SimpleFunctions Developer Manual

Status: historical draft RFC. The current implemented execution surface is described in the SDK and Agent SDK pages; live_trade is no longer a hard-forbidden contract class when SDK or Agent policy explicitly opts in. This RFC defines the identity and governance rules that must be settled before SimpleFunctions implements @spfunctions/agent. It does not implement a package, endpoint, SDK method, Agent tool, or publish flow.

First principles

SimpleFunctions is not only a REST API, CLI, tool catalog, MCP adapter, or TypeScript SDK. The product direction is governed execution infrastructure for prediction-market, research, and trading-adjacent tools. Every serious tool call needs five answers:

who is calling
what exact canonical tool is being called
whether that tool is allowed
whether it costs money, consumes quota, mutates state, exposes secrets, starts runtime, or crosses execution boundaries
whether the call can be replayed and audited

The platform primitives are:

Primitive	Role
Identity	API key, account, and future scoped session token
Contract	`GET /api/contracts/tools`
Policy	permissions, `sideEffect`, `costEffect`, and risk gates
Execution	SDK resource call or Agent direct tool call
Trace	deterministic record, replay, and audit artifact

If any primitive is missing, an Agent SDK becomes either unsafe or not useful.

Decision

SimpleFunctions SDK and Agent SDK are API-key-first. For @spfunctions/sdk:

the constructor may keep apiKey?: string
docs and examples should pass apiKey: process.env.SF_API_KEY
no-key usage is allowed only for strict manifest inspection and explicitly allowlisted free public reads
methods whose contracts require identity must throw MissingApiKeyError when no key is configured

For @spfunctions/agent:

live execution requires SF_API_KEY by default
no-key mode is allowed only for replayOnly and static manifest inspection
replay misses must never fall through to live execution
anonymous live tool execution is forbidden

Security rules:

never embed a shared SimpleFunctions service key in SDK or Agent packages
never print, log, trace, or throw raw API keys
browser examples must not expose long-lived API keys
scoped browser or session tokens are a later design

When this RFC says “API key”, it means a SimpleFunctions API key issued to the user, account, or project. It never means a shared platform key bundled into npm packages.

Mode matrix

Surface or mode	API key required?	Allowed without key?	Notes
`sf.manifest.list()`	No	Yes	Strict contract bootstrap.
`sf.manifest.get("world.read")`	No	Yes	Contract inspection only.
SDK public free read	Usually no	Only if explicitly allowlisted	Must have `sideEffect:none`, `costEffect:none`, no `user_data`, and `anonymousAllowed:true`.
SDK auth-gated read	Yes	No	Throws `MissingApiKeyError`.
SDK costly read	Yes	No	Search, LLM, venue, and upstream-cost surfaces need identity.
SDK user-specific read	Yes	No	Anything with `user_data` requires key.
Agent SDK static manifest inspection	No	Yes	No live execution.
Agent SDK `replayOnly`	No	Yes	Replay miss must not call live.
Agent SDK live `call()`	Yes	No	Required even for public tools.
Agent SDK live `stream()`	Yes	No	Same rule as `call()`.
Agent SDK v1 model-backed `run()`	Yes	No	Also requires budget and session policy.
Browser SDK with long-lived key	No	No	Defer scoped or short-lived tokens.

The key distinction is that SDK no-key public reads are a product concession, while Agent SDK no-key live calls are forbidden.

ContractTool additions

The strict manifest currently uses 0.2.0-draft. Adding identity and cost policy should move the semantic contract to:

0.3.0-draft

The required tool shape should include:

export type ToolStatus =
  | "implemented"
  | "deferred"
  | "deprecated"
  | "forbidden"

export type ToolStability =
  | "beta"
  | "experimental"
  | "internal"

export type SideEffect =
  | "none"
  | "cache_write"
  | "auth_telemetry_write"
  | "user_write"
  | "secret"
  | "runtime"
  | "paper_trade"
  | "live_trade"

export type CostEffect =
  | "none"
  | "api_cost"
  | "search_cost"
  | "venue_request_cost"
  | "llm_cost"

export type RiskTag =
  | "none"
  | "design_needed"
  | "hallucination_risk"
  | "secret_risk"
  | "execution_risk"
  | "trading_risk"
  | "deprecated"
  | "forbidden"

