shalya

A host is an object that answers what it can: read a file, search an index, run a command, remember a page. tools_for asks one what it supports and hands back those tools as plain functions, each with the type hints and docstring a model reads. Nothing here runs an agent loop or talks to a model.

Install

pip install shalya

from shalya.core import failed
from shalya.host import LocalHost
from shalya.tools import tools_for, read_only
from shalya.skills import Skill, Registry, skill_index

A host

LocalHost touches only the folders you open, and reports the capability groups it can serve. A group with no installed backend goes absent rather than broken.

import shutil
from pathlib import Path

d = Path('/tmp/shalya-demo')
shutil.rmtree(d, ignore_errors=True); d.mkdir(parents=True)
(d/'greet.py').write_text('def hi(n): return f"hi {n}"\n')

host = LocalHost(roots=[d], index=False, web=False)
host.can('file'), host.can('memory'), sorted(host.without)

(True, False, ['api', 'ask', 'memory', 'watch', 'web'])

The tools

tools_for returns one flat list, built from the groups this host answers. Every tool takes and returns strings: a harness can pass them to a model without knowing what a host is.

ts = {t.__name__: t for t in tools_for(host)}
len(ts), sorted(ts)

(27,
 ['add_cell',
  'add_root',
  'create_file',
  'edit_cell',
  'git_checkout',
  'git_commit',
  'git_diff',
  'git_divergence',
  'git_log',
  'git_remote',
  'git_stash',
  'git_status',
  'grep',
  'inspect_python',
  'ls',
  'notebook_cells',
  'outline',
  'read_terminal',
  'replace_text',
  'run_python',
  'run_shell',
  'run_shell_bg',
  'search_code',
  'shell_output',
  'shell_stop',
  'view_cell',
  'view_file'])

A tool answers with the text a model reads. view_file numbers and hashes each line; replace_text edits by exact text, a list of {oldText, newText} that all apply or none do; edit_file, the hash-addressed editor, is the opt-in exhash group (tools_for(host, optin=('exhash',))).

print(ts['view_file']('greet.py'))

1|f8c6|def hi(n): return f"hi {n}"

print(ts['replace_text']('greet.py', [{'oldText': 'hi {n}', 'newText': 'hey {n}'}]))

replaced 1 block(s) in /private/tmp/shalya-demo/greet.py
--- a//private/tmp/shalya-demo/greet.py
+++ b//private/tmp/shalya-demo/greet.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-def hi(n): return f"hi {n}"
+def hi(n): return f"hey {n}"

A refusal is a string that begins with ERROR:. failed is the one function that checks for it.

r = ts['view_file']('missing.py')
failed(r), r

(True, 'ERROR: no such file: /private/tmp/shalya-demo/missing.py')

Opting in

optin names the groups nobody gets by default: exhash (edit_file), research (a cited digest of the top web results), author (create_skill) and legacy, one release of shims for the names an MCP client may still send (list_files, list_vars, environment, memory_tree, git_rebase_preview, set_reminder, watch_url; gone in 0.2.0). An opt-in the host cannot back is empty rather than broken.

sorted({t.__name__ for t in tools_for(host, optin=('exhash', 'legacy'))} - set(ts))

['edit_file', 'environment', 'git_rebase_preview', 'list_files', 'list_vars']

With a vault (vishalakshi 0.1.17) the host also answers memory_read(ref=''), which browses the roots, a document’s headings or one section by doc#n; remember(key=), which replaces the note filed under the same key; and one watch(target, kind=) for a url, a reminder, a web search or a folder. Git writes answer in JSON with gheasy’s undo token beside summary, head and moved, so a harness can rewind what a turn did.

Tools for a sub-agent

read_only filters a list for a sub-agent that must not change anything. It drops every write tool, unless that tool publishes a read-only twin. read_url publishes one, and the twin reads a page without saving it to memory.

sorted(set(ts) - {t.__name__ for t in read_only(ts.values())})

['add_cell',
 'add_root',
 'create_file',
 'edit_cell',
 'git_checkout',
 'git_commit',
 'git_remote',
 'git_stash',
 'replace_text',
 'run_python',
 'run_shell',
 'run_shell_bg']

Skills

skill_index renders the block that goes in the system prompt: names and clipped descriptions, never bodies. discover collects installed pyskills and every SKILL.md under the open folders.

ks = [Skill(name='exhash', source='md', description='Hash-verified text editing.', where='', _text='View, then edit by address.'),
      Skill(name='ghapi', source='md', description='GitHub REST access through `GhApi`.', where='', _text='Issues, pull requests, releases.')]
print(skill_index(ks))

## Skills

Use `read_skill(name)` before doing the work a skill covers. Installed tool code is also searchable with `search_code`.

- `exhash`: Hash-verified text editing.
- `ghapi`: GitHub REST access through `GhApi`.

Extensions

A Python file with setup(reg) may add tools, skills, lifecycle hooks and an approval policy. An unknown event name raises rather than hooking nothing.

reg = Registry()

@reg.tool
def weather(city: str) -> str:
    "Today's weather in `city`."
    return f'sunny in {city}'

reg.skill('house-style', 'Short sentences. No headings.')
[t.__name__ for t in reg.tools], [s.name for s in reg.skills]

(['weather'], ['house-style'])

Develop

uv sync --all-extras --group dev
uv run nbdev-export
uv run nbdev-test
uv run pytest
uv run nbdev-clean