pap-protocol 0.8.3

Python SDK for the Principal Agent Protocol (PAP)

pap — Python SDK for the Principal Agent Protocol

pip install pap-protocol

Python bindings (via PyO3) for the Principal Agent Protocol (PAP) — a cryptographic delegation framework that gives AI agents a verifiable chain of authority back to a human principal.

Quick start

import datetime
from pap import (
    PrincipalKeypair, SessionKeypair,
    Scope, ScopeAction, DisclosureSet,
    Mandate, MandateChain,
    PapSignatureError, PapScopeError,
)

# 1. Generate the principal's root keypair (store securely — this is your identity)
principal = PrincipalKeypair.generate()
print(principal.did())  # did:key:z6Mk...

# 2. Define what the agent is allowed to do
scope = Scope([ScopeAction("schema:SearchAction")])
ds = DisclosureSet.empty()

# 3. Issue and sign a root mandate
ttl = (datetime.datetime.now(datetime.timezone.utc) + datetime.timedelta(hours=1)).isoformat()
mandate = Mandate.issue_root(principal.did(), "did:key:zagent", scope, ds, ttl)
mandate.sign(principal)

# 4. Verify (raises PapSignatureError on failure)
try:
    mandate.verify_with_keypair(principal)
    print("mandate verified ✓")
except PapSignatureError as e:
    print(f"invalid signature: {e}")

# 5. Delegate to a sub-agent (scope must be ⊆ parent)
agent_key = SessionKeypair.generate()
child = mandate.delegate(agent_key.did(), scope, ds, ttl)
child.sign_with_session_key(agent_key)

chain = MandateChain(mandate)
chain.push(child)
chain.verify_chain([principal, agent_key])  # accepts mixed keypair types
print(f"chain depth: {len(chain)}")

Exception hierarchy

All PAP errors inherit from PapError:

Exception	Raised when
PapSignatureError	Signature missing, invalid, or tampered
PapScopeError	Delegation exceeds parent scope or TTL
PapSessionError	Invalid state transition or nonce replay
PapTransportError	HTTP connection failure or bad server response

Installation

From PyPI (recommended)

pip install pap-protocol

Pre-built wheels are available for:

• Linux x86_64 (glibc 2.28+)
• Linux x86_64 (musl, for Alpine)
• Linux aarch64 (glibc 2.28+)
• macOS (universal2: x86_64 + Apple Silicon)
• Windows x86_64

The package uses the Python Stable ABI (abi3), so a single wheel works across Python 3.8–3.13+.

From source

cd crates/pap-python
pip install maturin
maturin develop          # development install in current Python env
maturin build --release  # produce a distributable wheel

Or use the build script:

./crates/pap-python/scripts/build-wheels.sh
pip install crates/pap-python/dist/*.whl

Requires Rust 1.75+ and Python 3.8+.

Publishing

Releases are automated via GitHub Actions. To publish a new version:

1. Update version in pyproject.toml
2. Update CHANGELOG.md
3. Commit, then tag and push:

   git tag python-v0.1.0
   git push origin python-v0.1.0
   

The workflow builds wheels for all platforms and publishes to PyPI via OIDC trusted publishing. See .github/workflows/release-python.yml for details.