smalltask 0.2.0

Define tools and agents as code. Run them anywhere.

smalltask

Define tools and agents as code. Run them anywhere.

pip install smalltask

---

smalltask is a lightweight framework for building scheduled AI agents. Tools are Python functions. Agents are YAML files. Both live in your git repo — diffable, reviewable, auditable.

Bring your own scheduler (Airflow, cron, GitHub Actions). Bring your own LLM (any OpenAI-compatible endpoint).

---

Quickstart

smalltask init                  # scaffold tools/ and agents/
smalltask init --template github   # scaffold GitHub tools + PR digest agent

Then run:

smalltask run agents/example.yaml --var topic="revenue drop" --verbose

---

How it works

Tools are @tool-decorated Python functions. The function is the security boundary — the agent can only do what you explicitly expose.

# tools/orders.py
from smalltask import tool

@tool
def get_order_summary(days: int) -> dict:
    """Return aggregated order stats for the last N days."""
    ...

@tool
def get_top_customers(days: int, limit: int) -> list:
    """Return the top customers by spend in the last N days."""
    ...

Agents are YAML files. They declare the prompt, which tools to use, and which LLM endpoint to call.

# agents/weekly_review.yaml
name: weekly_review
description: Weekly order digest with anomaly detection.

llm:
  url: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions
  model: anthropic/claude-3.5-sonnet
  api_key_env: OPENROUTER_API_KEY

prompt: |
  You are a data analyst reviewing the last 7 days of orders.
  Summarise volume, revenue, refund rate, and top customers.
  Flag anything unusual. Be direct. Use numbers.

tools:
  - orders.get_order_summary
  - orders.get_top_customers

Reference tools as file.function to be explicit and avoid name collisions.

Use $varname in prompts for runtime variables:

prompt: |
  Review orders for the week of $week.
  ...

smalltask run agents/weekly_review.yaml --var week=2024-W01

---

Project structure

your-repo/
├── tools/
│   ├── orders.py       # get_order_summary, get_top_customers, ...
│   ├── github.py       # list_open_prs, get_workflow_runs, ...
│   └── slack.py        # post_message, ...
├── agents/
│   ├── weekly_review.yaml
│   └── github_pr_digest.yaml
└── dags/
    └── weekly_review_dag.py   # optional: Airflow integration

Tools are discovered from the tools/ directory. Agent YAMLs reference them by name.

---

Schedulers

smalltask doesn't own scheduling — it drops into whatever you already have.

GitHub Actions

The fastest way to get a scheduled agent running. No infrastructure required.

# .github/workflows/weekly_review.yml
name: Weekly order review

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 9 * * 1'   # every Monday at 9am UTC
  workflow_dispatch:        # also allow manual runs from the GitHub UI

jobs:
  run:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: "3.11"

      - run: pip install smalltask

      - run: smalltask run agents/weekly_review.yaml --var week=$(date +%Y-W%V)
        env:
          OPENROUTER_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.OPENROUTER_API_KEY }}

Store your API key under Settings → Secrets → Actions in the GitHub repo.

Cron

# crontab -e
0 9 * * 1 cd /path/to/repo && smalltask run agents/weekly_review.yaml --var week=$(date +\%Y-W\%V) >> /var/log/smalltask.log 2>&1

Airflow

from airflow.operators.python import PythonOperator
from smalltask.runner import run_agent
from pathlib import Path

PythonOperator(
    task_id="weekly_review",
    python_callable=run_agent,
    op_kwargs={
        "agent_path": Path("agents/weekly_review.yaml"),
        "input_vars": {"week": "{{ ds }}"},
    },
)

Python

from smalltask.runner import run_agent
from pathlib import Path

result = run_agent(
    agent_path=Path("agents/weekly_review.yaml"),
    input_vars={"week": "2024-W01"},
)

---

Agent YAML reference

Field	Required	Description
name	yes	Agent identifier
description	no	Human-readable description
prompt	yes	System prompt. Supports $var interpolation.
tools	yes	List of tool names (file.function or bare function)
llm.url	yes	OpenAI-compatible endpoint URL
llm.model	yes	Model identifier
llm.api_key_env	no	Name of env var holding the API key
llm.max_tokens	no	Max tokens per LLM call (default: 4096)
llm.timeout	no	HTTP timeout in seconds (default: 120)
llm.extra_headers	no	Additional HTTP headers (e.g. HTTP-Referer)
max_iterations	no	Max agentic loop iterations (default: 20)
max_total_tokens	no	Token budget across all iterations — stops early if exceeded (default: no limit)
pre_hook	no	List of tool calls to run before the LLM loop (see Hooks)
post_hook	no	List of tool calls to run after the LLM loop (see Hooks)

