Tempus DDB documentation

01 / Install

Install

Python 3.10+ is required. Install Tempus DDB via PyPI, download pre-built wheels from GitHub Releases, or install from source:

# Standard install from PyPI
pip install tempus-ddb

# Or install latest release from GitHub wheel
pip install ./tempus_ddb-0.4.0-<platform>.whl

# Or install from source for development
git clone https://github.com/elbuilder77/tempus-ddb.git
cd tempus-ddb
pip install -e ".[dev]"

View Tempus DDB on PyPI · Browse GitHub Release assets

02 / Basic flow

Request and execution flow

The agent signs an exact tempus.action-intent.v1 request.
Tempus verifies identity and deterministic policy, then returns ALLOWED or BLOCKED.
An executor with the downstream credential consumes an allowed permit once.
The executor signs an outcome; Tempus records a linked receipt and a reader can verify the trace.

The requesting agent must not hold the executor's environment, credential or signing key. That separation—not a human approval click—is the security boundary.

03 / Stable contracts

Stable schemas

Evidence	Schema
Agent intent	`tempus.action-intent.v1`
Signed permit	`tempus.authorization-receipt.v1`
Executor outcome	`tempus.action-outcome.v1`
Execution receipt	`tempus.execution-receipt.v1`
Complete trace	`tempus.action-trace.v1`
Verification result	`tempus.trace-verification.v1`

Read the compatibility policy and v0.4 migration notes before changing a deployed integration.

04 / Integration

Executor integration

The generic executor and packaged GitHub adapter both verify permit binding, tenant, expiry and single consumption. The GitHub adapter supports only exact, allowlisted issue and pull-request actions; it keeps its token outside the agent payload.

tempus init
tempus keygen --output agent.keys.json
tempus keygen --output executor.keys.json
tempus doctor --json
tempus conformance --signer

Run examples/commercial_demo.py to test direct bypass rejection, single-use consumption, replay protection, and trace verification locally:

python examples/commercial_demo.py

Explore framework recipes in cookbooks/ for LangChain, CrewAI, and Claude/Cursor MCP.

05 / Trace inspection

Inspect and verify records

tempus trace --action-id <action-id>
tempus verify-trace --action-id <action-id>
tempus list-agents
tempus list-policies
tempus identity-events

The interactive trace demo verifies a synthetic browser fixture. It is not connected to a Tempus database, and it does not replace tempus verify-trace for a real action.

06 / Security boundary

Current limits

v0.4.0 is local-first and single-instance. It detects alteration of the supported evidence, but does not yet provide distributed permit consumption or independent durable checkpoints for whole-database rollback or deletion detection.

Review the threat model before high-impact use, report issues through the security policy, and use the contribution guide to participate.