Runtime Introspection

AgentSpec's health check CLI (agentspec health) runs pre-flight checks before you start your agent. Runtime introspection is the complementary half: your running agent continuously self-reports its live health state, and the AgentSpec sidecar reads it.

How It Works

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│           Your Agent Process        │
│                                     │
│  AgentSpecReporter                  │
│    └─ runs checks every 30s         │
│    └─ caches HealthReport           │
│    └─ GET /agentspec/health ────────┼──► sidecar probeAgent()
└─────────────────────────────────────┘         │
                                                 ▼
                                    ┌────────────────────────┐
                                    │   Sidecar Control Plane │
                                    │   GET /health/ready     │
                                    │   GET /explore          │
                                    │   GET /gap              │
                                    └────────────────────────┘

The SDK (@agentspec/sdk) exports AgentSpecReporter — a class you mount in your agent server. It runs the same health checks as the CLI but from inside the process, where full connectivity is available (real DB connections, real API reachability).

The sidecar (agentspec-sidecar) probes GET /agentspec/health on every request to its diagnostic endpoints. All three endpoints reflect live agent state when the SDK is integrated, and fall back to static manifest analysis when it isn't.

The /agentspec/health Endpoint

When AgentSpecReporter is mounted, your agent exposes:

GET /agentspec/health

Response (HealthReport):

json

{
  "agentName": "gymcoach",
  "timestamp": "2026-02-28T10:00:00.000Z",
  "status": "healthy",
  "summary": { "passed": 5, "failed": 0, "warnings": 0, "skipped": 0 },
  "checks": [
    { "id": "env:GROQ_API_KEY",   "category": "env",     "status": "pass", "severity": "error" },
    { "id": "model:groq/llama-3.3-70b-versatile", "category": "model", "status": "pass",
      "severity": "error", "latencyMs": 91 },
    { "id": "service:redis",      "category": "service", "status": "pass", "severity": "info",
      "latencyMs": 2 },
    { "id": "service:postgres",   "category": "service", "status": "pass", "severity": "info",
      "latencyMs": 3 },
    { "id": "tool:log-workout",   "category": "tool",    "status": "pass", "severity": "info" }
  ]
}

Status values:

Status	Meaning
`pass`	Check succeeded
`fail`	Check failed — see `message` and `remediation`
`skip`	Check could not run (e.g. `$env:VAR` unset; the `env` check covers it separately)

Two Modes: `manifest-static` and `agent-sdk`

The sidecar operates in one of two modes on every request. The source field in every response tells you which is active:

json

{ "source": "manifest-static" }  // agent has no /agentspec/health endpoint
{ "source": "agent-sdk" }        // live probe succeeded

`manifest-static` — zero agent changes required

The sidecar reads agent.yaml and infers everything from the declaration alone. No data comes from the running agent process. This works for any agent with no code changes.

What it can detect:

Check	How
`$env:VAR` references	Checks the sidecar container's environment, not the agent's
`$secret:*` references	Whether a secret backend is configured
`requires.services` TCP connectivity	Raw TCP connect to the declared address
MCP server TCP reachability	TCP connect to the MCP server host/port
Memory backend TCP connectivity	TCP connect to Redis/Postgres address

What it cannot detect:

Blind spot	Why
Tool handler registration	The sidecar has no visibility into the agent process
Model API key correctness	A wrong literal key (e.g. `apiKey: sk-invalid`) scores the same as a valid one
Real service health	TCP connect succeeds even when Redis has no memory left or Postgres rejects auth
Agent-side env vars	If your agent container has `OPENAI_API_KEY` set but the sidecar container does not, the env check still fails
Runtime token/memory usage	No behavioral data is available

Grade ceiling in manifest-static mode:

The /gap score always deducts 20 points (healthcheckable) because the sidecar probes GET /health on the agent's upstream URL and it returns no response, and 10 points (discoverable) because /capabilities also returns nothing. These two violations alone cap the maximum achievable score at 70 / grade C for any agent that does not expose those endpoints.

Score ceiling (manifest-static):
  100
  − 20  healthcheckable  (agent has no GET /health)
  − 10  discoverable     (agent has no GET /capabilities)
  ────
   70   → grade C at best

Grade A requires agent-sdk mode, or an agent that genuinely exposes /health and /capabilities endpoints on its upstream port.

