Why Touba exists
A useful agent also needs an understandable responsibility, controlled access and verifiable actions. Touba makes these rules part of the program that executes it.
More capable models, explicit authority
Model intelligence expands what agents can do. Governance defines what they are authorized to do. Touba connects these dimensions in a programmable, traceable and auditable framework.
As models improve, they can take on tasks that previously required complex orchestration. The value of the execution framework, or harness, lies as much in making actions governable, traceable and auditable as in organizing the work. The more we delegate to models, the more important it becomes to define their authority, limits and conditions for action. Touba makes this framework part of the program, following the principles of PAP.
From “should” to “can”
“The agent should request approval before paying” expresses an intention. The program must also establish whether the agent can reach the payment tool and under which conditions.
Touba separates these questions. Responsibility guides the model; contracts control accessible capabilities, calls, approvals and limits. The trace shows what was executed or refused.
A shared framework
| For whom? | What Touba provides |
|---|---|
| Developers | Composable agents, reviewable contracts, and tests for both results and refusals |
| Organizations | Technical controls for represented policies: access, approvals, budgets and evidence |
| Users | Explicit intervention points and traces the application can explain in understandable terms |
The organization selects its rules, developers express and test them, and the host application attests identities and supplies integrations.
Example: process a reimbursement
The workflow separates case preparation, decision and payment:
| Step | Responsible party | Control |
|---|---|---|
| Prepare the case | Review agent | Access to relevant documents, without payment capability |
| Approve the proposal | Designated reviewer | Required role, deadline and application-attested identity |
| Execute payment | Authorized tool | Call contract, permissions and effect receipt |
| Verify execution | Operations team | Trace linked to the program and its decisions |
Approval allows the declared path to continue; the tool remains subject to its own permissions. The approval tutorial shows how to program this workflow.
From rules to execution
| Question | Touba mechanism |
|---|---|
| What mission does the agent carry? | responsibility |
| Which capabilities may it choose? | uses |
| Who may call it? | callable_by |
| When does a person intervene? | human.approve and human.review |
| Which resources may it consume? | Scopes, permissions and budgets |
| What happened? | Execution and audit traces |
The mission declaration makes intent explicit. Executable guarantees apply to contracts checked by the compiler and runtime; application tests assess the quality of business results.