crewai-openterms

Permission-aware CrewAI tools for checking OpenTerms before an agent acts.

Related OpenTerms Packages

openterms-py](https://pypi.org/project/openterms-py/) — Core Python SDK for checking machine-readable permission rules. langchain-openterms — OpenTerms tools for LangChain agents. crewai-openterms — OpenTerms tools for CrewAI agents. openterms-examples — Runnable examples for Python, LangChain, and CrewAI. OpenTerms SDK docs — SDK reference and integration guide.

Install

pip install crewai-openterms

Canonical actions

The package documents and checks only these OpenTerms permission keys:

• read_content
• scrape_data
• api_access
• create_account
• make_purchases
• post_content
• allow_training

Default behavior

The guard is fail-closed by default.

| Result | Default behavior | |---|---| | allowed | Proceed | | denied | Block | | null | Block | | not_specified | Block | | no_openterms_json | Block | | low confidence | Block or escalate | | conditional result | Block or escalate unless conditions are verified |

During public alpha, many domains do not publish openterms.json. That is expected, but it blocks by default. To allow permissive fallback, pass fail_closed=False explicitly.

OpenTermsCheckTool

Use this when an agent needs a structured permission check.

from crewai import Agent, Task, Crew
from crewai_openterms import OpenTermsCheckTool

checker = OpenTermsCheckTool()

researcher = Agent(
    role="Web Researcher",
    goal="Gather information from websites while respecting their terms",
    backstory=(
        "Before accessing a website, check its OpenTerms permissions "
        "using the openterms_check tool."
    ),
    tools=[checker],
)

task = Task(
    description="Check whether github.com allows read_content and scrape_data.",
    expected_output="A summary of permitted actions on github.com.",
    agent=researcher,
)

crew = Crew(agents=[researcher], tasks=[task])
result = crew.kickoff()

OpenTermsGuardTool

Use this when an agent should receive a go or no-go decision before acting.

from crewai import Agent, Task, Crew
from crewai_openterms import OpenTermsGuardTool

guard = OpenTermsGuardTool(fail_closed=True)  # default

researcher = Agent(
    role="Permission-aware researcher",
    goal="Use websites only when OpenTerms permits the intended action",
    backstory=(
        "Before taking action on a website, use openterms_guard. "
        "If it blocks or escalates, do not proceed."
    ),
    tools=[guard],
)

task = Task(
    description="Check whether example.com permits scrape_data before scraping.",
    expected_output="A go or no-go decision.",
    agent=researcher,
)

crew = Crew(agents=[researcher], tasks=[task])
result = crew.kickoff()

Permissive fallback must be explicit:

guard = OpenTermsGuardTool(fail_closed=False)

OpenTermsGuardedTool

Use this pattern when OpenTerms should mechanically control whether a downstream tool executes.

from crewai.tools import BaseTool
from crewai_openterms import OpenTermsGuardedTool


class FetchPageTool(BaseTool):
    name: str = "fetch_page"
    description: str = "Fetch a page after permission is granted."

    def _run(self, url: str, **kwargs):
        return f"Fetched {url}"


fetch_page = FetchPageTool()

guarded_fetch = OpenTermsGuardedTool(
    wrapped_tool=fetch_page,
    action="read_content",
    fail_closed=True,  # default
)

result = guarded_fetch._run(url="https://example.com/page")

OpenTermsGuardedTool blocks the wrapped tool by default unless the OpenTerms check returns allowed. fail_closed=False is the only permissive fallback.

Discovery integration

When a domain's openterms.json includes a discovery block, the guard can surface MCP server URLs and API spec URLs in the allowed response.

Example:

ALLOWED: acme-corp.com permits 'api_access'. You may proceed. MCP servers available: https://acme-corp.com/mcp/sse. API specs available: https://api.acme-corp.com/v1/openapi.json.

Notes on openterms-py

The package uses openterms-py when installed through the SDK extra or development dependencies. If the SDK is unavailable, the client falls back to direct openterms.json fetch behavior.

Links

• OpenTerms Protocol
• Specification
• JSON Schema
• openterms-py SDK
• LangChain integration