v0.7 artifact contracts and live-test configuration

This page documents the shared, versioned artifact schemas and the credential-gated live-test configuration that every v0.7 workstream (live evaluation harnesses, platform-compatibility checks, migration reporting, capability benchmarking, source-freshness/drift checks, and release packaging) reuses instead of inventing another ad hoc JSON shape or environment-variable convention.

Locations

Module	Purpose
`src/hpe_networking_mcp/pipeline/artifact_contracts.py`	Versioned, bounded, redacted artifact schemas and the atomic JSON writer.
`src/hpe_networking_mcp/pipeline/live_test_config.py`	Credential-gated, default-disabled per-platform live-test read/write configuration.
`src/hpe_networking_mcp/pipeline/compliance.py`	Pure, network-free declarative compliance-policy evaluation (bounded operators, safe field extraction, no eval/exec) backing `evaluate_compliance_policy`.
`tests/unit/test_artifact_contracts.py`	Contract validation, bounds, redaction, and digest determinism tests.
`tests/unit/test_live_test_config.py`	Default-disabled, explicit-opt-in, and no-leak status API tests.
`tests/unit/test_compliance.py`	Field extraction, every operator, fail-closed policy validation, bounds, and aggregate-report tests for `src/hpe_networking_mcp/pipeline/compliance.py`.

Neither module makes network calls or writes indexes/release artifacts on import; they are pure validation/serialization helpers for callers to use inside future v0.7 scripts (in the spirit of scripts/evaluate_aos8_060_lab.py).

Artifact kinds

Every artifact kind is explicitly schema-versioned (SCHEMA_VERSIONS, starting at 1), JSON serializable, and validated on construction (ArtifactValidationError on any missing/malformed field or an out-of-bound collection):

Kind constant	Contract dataclass(es)	Represents
`LIVE_LIFECYCLE_EVIDENCE`	`LiveLifecycleEvidence`	Bounded evidence from one live read-only or disposable-write lifecycle probe against a real platform.
`PLATFORM_COMPATIBILITY_RESULT`	`PlatformCompatibilityEntry`, `PlatformCompatibilityMatrix`	One or more per-platform compatibility verdicts – a one-entry matrix is a “result”.
`MIGRATION_REPORT_METADATA`	`MigrationReportMetadata`	Metadata about a migration report (counts, formats, hashed device references) – never the raw per-device rows, which stay in `src/hpe_networking_mcp/pipeline/reporter.py`’s CSV/JSON/HTML outputs.
`CAPABILITY_SNAPSHOT`	`PlatformCapabilityCount`, `CapabilitySnapshot`	Per-platform read/diagnostic/write/destructive tool counts, the reproducible core of `scripts/report_capability_gaps.py`.
`SOURCE_FRESHNESS_RESULT`	`SourceFreshnessEntry`, `SourceFreshnessSnapshot`	Per-source freshness/drift counts versus a minimum, the reproducible core of `scripts/check_security_lifecycle_drift.py`.
`RELEASE_ARTIFACT_MANIFEST`	`ManifestEntry`, `ReleaseArtifactManifest`	The manifest of artifact files produced for a release: filename, kind, schema version, size, SHA-256, generation timestamp, and redaction status for each entry.
`ROUTER_DEPENDENCY_PLAN`	`RouterPlanStep`, `RouterDependencyPlan`	A bounded, deterministic, read-only dependency/order plan produced by `hpe_networking_mcp.mcp_servers.tool_router.plan_tool_workflow` – never a record of an executed workflow.
`ROUTER_RECONCILIATION_PLAN`	`ReconciliationEntry`, `RouterReconciliationPlan`	A bounded, read-only, plan-only recurring reconciliation schedule specification produced by `hpe_networking_mcp.mcp_servers.tool_router.plan_reconciliation_schedule`; `dry_run` is always `True`.
`VALIDATION_MATRIX_RESULT`	`ValidationMatrixEntry`, `ValidationMatrix`	The per-category (platform, RAG/source-freshness, router-automation) credential-gated classification produced by `scripts/run_v07_validation_matrix.py`: `offline_fixture`, `live_read`, `disposable_write`, `blocked`, `unavailable`, or `coverage_gap`, plus whether reads/writes are enabled and credentials are configured – never raw credential values.
`COMPLIANCE_REPORT`	`ComplianceRuleResult`, `ComplianceObservationSummary`, `ComplianceReport`	A bounded, declarative compliance-policy evaluation report produced by `hpe_networking_mcp.mcp_servers.tool_router.evaluate_compliance_policy` (see `src/hpe_networking_mcp/pipeline/compliance.py`): per-rule `pass`/`fail`/`error`/`skipped` results and per-observation/aggregate counts against caller-supplied, already-retrieved observations – never a live fetch, and `compliant` can never be `True` while any `fail`/`error` result exists. Every result’s `actual` is recursively redacted (mirroring `hpe_networking_mcp.mcp_servers.shared`’s sensitive-key and this module’s tenant-key semantics against every field-path segment, not just container keys) and depth/collection/string/byte-bounded before it ever reaches this contract, so a valid `ComplianceRuleResult.actual` always fits this contract’s own serialized-size ceiling.

