zanii-agents
zanii-agents is a Python runtime for AI agents that a company can hire for a defined job and hold to account afterwards. Each tool call, human approval and run outcome is recorded as a signed, hash-chained receipt. With the optional Zanii packages, those receipts go to a public transparency log, the agent carries a signed CV built from the log, and payment is released per task only when the receipt is proven.
The package has no dependencies. It runs offline with a built-in mock model, and it connects to any OpenAI-compatible endpoint for real work.
Installation
pip install zanii-agents # runtime only, standard library
pip install "zanii-agents[zanii]" # ledger, identity, escrow, industry profiles
pip install "zanii-agents[memory]" # long-term memory with a firewall (ZaniiDB)
Python 3.10 or newer. The import name is agents_standard.
Quickstart
from agents_standard import Agent, ModelGateway, MockProvider, Router, Tool, ToolRegistry
def track_order(order_id: str) -> dict:
return {"order_id": order_id, "status": "delivered"}
registry = ToolRegistry()
registry.register(Tool("track_order", track_order, "Look up an order",
{"type": "object", "properties": {"order_id": {"type": "string"}}},
permissions=frozenset({"read:orders"})))
agent = Agent("tracker", "You track orders and report their status.",
ModelGateway([MockProvider()]), registry, {"read:orders"}, keywords=["track"])
result = Router([agent]).run("track order ORD-100")
print(result.ok, result.output, result.receipt)
To use a real model, replace MockProvider() with OpenAICompatProvider("model-name", base_url="https://.../v1"). The gateway accepts a list of providers and falls back in order.
What the runtime does
| Concern | Mechanism |
|---|---|
| Least privilege | A tool declares the permissions it needs; an agent only sees tools whose permissions it holds. |
| Bounded runs | Step, cost and latency budgets per run; identical repeated calls end the run. |
| Prompt injection | Untrusted text is scanned, quarantined and, when flagged, summarised by a separate model before the planner sees it. Values that first appeared inside an injection cannot be used as write arguments. |
| Hallucination | Sampled self-agreement and a fact check against tool data; low agreement routes to a human instead of shipping an answer. |
| Human oversight | A confidence floor and a signed rulebook decide which actions need approval. Every decision is receipted. |
| Proof of action | Every tool call, approval, disclosure and run outcome is a receipt in a hash chain. Locally: HMAC over a JSONL file. With Zanii: Ed25519 did:key signatures on a public Merkle log. |
| Kill switch | The owner revokes the delegation; the next run ends with halted and executes nothing. Peers over A2A receive a distinct error. |
| Memory | Bounded episodic and procedural memory in a JSON file, or ZaniiDB per client with a memory firewall. |
| Interop | MCP tool-server client with size caps; A2A agent card and JSON-RPC server with bearer auth, rate limiting and health endpoints. |
Measured behaviour
The numbers below come from the benchmark scripts in bench/ and can be reproduced against any OpenAI-compatible model. They are for glm-4.7-flash on the AgentDojo suites, important_instructions attack, defenses off and on.
| Suite | Attacked runs | Attack success, off | Attack success, on |
|---|---|---|---|
| slack | 105 | 52% | 5% |
| banking | 144 | 22% | under 1% |
| workspace | 560 | 3% | 0% |
| travel | 140 | 24% | 1% |
Utility under attack costs between zero and five points on three suites. On workspace an early version of the taint rule blocked legitimate writes; the corrected rule recovered utility from 44% to 76% on a 168-case sample with attacks still at zero. Both result files are kept.
A load test of the A2A server sustains 100 requests per second at a p99 of 28 ms on the mock model. With a live model the ceiling is model latency, roughly one task every ten seconds per process. Details, caveats and the resilience probes are in docs/readiness-report.md in the source distribution.
Hiring an agent for a defined job
With the zanii extra, a job is a signed set of artifacts rather than a prompt.
from agents_standard.core.job import Job, Offer
from agents_standard.profiles import PROFILES
job = PROFILES["logistics"].job(
"cold-chain-monitoring",
scopes=["tool.read_temperature_log", "tool.flag_violation", "run.*"],
require_approval=["tool.flag_violation"],
rate="2.00", currency="AED",
)
offer = Offer.from_files(job, "agent-identity.sealed.json", "owner-identity.sealed.json")
engagement = offer.hire(client) # screening, then co-signed terms
escrow = engagement.escrow_for_task(task) # released only on a proven run.ok
agent = Agent(..., recorder=offer, policy=offer.policy)
result = agent.run(task)
engagement.settle(escrow, result.receipt) # Merkle proof checked, client signs
| Job field | Backed by | Enforced |
|---|---|---|
scopes |
owner-signed delegation certificate | the ledger rejects receipts outside the scope |
forbid, require_approval, wall |
signed rulebook, hash stamped on every receipt | before each tool call, and audited afterwards |
deny_list |
counterparty screening | before any terms are signed |
rate, commitments |
co-signed SLA and per-task escrow, integer minor units | compliance computed from the receipt chain |
Seven industry profiles ship with the regulator's rule as code: public sector, healthcare, finance, tax, real estate, logistics and consumer operations. Each has a test that proves its load-bearing rule, for example that a public-sector decision cannot be issued without a rulebook hash, or that a clinical recommendation requires a named clinician's signature.
Evidence for insurers and regulators
agents_standard.packs builds evidence packs from receipts: an underwriter questionnaire, DIFC Regulation 10, UAE PDPL Article 18, CBUAE guidance and the EU AI Act. Controls the runtime cannot evidence are marked as missing rather than omitted.
Specifications and conformance
Two documents define the interoperable parts: spec/agentcv-v1.md (AgentCV v1) and spec/engagement-v1.md (Engagement v1), both in the source distribution and at https://www.agents.zanii.agency. Conformance vectors are generated from the Python reference, and an independent TypeScript implementation in conformance/ts passes 103 of 103 checks against them.
Repository layout
agents_standard/ runtime, profiles, packs, control, identity, payments, a2a, mcp
bench/ benchmarks and their results
spec/ AgentCV v1, Engagement v1, conformance vectors
conformance/ts/ TypeScript conformance runner
deploy/ container image, compose file, backup and restore scripts
docs/ API reference, runbooks, deployment guide, readiness report
examples/ live runs against the Zanii ledger
pilot/ client-side signer and pilot runbook
Development
pip download zanii-agents --no-binary :all: --no-deps # or work from the source distribution
tar xzf zanii_agents-*.tar.gz && cd zanii_agents-*
pip install -e ".[zanii,memory]"
python test_standard.py && python test_profiles.py && python test_money.py \
&& python test_future.py && python test_ops.py && python test_hardening.py
Tests that need an optional extra skip when it is absent. The CI workflow runs the same suites, the TypeScript conformance runner, ruff, bandit, pip-audit and a secrets scan.
Status
Version 0.9.0. The runtime is complete and verified against the public ledger. The production readiness gate in docs/readiness-report.md records 27 requirements passing, 10 not applicable and 10 open; the open items need a deployed host, a restore drill or an external penetration test rather than code changes.
License
MIT. See the LICENSE file. Contact: info@zanii.agency. Product site: https://www.agents.zanii.agency.
Metadata
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