export type Permission =
  | "public_read"
  | "market_read"
  | "research"
  | "user_data"
  | "write"
  | "runtime"
  | "secret"
  | "paper_trade"
  | "live_trade"
  | string

export interface ContractToolAccess {
  anonymousAllowed: boolean
  anonymousReason?: string
}

export interface ContractToolHttpMapping {
  method: "GET" | "POST" | "PUT" | "PATCH" | "DELETE"
  path: string
  query?: Record<string, unknown>
}

export interface ContractToolSdkMapping {
  package: "@spfunctions/sdk"
  method: string
  resource?: string
}

export interface ContractToolAgentMapping {
  callable: boolean
  defaultEnabled: boolean
  name: string
}

export interface ContractToolReplayPolicy {
  replayable: boolean
  match: "tool+inputHash"
}

export interface ContractTool {
  name: string
  status: ToolStatus
  stability: ToolStability
  authRequired: boolean
  permissions: Permission[]
  access: ContractToolAccess
  sideEffect: SideEffect
  costEffect: CostEffect
  risk: RiskTag[]
  schema: string
  http: ContractToolHttpMapping
  sdk?: ContractToolSdkMapping
  agent: ContractToolAgentMapping
  traceEvents: string[]
  replay: ContractToolReplayPolicy
}

access.anonymousAllowed is a positive allowlist. It prevents accidental anonymous execution if a tool is mistakenly marked authRequired:false, sideEffect:none, and costEffect:none.

function canRunWithoutKeyInSdk(tool: ContractTool): boolean {
  return (
    tool.access.anonymousAllowed === true &&
    tool.authRequired === false &&
    tool.costEffect === "none" &&
    tool.sideEffect === "none" &&
    !tool.permissions.includes("user_data")
  )
}

function requiresKeyInSdk(tool: ContractTool): boolean {
  return !canRunWithoutKeyInSdk(tool)
}

function agentLiveExecutionRequiresKey(): true {
  return true
}

sideEffect vs costEffect

llm_cost is not a sideEffect. It is a costEffect. sideEffect describes the tool’s product semantics:

state mutation
secret exposure or creation
runtime start or stop
paper or live trade execution

costEffect describes quota, upstream, search, venue, or LLM cost:

hosted API cost
search cost
venue request cost
LLM cost

A read-only LLM-backed answer should be:

{
  sideEffect: "none",
  costEffect: "llm_cost"
}

Do not mark every authenticated read as auth_telemetry_write merely because auth middleware updates key usage metadata. Contract sideEffect should describe the tool’s product semantics, not incidental platform telemetry. Use auth_telemetry_write only for a tool whose primary purpose is auth, session, or key telemetry mutation.

Policy ranking

Side-effect gates:

const SIDE_EFFECT_RANK: Record<SideEffect, number> = {
  none: 0,
  cache_write: 1,
  auth_telemetry_write: 1,
  user_write: 2,
  secret: 3,
  runtime: 4,
  paper_trade: 5,
  live_trade: 6,
}

Cost gates:

const COST_EFFECT_RANK: Record<CostEffect, number> = {
  none: 0,
  api_cost: 1,
  search_cost: 2,
  venue_request_cost: 2,
  llm_cost: 3,
}

costEffect is categorical. It is not dollar-budget enforcement. budgetUsd should remain a later feature until per-call cost estimates or response headers are reliable.

Initial annotation rules

Do not hand-classify from vibes. For every active strict contract tool, inspect whether it:

requires account or user context
reads user-specific data
calls paid or quota-limited upstream services
calls search
calls an LLM
hits venue or market-provider APIs
mutates user state
creates secrets
executes paper or live trade behavior

Default classification:

Behavior	sideEffect	costEffect	anonymousAllowed
Strict manifest inspection	`none`	`none`	`true`
Explicit free cached public read	`none`	`none`	`true` only if approved
Normal hosted API read	`none`	`api_cost`	`false`
Search-backed read	`none`	`search_cost`	`false`
Venue/provider-backed read	`none`	`venue_request_cost`	`false`
LLM-backed read	`none`	`llm_cost`	`false`
User-specific read	`none`	`api_cost` or higher	`false`
Saved object write	`user_write`	depends	`false`
Secret/key/session mutation	`secret` or `auth_telemetry_write`	depends	`false`
Runtime start/stop	`runtime`	depends	`false`
Paper trade	`paper_trade`	venue/request cost maybe	`false`
Live trade	`live_trade`	venue/request cost maybe	`false`; requires explicit SDK/Agent policy

