Provena

Context governance for agentic AI systems.

Your AI agent just made a decision based on data from 6 different sources. Can you tell me which ones? Can you prove the data wasn't tampered with? Can you verify it was still current when the LLM saw it?

Provena adds tamper-evident audit trails to any AI agent's context pipeline — in one decorator:

from provena import ContextTrail

trail = ContextTrail(storage_path="audit.db")

@trail.track(source="retriever")
def search(query):
    return retriever.search(query)

Every call to search() is now logged with a SHA-256 content hash, provenance validation, freshness check, and a hash-chained audit trail that detects tampering.

Why Provena?

AGT governs what agents DO. Guardrails AI governs what agents SAY. Provena governs what agents KNOW.

No existing tool governs the context input layer — the data your agent retrieves and acts on. Provena fills this gap:

	Provena	LangSmith	Guardrails AI	OpenTelemetry
Context tamper detection	✅	❌	❌	❌
Provenance validation	✅	❌	❌	❌
Freshness checking	✅	❌	❌	❌
EU AI Act compliance reports	✅	❌	❌	❌
Policy enforcement (block/warn)	✅	❌	✅ (output)	❌
Multi-agent handoff tracking	✅	✅	❌	❌
Zero core dependencies	✅	❌	❌	❌

Install

pip install provena                # core (zero dependencies)
pip install provena[cli]           # + CLI tools (click, rich)
pip install provena[otel]          # + OpenTelemetry export
pip install provena[postgres]      # + PostgreSQL backend
pip install provena[mcp]           # + MCP server for governance-aware agents
pip install provena[pdf]           # + PDF compliance reports
pip install provena[yaml]          # + YAML config file support
pip install provena[all]           # core + cli + otel + postgres + mcp + pdf + yaml

Framework adapters (install individually):

pip install provena[langchain]     # LangChain callback
pip install provena[llamaindex]    # LlamaIndex postprocessor
pip install provena[crewai]        # CrewAI event listener
pip install provena[autogen]       # AutoGen hook
pip install provena[openai-agents] # OpenAI Agents SDK hooks
pip install provena[google-adk]    # Google ADK callbacks

Quick Start

from provena import ContextTrail, ProvenanceMetadata
from datetime import datetime, timezone

trail = ContextTrail(storage_path="audit.db")

@trail.track(source="retriever")
def search(query):
    return retriever.search(query)

@trail.track(source="tool:pricing_api")
def get_price(product_id):
    return api.get(f"/price/{product_id}")

# Manual logging with full provenance
trail.log(
    content="The enterprise plan costs $499/month.",
    source="tool:pricing_api",
    provenance=ProvenanceMetadata(
        source_url="https://api.example.com/pricing",
        created_at=datetime.now(timezone.utc),
    ),
)

# Verify the chain hasn't been tampered with
verdict = trail.verify_chain()
# ChainVerdict(intact=True, total_records=3, broken_links=0)

# Get a governance summary
print(trail.summary())
# {
#   "total": 3,
#   "sources": {"retriever": 1, "tool:pricing_api": 2},
#   "provenance": {"VALID": 2, "MISSING": 1},
#   "freshness": {"FRESH": 2, "UNKNOWN": 1},
#   "chain_intact": True,
#   "signed": False
# }

End-to-End: RAG Pipeline with Governance

A complete example showing a multi-source retrieval pipeline where one source gets flagged:

from provena import (
    ContextTrail,
    ProvenanceMetadata,
    freshness_check,
    provenance_check,
    EnforcementLevel,
    PolicyViolation,
)
from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone

trail = ContextTrail(
    storage_path="audit.db",
    policies=[
        provenance_check(status="MISSING", enforcement=EnforcementLevel.WARN),
        freshness_check(status="STALE", enforcement=EnforcementLevel.BLOCK),
    ],
)

@trail.track(source="retriever")
def fetch_docs(query):
    # Returns a list — Provena extracts provenance per document
    return vector_db.search(query)

@trail.track(source="tool:web_search")
def web_search(query):
    return search_api.get(query)

# --- Run the pipeline ---

# Fresh doc with full provenance — passes all checks
doc = fetch_docs("enterprise pricing")

try:
    # Stale result triggers BLOCK policy
    old_result = web_search("competitor pricing")
except PolicyViolation as e:
    print(f"Blocked: {e}")
    # Blocked: freshness_check failed — STALE context blocked before reaching LLM

# The blocked entry is still logged for the compliance record
verdict = trail.verify_chain()
print(f"Chain intact: {verdict.intact}, records: {verdict.total_records}")
# Chain intact: True, records: 2

# Generate a compliance report
trail.export(format="json")  # or "csv", "json_with_annotations"

What the CLI shows

$ provena --db audit.db audit --format table

 ID  Source            Provenance  Freshness  Content Hash
  1  retriever         VALID       FRESH      a3f9c1...
  2  tool:web_search   VALID       STALE      b2e4d7...

$ provena --db audit.db verify
PASS — Chain intact (2 records verified)

$ provena --db audit.db summary
Total records : 2
Sources       : retriever=1, tool:web_search=1
Provenance    : VALID=2
Freshness     : FRESH=1  STALE=1
Chain         : intact
Signed        : no

Policy Enforcement

Three enforcement levels give you full control over the governance posture:

from provena import ContextTrail, freshness_check, provenance_check, require_signing

trail = ContextTrail(
    storage_path="audit.db",
    policies=[
        provenance_check(status="MISSING", enforcement=EnforcementLevel.BLOCK),
        freshness_check(status="STALE", enforcement=EnforcementLevel.WARN),
        require_signing(enforcement=EnforcementLevel.LOG),
    ],
)

Level	Behavior
LOG	Record the violation, continue
WARN	Call the warning callback, continue
BLOCK	Raise PolicyViolation, halt the call

Blocked entries are always persisted to the audit trail — the record shows what was rejected and why, satisfying EU AI Act Art. 12.

