Last updated on Aug 24, 2026

Tags:

• SDK
• CrewAI
• Python

Options

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Configuration

create_openbox_engine()

Option	Default	Purpose
api_url	OPENBOX_URL env	OpenBox Core base URL
governance_timeout	30.0	HTTP timeout in seconds
governance_policy	"fail_open"	API outage policy: fail_open or fail_closed
on_fallback	"log_warning"	behavior when Core returns fallback_used=true
send_task_start_event	True	emit ActivityStarted
send_task_completed_event	True	emit ActivityCompleted
llm_level_governance	True	gate LLM calls after a stop verdict
hitl_enabled	True	poll for approval on REQUIRE_APPROVAL
hitl_poll_interval	5.0	approval polling interval in seconds
exclude_crews_hitl	None	crew names to skip HITL polling for
instrument_databases	True	enable supported DB instrumentation
db_libraries	None	restrict DB instrumentation to selected drivers
instrument_file_io	False	enable file I/O instrumentation
debug_log	False	per-agent trace logging

Environment Variables

Name	Required	Purpose
OPENBOX_URL	yes, unless api_url is passed	OpenBox Core base URL
{PREFIX}_API_KEY	yes, per governed agent	agent-specific OpenBox API key
{PREFIX}_DID	optional	agent DID; with private key, enables AIP signing
{PREFIX}_PRIVATE_KEY	optional	base64 Ed25519 seed paired with DID

{PREFIX} is the env_prefix on each OpenBoxAgent.

Examples:

• env_prefix="OPENBOX_RESEARCHER" maps to OPENBOX_RESEARCHER_API_KEY, OPENBOX_RESEARCHER_DID, and OPENBOX_RESEARCHER_PRIVATE_KEY
• env_prefix="OPENBOX_EDITOR" maps to OPENBOX_EDITOR_API_KEY, OPENBOX_EDITOR_DID, and OPENBOX_EDITOR_PRIVATE_KEY

Identity Model

Every governed agent should have its own env_prefix and its own OpenBox credentials.

Those credentials come from provisioning the agent in OpenBox:

• API key
• DID
• one-time private key

If you want per-agent AIP request signing:

• set both {PREFIX}_DID and {PREFIX}_PRIVATE_KEY
• do not reuse one agent's DID credentials for another role

If you omit signing credentials:

• omit both DID fields together
• API-key-based governance still works

API Failure Policy

governance_policy:

• fail_open — network error becomes a soft allow and execution continues
• fail_closed — network error raises GovernanceAPIError

on_fallback:

• log_warning — accept the fallback response from Core
• fail_closed — override fallback to BLOCK

Approvals

When Core returns REQUIRE_APPROVAL:

• hitl_enabled=True — the SDK polls the approval endpoint until resolved
• hitl_enabled=False — approval behavior falls back to on_fallback
• exclude_crews_hitl — lets you disable approval polling for specific crew names

Instrumentation Defaults

Enabled by default:

• HTTP capture
• supported database capture
• LLM-level governance

Disabled by default:

• file I/O capture

Use file instrumentation only when you have a concrete governance need for file operations.

Production Guidance

• decide explicitly between fail_open and fail_closed
• keep one OpenBoxEngine per process
• treat DID private keys like API secrets when signing is enabled
• turn on debug_log only when diagnosing runtime issues