Deferred or forbidden surfaces must remain out:

events.*
market.related as a semantic graph
investigations.create
intents.propose
webhooks.create
unguarded live_trade

SDK behavior

The SDK constructor can remain:

export interface SimpleFunctionsOptions {
  baseUrl?: string
  apiKey?: string
  userAgent?: string
}

Docs and examples should show:

import { SimpleFunctions } from "@spfunctions/sdk"

const sf = new SimpleFunctions({
  baseUrl: "https://simplefunctions.dev",
  apiKey: process.env.SF_API_KEY,
})

The SDK should add local identity helpers:

export class SimpleFunctions {
  hasApiKey(): boolean {
    return Boolean(this.apiKey)
  }

  getAuthState(): { hasApiKey: boolean } {
    return { hasApiKey: this.hasApiKey() }
  }
}

Do not implement auth.status for this. This is local SDK state only. SDK preflight should map each resource method to a canonical contract name:

async function preflightSdkCall(
  client: SimpleFunctions,
  toolName: string,
): Promise<void> {
  const tool = await client.manifest.get(toolName)

  if (!tool) {
    throw new UnknownToolError({
      tool: toolName,
      message: `Unknown canonical contract tool: ${toolName}`,
    })
  }

  if (!client.hasApiKey() && !canRunWithoutKeyInSdk(tool)) {
    throw new MissingApiKeyError({
      tool: tool.name,
      reason: missingKeyReason(tool),
    })
  }
}

The server must still enforce auth. SDK preflight is for developer experience and early failure, not security.

Agent SDK v0 behavior

@spfunctions/agent v0 is a governed direct tool runner. It is not:

a model-backed planner
a LangChain replacement
an MCP client
a CLI shell wrapper
a browser runtime
a live-trading agent

Implementation note: the v0 skeleton was created only after these prerequisites were in place:

ContractTool has costEffect
ContractTool has access.anonymousAllowed
every active strict tool has sideEffect and costEffect
SDK MissingApiKeyError exists
SDK manifest behavior is stable
Agent policy behavior has an approved test plan

Constructor sketch:

export interface AgentOptions {
  client: SimpleFunctions
  manifest?: ContractToolManifest
  policy?: AgentPolicy
  trace?: TraceStore
  mode?: "live" | "replayOnly" | "inspectOnly"
}

export interface AgentPolicy {
  allow?: Permission[]
  deny?: Permission[]
  maxSideEffect?: SideEffect
  maxCostEffect?: CostEffect
  requireAuthForUserData?: boolean
  budgetUsd?: number
}

export class SimpleFunctionsAgent {
  constructor(options: AgentOptions) {
    const mode = options.mode ?? "live"

    if (mode === "live" && !options.client.hasApiKey()) {
      throw new MissingApiKeyError({
        tool: "*",
        reason: "@spfunctions/agent live execution requires SF_API_KEY",
      })
    }
  }
}

Allowed without key:

new SimpleFunctionsAgent({
  client: new SimpleFunctions(),
  mode: "inspectOnly",
})

new SimpleFunctionsAgent({
  client: new SimpleFunctions(),
  mode: "replayOnly",
})

Forbidden without key:

new SimpleFunctionsAgent({
  client: new SimpleFunctions(),
})

Agent v0 must resolve only canonical dotted names from /api/contracts/tools. It must not resolve broad /api/tools names, MCP aliases, or deprecated legacy names.

Agent execution flow

Live execution flow:

create runId and callId
emit run.started
load strict contract manifest
resolve canonical tool
emit tool.resolved
reject non-implemented, deferred, deprecated, or forbidden tools
reject agent.callable=false
check API key
evaluate policy
emit policy.checked
normalize input
hash input
validate input if schema is available
emit tool.started
execute through SDK/client contract executor
redact output for trace safety
write trace if configured
emit tool.completed or tool.failed
return ToolCallResult

Agent SDK must not shell out to CLI:

// forbidden
spawn("sf", ["agent", "--tool", toolName])

The CLI can later reuse Agent SDK internals, but Agent SDK must not depend on CLI.

