Runtime-enforced execution governance for AI agents.
AgenWatch is a Python SDK that guarantees AI agents stop when they must.
Budgets, iteration limits, and execution boundaries are enforced during runtime, not observed after failure.
This is not an observability tool.
This is not a prompt framework.
AgenWatch is an execution kernel.
For architectural details and guarantees, see ARCHITECTURE.md
Most agent frameworks answer:
“How do I make my agent smarter?”
AgenWatch answers a different question:
“Can I mathematically guarantee this agent will stop?”
AgenWatch enforces hard limits before tools or LLM calls execute:
- No runaway costs
- No infinite reasoning loops
- No silent retry storms
- No post-mortem surprises
- A bounded execution controller
- A deterministic agent runtime
- A runtime safety and governance layer for agents
- A prompt-engineering framework
- A workflow orchestrator
- A UI or observability dashboard
- A LangChain replacement
AgenWatch does not try to make agents smarter.
It makes them governable.
pip install agenwatch
This example shows pure AgenWatch execution with runtime enforcement.
import os
from agenwatch import Agent, tool
from agenwatch.providers import OpenAIProvider
@tool("Echo input text")
def echo(**kwargs) -> dict:
"""Echo back the provided text"""
text = kwargs.get("text", "")
return {"echo": text}
agent = Agent(
tools=[echo],
llm=OpenAIProvider(
api_key=os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY"),
model="gpt-4o-mini"
),
budget=1.0, # Hard execution budget
max_iterations=5
)
result = agent.run("Echo hello")
print(f"Success: {result.success}")
print(f"Cost: {result.cost}")
print(f"Output: {result.output}")- If budget is exhausted, no further LLM or tool calls can occur
- Retries are idempotent (no double charging)
- Termination is enforced inside the kernel, not user code
AgenWatch enforces budgets as a runtime kill switch, not a warning.
Behavior:
- First allowed call executes and is charged
- Retries do not double-charge
- Next call is blocked before execution
- Agent terminates with
budget_exceeded
This enforcement happens synchronously inside the kernel.
AgenWatch can be used alongside LangChain.
Important distinction:
- LangChain produces prompts / logic
- AgenWatch governs execution
- The LLM decides whether to call tools
AgenWatch cannot force an LLM to call a tool. It only governs tool calls if and when they occur.
# Pattern: LangChain Logic + AgenWatch Enforcement
import os
from langchain_core.prompts import ChatPromptTemplate
from agenwatch import Agent, tool
from agenwatch.providers import OpenAIProvider
# Step 1: Define tools (AgenWatch-governed)
@tool("Echo text safely")
def echo(**kwargs) -> dict:
return {"echo": kwargs.get("text", "")}
# Step 2: Create AgenWatch Agent (the kernel)
agent = Agent(
tools=[echo],
llm=OpenAIProvider(
api_key=os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY"),
model="gpt-4o-mini"
),
budget=1.0,
max_iterations=3
)
# Step 3: Let LangChain produce the task
prompt = ChatPromptTemplate.from_messages([
("human", "Say hello using the echo tool")
])
task = prompt.format_messages()[0].content
# Step 4: Execute through AgenWatch
result = agent.run(task)
print(f"Success: {result.success}")
print(f"Cost: {result.cost}")
print(f"Output: {result.output}")Success: True
Cost: 0.0
Output: It seems that I don't have access to an echo tool to assist with that.
However, I can say hello directly:
Hello!
This behavior is expected.
- The LLM chose not to call the tool
- AgenWatch correctly enforced execution boundaries
- No unauthorized calls occurred
- Budget and iteration limits were still active
AgenWatch does not influence LLM reasoning. It governs execution, not decision-making.
AgenWatch exposes execution events for inspection:
for event in agent.stream("Analyze input"):
print(event.type)- Event order is guaranteed
- Streaming does not affect execution behavior
- This is inspection, not control
AgenWatch records execution decisions so failures can be inspected without re-running the agent.
In v0.1:
- Execution ledger is in-memory
- Replay is read-only
- No crash recovery or persistence
This is intentional and documented.
AgenWatch is designed for:
- Platform engineers
- Infrastructure teams
- Safety & governance layers
- Production systems with strict cost or control requirements
Use AgenWatch when you need:
- Hard runtime stop guarantees
- Budget or iteration enforcement
- Deterministic termination behavior
- Protection against runaway agents
AgenWatch prioritizes predictability over flexibility.
AgenWatch may not be a good fit if:
- You only need post-execution observability
- You want rapid prototyping without hard limits
- You expect the SDK to force tool usage
AgenWatch is complementary to frameworks like:
- LangChain
- CrewAI
- LangGraph
Those frameworks focus on agent capability. AgenWatch focuses on agent control.
Version: 0.1.0
- Kernel and budget enforcement are stable
- Public API is minimal and frozen
- Governance primitives will evolve incrementally
MIT License