resolution	InMemorySecretStore
AgentRegistry	Agent identity persistence	InMemoryAgentRegistry
ScopeGrantStore	Scope grant persistence	InMemoryScopeGrantStore
AuditStore	Append-only audit chain	InMemoryAuditStore
NonceStore	Replay prevention (nonce tracking)	InMemoryNonceStore
DelegationStore	Delegation token storage	InMemoryDelegationStore

All interfaces are decorated with @runtime_checkable, so isinstance checks work at runtime alongside static analysis.

Implementing a Custom Store

from nl_protocol.core.interfaces import SecretStore
from nl_protocol.core.types import SecretRef, SecretValue
from nl_protocol.core.errors import SecretNotFound

class VaultSecretStore:
    """Custom SecretStore backed by HashiCorp Vault."""

    def __init__(self, vault_client):
        self._client = vault_client

    async def get(self, ref: SecretRef) -> SecretValue:
        path = str(ref).replace("/", "/data/")
        result = await self._client.read(f"secret/{path}")
        if result is None:
            raise SecretNotFound(f"Secret not found: {ref}")
        return SecretValue(result["data"]["value"])

    async def exists(self, ref: SecretRef) -> bool:
        path = str(ref).replace("/", "/data/")
        result = await self._client.read(f"secret/{path}")
        return result is not None

    async def list_refs(self) -> list[SecretRef]:
        keys = await self._client.list("secret/metadata")
        return [SecretRef(k) for k in keys]

The custom store can then be passed to NLProvider:

provider = NLProvider(
    config=NLProviderConfig(provider_id="vault-provider"),
    secret_store=VaultSecretStore(vault_client),
    agent_registry=InMemoryAgentRegistry(),
    scope_grant_store=InMemoryScopeGrantStore(),
)

Error Handling

All errors inherit from NLProtocolError and carry a structured error code, HTTP status recommendation, human-readable message, and machine-readable details. Errors are organized into eight categories corresponding to the protocol levels.

Code Range	Category	Class	HTTP Status	Description
NL-E1xx	Authentication	AuthenticationError	401/403	Agent identity, attestation, trust level
NL-E2xx	Authorization	AuthorizationError	403/429	Scope grants, conditions, approval
NL-E3xx	Execution	ExecutionError	400/404/408/500/502	Placeholders, secrets, timeouts, isolation
NL-E4xx	Defense	DefenseError	403	Deny rules, evasion, interceptor failures
NL-E5xx	Audit	AuditError	403/500	Hash chain integrity, write failures
NL-E6xx	Detection	DetectionError	403	Threat score, auto-revocation, honeypots
NL-E7xx	Federation	FederationError	400/403/404/429/502	Delegation, trust domains, subset violations
NL-E8xx	Transport	TransportError	400/409/413/415	Wire protocol, versioning, replay, message format

Catch errors by category:

from nl_protocol.core.errors import AuthorizationError, NLProtocolError

try:
    response = await provider.process_action(request)
except AuthorizationError as exc:
    # Handles NoScopeGrant, ScopeExpired, UseLimitExceeded, etc.
    print(f"[{exc.code}] {exc.message}")
except NLProtocolError as exc:
    # Catch-all for any NL Protocol error
    print(f"[{exc.code}] {exc.message}")

Or look up an error by code:

from nl_protocol.core.errors import error_from_code

exc = error_from_code("NL-E302", "Secret 'db/password' not found")

Conformance Tiers

Implementations may conform at three tiers, each adding levels to the pipeline:

Tier	Levels	Requirements
Basic	L1-L3	Agent identity, action-based access, execution isolation
Standard	L1-L5	Basic + pre-execution defense, audit integrity
Advanced	L1-L7	Standard + attack detection, cross-agent trust

The supported_levels field in NLProviderConfig declares which levels an instance implements. The provider automatically skips pipeline stages for levels not listed.

Development

Prerequisites

• Python >= 3.11
• Hatch (build backend) or pip with editable installs

Setup

git clone https://github.com/braincol/never-leak-protocol.git
cd never-leak-protocol/reference/python
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Running Tests

# Run the full test suite (718 unit + 189 conformance = 907 tests)
pytest

# With coverage
pytest --cov=nl_protocol --cov-report=term-missing

# Run tests for a specific level
pytest tests/test_identity.py      # Level 1
pytest tests/test_access.py        # Level 2
pytest tests/test_isolation.py     # Level 3
pytest tests/test_defense.py       # Level 4
pytest tests/test_audit.py         # Level 5
pytest tests/test_detection.py     # Level 6
pytest tests/test_federation.py    # Level 7
pytest tests/test_wire.py          # Level 8
pytest tests/test_provider.py      # Orchestrator integration

Type Checking

mypy src/nl_protocol --strict

Linting

ruff check src/ tests/
ruff format --check src/ tests/

Implementation Stats

• 49 source files, ~11,100 lines of implementation
• 9 test files, ~9,600 lines of tests
• 907 tests passing (718 unit + 189 conformance)
• 40+ structured error codes (NL-E100 through NL-E806)
• 100% async/await API
• Full Pydantic v2 model validation
• Strict mypy type checking

Links

• Specification: https://neverleakprotocol.org/spec
• Website: https://neverleakprotocol.org
• Repository: https://github.com/braincol/never-leak-protocol
• Package: https://pypi.org/project/nl-protocol/

License

Apache-2.0. See LICENSE for details.

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Built by Braincol -- [e-mail]