Policy evaluation

Evaluation order should be deterministic:

tool existence
tool status
agent.callable
API key identity
forbidden risk
deny permissions
allow permissions
max sideEffect
max costEffect
user_data auth invariant
future budget placeholder

Deny wins. If allow is omitted, side/cost gates still apply. If allow is provided, the tool permissions must be covered. Historical note: this draft originally treated live_trade as a hard stop. The implemented SDK/Agent policy now treats it as an explicit side-effect class that can be allowed with auth, side-effect/cost ceilings, and trade guardrails.

Typed errors

Shared SDK/Agent error codes:

export type SimpleFunctionsErrorCode =
  | "missing_api_key"
  | "invalid_api_key"
  | "permission_denied"
  | "unknown_tool"
  | "tool_not_callable"
  | "policy_denied"
  | "contract_invariant"
  | "invalid_input"
  | "replay_miss"
  | "tool_execution_failed"
  | "api_error"

Required errors:

export class MissingApiKeyError extends SimpleFunctionsError {
  code = "missing_api_key"
}

export class InvalidApiKeyError extends SimpleFunctionsError {
  code = "invalid_api_key"
}

export class PermissionDeniedError extends SimpleFunctionsError {
  code = "permission_denied"
}

export class UnknownToolError extends SimpleFunctionsError {
  code = "unknown_tool"
}

export class ToolNotCallableError extends SimpleFunctionsError {
  code = "tool_not_callable"
}

export class PolicyDeniedError extends SimpleFunctionsError {
  code = "policy_denied"
}

export class ReplayMissError extends SimpleFunctionsError {
  code = "replay_miss"
}

export class ContractInvariantError extends SimpleFunctionsError {
  code = "contract_invariant"
}

Errors must not include raw API keys, Authorization headers, secret values, or full sensitive payloads.

Trace and replay

Trace replay must be strict. Trace entry sketch:

export interface AgentTraceEntry {
  version: "0.1"
  ts: string
  sessionId?: string
  runId: string
  callId: string
  tool: string
  inputHash: string
  input: unknown
  output?: unknown
  outputSummary?: unknown
  error?: {
    code: string
    message: string
    retryable?: boolean
  }
  policy: {
    allowed: boolean
    matchedRules: string[]
  }
  sideEffect: SideEffect
  costEffect: CostEffect
  replayable: boolean
  redactions: string[]
  durationMs: number
}

Input normalization:

sort object keys recursively
remove undefined
preserve null
preserve array order
normalize Date to ISO string if present
never include API key or headers

Replay rule:

match by canonical tool plus normalized input hash
return recorded output on hit
throw ReplayMissError on miss
never silently call live when replay is requested

Agent events

sf agent --tool and @spfunctions/agent v0.stream() should produce compatible event concepts:

export type AgentEvent =
  | { type: "run.started"; ts: string; runId: string }
  | { type: "manifest.loaded"; ts: string; runId: string; schemaVersion: string; toolCount: number }
  | { type: "tool.resolved"; ts: string; runId: string; callId: string; tool: string; sideEffect: SideEffect; costEffect: CostEffect; authRequired: boolean }
  | { type: "auth.checked"; ts: string; runId: string; callId: string; hasApiKey: boolean; required: boolean }
  | { type: "policy.checked"; ts: string; runId: string; callId: string; allowed: boolean; reason?: string }
  | { type: "replay.hit"; ts: string; runId: string; callId: string; tool: string; inputHash: string }
  | { type: "replay.miss"; ts: string; runId: string; callId: string; tool: string; inputHash: string }
  | { type: "tool.started"; ts: string; runId: string; callId: string; tool: string; inputHash: string }
  | { type: "tool.completed"; ts: string; runId: string; callId: string; tool: string; durationMs: number; output?: unknown; outputSummary?: unknown }
  | { type: "tool.failed"; ts: string; runId: string; callId: string; tool: string; error: { code: string; message: string; retryable?: boolean } }
  | { type: "trace.recorded"; ts: string; runId: string; callId: string; traceId?: string }
  | { type: "run.completed"; ts: string; runId: string; durationMs: number }
  | { type: "run.failed"; ts: string; runId: string; error: { code: string; message: string } }

Compact mode should include policy-relevant metadata and avoid large schema blobs.