`agent-sdk` — live data from the running process

When AgentSpecReporter is mounted and GET /agentspec/health returns a valid HealthReport, the sidecar uses that data instead of its own static analysis. All three diagnostic endpoints switch to live mode.

What it additionally detects:

Check	How
Tool handler registration	`tool:<name>` checks from the agent's own registry
Model API key validity	Live HTTP call to the provider API from inside the agent process
Service health at protocol level	Driver-level ping (Redis `PING`, Postgres `SELECT 1`) with real latency
Agent-side env resolution	Env vars read from `process.env` inside the agent container
Missing checks (spec vs reporter mismatch)	Gap engine cross-references spec declarations against reported check IDs

Grade F is only reachable in agent-sdk mode — enough failing high/critical checks from the live report can push the score below 45.

Endpoint behaviour by mode

Endpoint	`manifest-static`	`agent-sdk`
`GET /health/ready`	Env + service TCP checks from sidecar env	Full `HealthReport` from agent process
`GET /explore`	Manifest field values only; tool/service status `unknown`	Enriched with live check results and latency
`GET /gap`	Static violations (healthcheckable, discoverable, auditable, evaluated)	All static violations + live env/model/service/tool failures cross-referenced against spec

When to integrate the SDK

Situation	Recommendation
Agent has no HTTP server (e.g. a script or batch job)	Stay with `manifest-static` — no integration possible
Agent already runs a web server (FastAPI, Express, Fastify…)	Integrate — one route, ~5 lines
You need to verify your model API key is actually working	Integrate — `manifest-static` cannot detect a wrong key
You need tool registration status in the gap report	Integrate — invisible in `manifest-static`
You want grade A compliance scores	Integrate — grade C is the ceiling without it
You have strict env var separation between containers	Integrate — sidecar checks its own env, not the agent's

/gap Live Analysis

With the SDK integrated, GET /gap uses the live HealthReport to detect real problems — not hypothetical ones from the manifest alone:

json

{
  "score": 75,
  "source": "agent-sdk",
  "issues": [
    {
      "severity": "high",
      "property": "model.apiKey",
      "description": "Cannot check model endpoint: API key reference not resolved ($env:GROQ_API_KEY)",
      "recommendation": "Ensure the model API key environment variable is set..."
    },
    {
      "severity": "medium",
      "property": "auditable",
      "description": "No guardrails declared in spec",
      "recommendation": "Add spec.guardrails with input/output rules..."
    }
  ]
}

Model check severity mapping:

Model check result	Gap issue severity	Meaning
`fail`	`critical`	API key set but endpoint unreachable
`skip`	`high`	API key env var not set at all
`pass`	(no issue)	Endpoint reachable

Check Categories (Runtime)

These categories only appear in runtime HealthReports (not in CLI pre-flight output):

Category	Source	What it checks
`tool`	`AgentSpecReporter`	Tool handler is registered in the agent process
`service`	`AgentSpecReporter`	TCP connectivity for `spec.requires.services` entries
`model`	`AgentSpecReporter`	Provider API endpoint reachable (resolves `$env:` at runtime)

Caching and Refresh

AgentSpecReporter caches the last HealthReport to avoid hammering external APIs on every request to /agentspec/health.

Option	Default	Description
`refreshIntervalMs`	30 000	Background refresh interval
`staleAfterMs`	60 000	Max age before synchronous re-check on next `getReport()` call

After stop() is called (e.g. during graceful shutdown), getReport() returns the last cached report without running new checks.

Next Step

→ Add Runtime Health to your agent

Runtime Introspection ​

How It Works ​

The /agentspec/health Endpoint ​

Two Modes: manifest-static and agent-sdk ​

manifest-static — zero agent changes required ​

agent-sdk — live data from the running process ​

Endpoint behaviour by mode ​

When to integrate the SDK ​

/gap Live Analysis ​

Check Categories (Runtime) ​

Caching and Refresh ​

Next Step ​

Runtime Introspection

How It Works

The /agentspec/health Endpoint

Two Modes: `manifest-static` and `agent-sdk`

`manifest-static` — zero agent changes required

`agent-sdk` — live data from the running process

Endpoint behaviour by mode

When to integrate the SDK

/gap Live Analysis

Check Categories (Runtime)

Caching and Refresh

Next Step