Multi-Agent Governance

Aggregate governance across a full agent pipeline with handoff tracking:

from provena import ContextTrail, TrailAggregator

researcher = ContextTrail(storage_path="researcher.db")
writer = ContextTrail(storage_path="writer.db")

agg = TrailAggregator()
agg.add(researcher, label="researcher")
agg.add(writer, label="writer")

# Record context handoffs between agents
agg.record_handoff(from_label="researcher", to_label="writer", record_id=5)

# Cross-agent governance summary
print(agg.summary())
# {
#   "total_records": 12,
#   "trails": {"researcher": 7, "writer": 5},
#   "provenance": {"VALID": 10, "MISSING": 2},
#   "all_chains_intact": True,
#   "all_signed": False
# }

# Surface governance gaps across the full pipeline
gaps = agg.detect_gaps()
# [EvidenceGap(type="MISSING_PROVENANCE", trail="researcher", record_id=3),
#  EvidenceGap(type="UNLINKED_HANDOFF", trail="writer", record_id=1)]

CLI

Install with pip install provena[cli], then:

# Verify hash chain integrity
provena --db audit.db verify
# PASS — Chain intact (42 records verified)

# Query the audit log
provena --db audit.db audit --source retriever --format json
provena --db audit.db audit --provenance-status MISSING
provena --db audit.db audit --freshness-status STALE

# Governance summary (with optional source filter)
provena --db audit.db summary --source retriever

# One-line CI/CD status check
provena --db audit.db stats
# records=42 provenance=VALID:40,MISSING:2 freshness=FRESH:38,STALE:4 chain=intact signed=yes

# Retention management (EU AI Act 180-day minimum enforced)
provena --db audit.db retain --max-age 365 --dry-run
provena --db audit.db retain --max-age 365 --archive backup.json

# Generate a compliance report
provena --db audit.db report --format text
provena --db audit.db report --format pdf   # requires provena[pdf]

# Start MCP server for governance-aware agents
provena mcp serve --db audit.db

# Migrate between backends
provena migrate --from audit.db --to postgresql://localhost/provena

For HMAC-signed trails, pass --signing-key or set PROVENA_SIGNING_KEY.

Integrations

LangChain

from provena.integrations.langchain import ProvenaCallback

chain = RetrievalQA.from_chain_type(
    llm=llm,
    retriever=retriever,
    callbacks=[ProvenaCallback(trail=trail)],
)

LlamaIndex

from provena.integrations.llamaindex import ProvenaPostprocessor

query_engine = index.as_query_engine(
    node_postprocessors=[ProvenaPostprocessor(trail=trail)]
)

CrewAI

from provena.integrations.crewai import ProvenaCrewListener

listener = ProvenaCrewListener(trail=trail)
crew = Crew(agents=[...], tasks=[...])
crew.kickoff()

OpenAI Agents SDK

from provena.integrations.openai_agents import ProvenaRunHooks

result = Runner.run(agent, input="...", hooks=ProvenaRunHooks(trail))

OpenTelemetry

trail = ContextTrail(
    storage_path="audit.db",
    otel_enabled=True,
    otel_service_name="my-agent",
)
# Every log() call emits an OTel span with provenance, freshness, and chain attributes

Configuration Files

# provena.toml
[storage]
path = "audit.db"
buffered = true

[hash_chain]
signing_key_env = "PROVENA_SIGNING_KEY"

[[policies]]
check = "freshness_check"
status = "STALE"
enforcement = "BLOCK"

trail = ContextTrail(config="provena.toml")

Architecture

Your Application
    │
    ├── Retriever ──┐
    ├── Tool Call ──┤
    ├── Agent Msg ──┤──► ContextTrail ──────────────► LLM Context Window
    ├── Memory    ──┤         │
    └── MCP       ──┘    ┌────┴───────────────────────┐
                         │ ProvenanceValidator         │
                         │ FreshnessChecker            │
                         │ PolicyEngine (block/warn)   │
                         │ HashChain (SHA-256 / HMAC)  │
                         │ WriteBuffer (10K+ writes/s) │
                         │ SQLite / PostgreSQL Backend │
                         │ OTel Exporter               │
                         └────────────────────────────┘
    │
    ├── TrailAggregator   — multi-agent cross-trail governance
    ├── RetentionEngine   — record lifecycle + EU AI Act 180-day minimum
    ├── ComplianceReport  — EU AI Act / OWASP article-by-article scoring
    └── MCP Server        — governance tools for agents via MCP protocol

Compliance

Provena maps directly to EU AI Act requirements for high-risk AI systems:

Article	Requirement	Provena Feature
Art. 9	Risk management	Policy engine with configurable enforcement
Art. 10	Data lineage	Provenance validation for every context input
Art. 12	Tamper-evident logging	SHA-256 hash-chained audit trail with HMAC signing
Art. 13	Transparency	trail.summary(), source tracking, compliance reports
Art. 14	Human oversight	trail.annotate() for reviewer decisions
Art. 26	Log retention	Retention engine with 6-month minimum enforcement

Also addresses OWASP ASI06 (Memory & Context Poisoning).

Generate a PDF compliance report: provena --db audit.db report --format pdf

See the full compliance documentation.

Documentation

Full documentation at rajfirke.github.io/provena — guides, API reference, integration docs, and compliance mapping.

Contributing

We welcome contributions! See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup, architecture guide, and PR process.

Please read our Code of Conduct before participating.

License

Apache 2.0