Verdict — Python

The Python implementation of Verdict — a small, zero-dependency, async-native rule-evaluation engine.

Install

pip install verdict-rules

The distribution on PyPI is named verdict-rules (the name verdict was already taken by an unrelated package), but the import name is plain verdict:

from verdict import Rule, FunctionRule, AndRule, OrRule, RulesEngine

A first rule

FunctionRule wraps a plain async predicate — a reusable one can build several named rules from the same code, each checking a different field against its own floor:

import asyncio
from verdict import FunctionRule, AndRule, RuleResult, RulesEngine

def at_least(name: str, field: str, floor: float) -> FunctionRule:
    async def predicate(context: dict) -> RuleResult:
        value = context[field]
        return RuleResult(rule_name=name, passed=value >= floor, detail=f"{value} vs {floor}")
    return FunctionRule(name, predicate)

async def main() -> None:
    eligible = AndRule("eligible", [
        at_least("age_ok", "age", 18),
        at_least("score_ok", "score", 60),
    ])
    engine = RulesEngine([eligible])
    verdict = await engine.run_named("eligible", {"age": 21, "score": 55})
    print(verdict.passed)  # False
    print(verdict.detail)  # "'score_ok' failed: 55 vs 60"

asyncio.run(main())

If it has the shape, it is a rule

Rule is a Protocol, and Python's typing is structural — so any object with the right attributes and an evaluate coroutine already is a Rule. No inheritance, no registration:

class IsBusinessHours:
    name = "is_business_hours"
    group = None

    async def evaluate(self, context: dict) -> RuleResult:
        hour = context["hour"]
        return RuleResult(rule_name="is_business_hours", passed=9 <= hour < 17)

await AndRule("open", [IsBusinessHours()]).evaluate({"hour": 21})

Most rules need no class at all either: FunctionRule wraps a plain async function.

What it guarantees

• Sequential evaluation, never concurrent. Composites use a plain for loop with await, never asyncio.gather. Short-circuiting only means something if later work never starts — and because the returned boolean is identical either way, getting this wrong is silent.
• Vacuous truth has a polarity. AndRule([]) passes, OrRule([]) fails. Deliberately asymmetric.
• Emptiness is not absence. An empty composite folds to its identity; an unknown rule name or group raises KeyError. A group exists only because some rule declared it, so a lookup matching nothing can only be a mistake — and a misspelled group silently approving is the worst failure an eligibility check can have. Use rule_names / group_names to check rather than catch.
• RuleResult.data is opaque — only what actually ran, never padded, never flattened.
• Zero runtime dependencies.

Where to go next