---

Hooks

Hooks let you run deterministic tool calls before and after the LLM loop. They use the same tools you already have — no new concepts.

name: metrics_alert
prompt: |
  Analyze the attached metrics. Flag anomalies. Be direct.

llm:
  url: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions
  model: anthropic/claude-3.5-sonnet
  api_key_env: OPENROUTER_API_KEY

tools:
  - analysis.plot_revenue
  - analysis.get_summary

pre_hook:
  - analysis.snapshot_metrics:
      days: 7
  - analysis.check_threshold:
      metric: error_rate
      max: 0.05

post_hook:
  - reporting.upload_charts
  - reporting.send_slack_report:
      channel: "#alerts"

Pre-hooks

Pre-hooks run sequentially before the LLM. Their results are injected into the prompt so the LLM can see the data.

Each entry is a tool name with optional args:

pre_hook:
  - orders.get_summary:
      days: 7
  - orders.check_threshold:
      metric: refund_rate
      max: 0.05

Skip gate — if a pre-hook returns {"skip": True}, the agent stops immediately without calling the LLM. Use this to avoid wasting tokens when there's nothing to act on:

@tool
def check_threshold(metric: str, max: float) -> dict:
    """Only run the agent if a metric exceeds a threshold."""
    value = get_current_value(metric)
    if value <= max:
        return {"skip": True, "reason": f"{metric} is {value}, below {max}"}
    return {"value": value}

Post-hooks

Post-hooks run after the LLM finishes. The framework auto-injects two special parameters if your tool accepts them:

• output (str) — the LLM's final response text.
• tool_results (list) — every tool call made during the agent loop. Each entry is {"tool": name, "args": {...}, "result": ...}.

Just declare the parameters you need — the framework fills them in:

@tool
def send_slack_report(output: str, tool_results: list, channel: str) -> str:
    """Post the LLM report and any chart images to Slack."""
    charts = [r["result"] for r in tool_results if r["result"].endswith(".png")]
    post_to_slack(channel=channel, text=output, attachments=charts)
    return f"sent to {channel} with {len(charts)} charts"

post_hook:
  - slack.send_slack_report:
      channel: "#alerts"

The channel comes from the YAML. The output and tool_results are injected by the framework.

You can filter tool_results however you want — by tool name, by result content, by args:

# Get all chart paths
charts = [r["result"] for r in tool_results if r["tool"].startswith("plot_")]

# Get results from a specific tool
summaries = [r["result"] for r in tool_results if r["tool"] == "analysis.get_summary"]

# Get all tool calls that used a specific argument
weekly = [r for r in tool_results if r["args"].get("days") == 7]

---

Multi-agent

Sub-agents can be called as tools. The parent agent passes a task string; the sub-agent runs its full loop and returns a string result.

from smalltask.runner import agent_tool, run_agent
from pathlib import Path

run_agent(
    Path("agents/orchestrator.yaml"),
    extra_tools={
        "summarize": agent_tool(
            name="summarize",
            agent_path=Path("agents/summarize.yaml"),
            description="Summarise a block of text. Pass it as 'task'.",
        )
    },
)

The orchestrator YAML lists summarize in its tools: section like any other tool.

---

Templates

smalltask init --list shows available starter templates:

Template	Scaffolds
default	Generic stub tools + example agent
github	GitHub REST API tools + PR digest agent

smalltask init --template github

---

LLM compatibility

smalltask uses prompt-based tool calling over raw HTTP — no SDK, no provider lock-in. It works with any OpenAI-compatible endpoint:

• OpenRouter — access any model via one API key
• Ollama — local models
• Groq
• Together AI
• Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini via their OpenAI-compatible layers
• Any Bedrock / Azure endpoint with an OpenAI-compatible adapter

---

Contributing

git clone https://github.com/gabrielmoffa/smalltask
cd smalltask
python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Run the tests:

pytest tests/

The tests cover core logic (schema generation, tool loading, prompt parsing) without requiring a real LLM or API key. If you change loader.py or prompt_tools.py, run them before pushing.

---

License

MIT