Browser key policy

Long-lived SimpleFunctions API keys must not be exposed in browser code. Allowed:

// server-side only
const sf = new SimpleFunctions({
  apiKey: process.env.SF_API_KEY,
})

Forbidden:

const sf = new SimpleFunctions({
  apiKey: "<long-lived-browser-exposed-key>",
})

Future browser support should use scoped or short-lived session tokens with restricted permissions, restricted tools, restricted cost effects, and possibly origin binding. Do not implement scoped browser tokens in this RFC.

Test plan

Contract tests:

/api/contracts/tools returns schema version 0.3.0-draft
every active implemented tool has sideEffect
every active implemented tool has costEffect
every active implemented tool has access.anonymousAllowed
anonymousAllowed=true implies authRequired=false, sideEffect=none, costEffect=none, and no user_data
user_data permission implies authRequired=true
live_trade is active only behind explicit SDK/Agent policy guardrails
events.* is not active or callable
get_world_state is not canonical
get_regime_history is not canonical

SDK tests:

no-key SDK can call manifest.list()
no-key SDK can call manifest.get("world.read")
no-key SDK call to auth-required tool throws MissingApiKeyError
no-key SDK call to costEffect=llm_cost throws MissingApiKeyError
no-key SDK call to costEffect=search_cost throws MissingApiKeyError
no-key SDK call to side-effecting tool throws MissingApiKeyError
no-key SDK call to user_data tool throws MissingApiKeyError
no-key SDK call to an explicit free public read succeeds only when anonymousAllowed=true
errors never include raw API keys

Agent v0 acceptance tests:

live constructor without key throws MissingApiKeyError
inspectOnly constructor without key succeeds
replayOnly constructor without key succeeds
live call with key resolves world.read
live call rejects get_world_state
live call rejects get_regime_history
live call rejects events.search
live call rejects live_trade unless policy explicitly opts in
Agent uses /api/contracts/tools, not /api/tools
policy deny list wins
max sideEffect blocks user_write
max costEffect blocks llm_cost when max is api_cost
replay miss throws ReplayMissError
replay miss does not call live

Docs tests:

no docs say @spfunctions/sdk is publicly published
no docs say @spfunctions/agent is publicly published
no docs say Agent SDK is the CLI
no docs say /api/tools is SDK/Agent truth
SDK examples use apiKey: process.env.SF_API_KEY
Agent SDK docs say live execution requires SF_API_KEY
browser docs do not show long-lived key usage

PR sequence

RFC only: API-Key-First Identity and Governed Execution.
Contract metadata taxonomy: add costEffect, access.anonymousAllowed, replay policy, and invariant tests.
SDK identity, preflight, and typed errors.
CLI parity metadata: compact events include costEffect; no semantic change.
Private @spfunctions/agent v0 skeleton after metadata and SDK preflight are stable.
Published docs sync so live docs match repo truth.

Hard stops

Do not:

publish @spfunctions/sdk
publish @spfunctions/agent
publish CLI without separate approval
run npm version
push main directly
create new endpoints
implement events.*
implement market.related
implement auth.status
implement investigations.create
implement intents.propose
implement webhooks.create
implement unguarded live_trade
treat /api/tools as SDK/Agent truth
shell out to CLI from Agent SDK
bundle a shared platform API key
show browser long-lived API key examples

Help

Advanced operations

Historical RFCs

API-key-first governed execution

First principles

Decision

Mode matrix

ContractTool additions

sideEffect vs costEffect

Policy ranking

Initial annotation rules

SDK behavior

Agent SDK v0 behavior

Agent execution flow

Policy evaluation

Typed errors

Trace and replay

Agent events

Browser key policy

Test plan

PR sequence

Hard stops

​First principles

​Decision

​Mode matrix

​ContractTool additions

​sideEffect vs costEffect

​Policy ranking

​Initial annotation rules

​SDK behavior

​Agent SDK v0 behavior

​Agent execution flow

​Policy evaluation

​Typed errors

​Trace and replay

​Agent events

​Browser key policy

​Test plan

​PR sequence

​Hard stops

First principles

Decision

Mode matrix

ContractTool additions

sideEffect vs costEffect

Policy ranking

Initial annotation rules

SDK behavior

Agent SDK v0 behavior

Agent execution flow

Policy evaluation

Typed errors

Trace and replay

Agent events

Browser key policy

Test plan

PR sequence

Hard stops