Postcondition

Agents call tools. Postcondition checks whether the world changed.

An agent receiving success: true from a tool only knows that the call returned. It does not know that a release is public, a file contains the intended data, a commit reached a remote-tracking branch, or an API now exposes the required state.

Postcondition adds that missing step. It is a local-first MCP server, TypeScript SDK, and CLI for declaring observable outcomes, checking them with constrained read-only verifiers, and keeping hash-chained observation receipts.

intent → action in any tool → independent observation → honest verdict
                                         ├─ satisfied
                                         ├─ violated
                                         └─ unknown

It does not execute the action, expose hidden chain-of-thought, or turn an agent's own claim into external proof.

Quick start

Run the MCP server without a global install:

npx -y postcondition-mcp serve

Add it to an MCP client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "postcondition": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "postcondition-mcp", "serve"]
    }
  }
}

The database defaults to ~/.postcondition/postcondition.db. Set POSTCONDITION_DB to use a different absolute path.

The smallest useful flow

Define the world state that should be true:

postcondition define --json '{
  "statement": "soul-mcp 4.0.1 is visible in the public npm registry",
  "subject": "npm:[email protected]",
  "verifier": {
    "kind": "npm",
    "package": "soul-mcp",
    "check": { "op": "version_exists", "version": "4.0.1" }
  }
}'

After the publishing action, check the returned contract id:

postcondition check pc_...

The result contains an observation, an evidence digest, the previous receipt hash, and the current receipt hash. postcondition verify-ledger recomputes the chain.

Verifiers

| Kind | Supported checks | Network/process behaviour | |---|---|---| | file | exists, absent, SHA-256, text, JSON pointer, size | Local read only; content inspection capped at 16 MiB | | http | status, text, JSON pointer | GET only; no custom headers; 3 redirects; 30 s maximum | | git | branch, clean state, HEAD, tag, remote containment | Fixed read-only git argument sets; no shell; no fetch/push | | npm | published version, dist-tag | Public registry GET | | manual | explicit human or agent attestation | No automatic observation |

HTTP and registry checks block loopback, link-local, private, and reserved addresses by default. For intentional local development checks, opt in with POSTCONDITION_ALLOW_PRIVATE=1. Read the threat model before enabling it in an environment that can reach sensitive services.

MCP surface

Seven tools:

• postcondition_define — record a testable outcome and verifier.
• postcondition_check — observe now and append a receipt.
• postcondition_get — read one contract and its history.
• postcondition_list — filter recent contracts by verdict.
• postcondition_attest — record a labelled human or agent attestation.
• postcondition_retract — invalidate a bad contract without deleting history.
• postcondition_verify_ledger — recompute evidence digests and the receipt chain.

Resources:

• postcondition://status
• postcondition://contracts
• postcondition://receipts
• postcondition://contract/{id}

Prompt: verify-before-done.

TypeScript SDK

import { PostconditionRuntime } from 'postcondition-mcp';

const runtime = new PostconditionRuntime({ dbPath: './postconditions.db' });

const contract = runtime.define({
  statement: 'The generated manifest declares version 1.2.0',
  verifier: {
    kind: 'file',
    path: './package.json',
    check: { op: 'json_equals', pointer: '/version', value: '1.2.0' },
  },
});

const receipt = await runtime.check(contract.id);
console.log(receipt.verdict); // satisfied | violated | unknown

runtime.close();

Evidence is classified, not flattened

| Evidence class | Meaning | |---|---| | externally_observed | A remote HTTP/npm endpoint was read independently | | configured_verifier | A constrained local file or Git check ran | | manual_attestation | A human supplied the result | | self_attestation | An agent supplied its own result |

These labels remain in every receipt. An attestation can be useful, but it is never silently presented as external observation.

Design rules

• Outcome, not execution: Postcondition observes after an action; it is not a second orchestration framework.
• Unknown is a valid result: timeouts, parsing failures, blocked targets, and unavailable evidence do not become false violations or fabricated success.
• No arbitrary command verifier: Git checks use fixed argument sets and execFile, never a user-provided shell command.
• Corrections stay visible: contracts can be retracted, not erased through the public API.
• Protocol-clean stdout: MCP mode reserves stdout for JSON-RPC.
• Local-first: no account, telemetry, hosted control plane, or API key is required.

What the receipt chain proves

Each observation stores a canonical evidence digest and includes the prior receipt hash. The verifier can detect modified evidence, modified receipt fields, reordered receipts, or a broken link in the local chain.

It does not yet provide cryptographic non-repudiation against an attacker who can rewrite the database and recompute the entire chain. Signed checkpoints and external anchors are future work. This boundary is intentional and tested; see limitations.

Development

Requires Node.js 20 or newer.

npm install
npm test
npm run test:coverage
npm run smoke:pack

The test suite covers the SDK, SQLite persistence, receipt mutation, CLI, an actual MCP stdio handshake, file limits, fixed Git checks, redirects, network blocking, and registry observations across the supported Node versions in CI.

Origin

Postcondition grew from a repeated design principle across Christian Bucher's Soul and Miguel systems: autonomy should carry evidence, permission boundaries, corrections, and observable outcomes. It is a clean public implementation, not an export of personal memory, private session logs, or the Miguel monolith. Read ORIGINS.md for the public lineage.

Status

0.1.x is an early public interface. Contract and receipt schemas may gain fields before 1.0; existing SQLite data will be migrated rather than silently discarded. Please report security issues through the private process in SECURITY.md.

MIT © Christian Bucher