Every collection that can grow has a hard, fail-closed bound (for example MAX_EVIDENCE_STEPS, MAX_MATRIX_PLATFORMS, MAX_MANIFEST_ENTRIES) – validation raises instead of silently truncating evidence.

Redaction

Before any artifact is written, redact_artifact_payload runs these passes:

Secrets – reuses hpe_networking_mcp.mcp_servers.shared.redact_sensitive (not reimplemented) to strip tokens, passwords, API keys, PSKs, and bearer/ basic auth header values.
Tenant/workspace/account/scope identifiers and raw response bodies – fields such as tenant_id, workspace_id, account_id, customer_id, glp_workspace_id, scope_id/scope_name, and cluster_scope_id are replaced with a deterministic, irreversible sha256:<hex12> placeholder (hash_identifier), matching the convention already established by scripts/evaluate_aos8_050_readonly.py’s _sanitize_identifier. Keys that look like raw vendor payloads (raw_response, response_body, cookies, …) are replaced with a fixed omission marker.
Known values inside narrative text – callers pass credentials, tenant names/IDs, workspace IDs, and similar values through known_sensitive_values. Those exact bounded values are removed wherever they appear in reasons, errors, details, summaries, or other strings.

Key-based redaction cannot identify an arbitrary tenant name embedded in free text without knowing that value. Live evaluators and compatibility writers must therefore pass every known credential and target identifier via known_sensitive_values; raw vendor response bodies remain prohibited.

write_artifact(...) applies this redaction by default (redact=True); only pass redact=False for a payload that is already known-redacted, and never to work around a validation failure. LiveLifecycleEvidence also hard-rejects secrets_included=True and raw_response_included=True – these fields exist so a caller cannot even attempt to persist raw credentials or a raw vendor response body through this contract.

Writing an artifact

from hpe_networking_mcp.pipeline import artifact_contracts as contracts

entry = contracts.write_artifact(
    "outputs/aos8-live-evidence.json",
    contracts.LIVE_LIFECYCLE_EVIDENCE,
    {
        "platform": "aos8",
        "mode": "read_only",
        "generated_at": "2026-07-25T12:00:00+00:00",
        "steps": [{"name": "list_vlans", "status": "ok"}],
    },
    known_sensitive_values=[configured_tenant_id],
)

write_artifact validates the payload, redacts it, validates the redacted shape again, serializes it deterministically (sorted keys, so two logically-identical payloads always produce the same SHA-256 digest), and writes it atomically (same-directory temp file plus os.replace, mirroring src/hpe_networking_mcp/pipeline/aos8_migration_orchestrator.py’s MigrationRunStore). It returns a ManifestEntry (filename, kind, schema_version, size_bytes, sha256, generated_at, redacted) ready to fold into a ReleaseArtifactManifest.

Live-test configuration

src/hpe_networking_mcp/pipeline/live_test_config.py is the generalized, reusable form of the gating already hand-rolled in scripts/evaluate_aos8_060_lab.py. It governs whether a local evaluation harness is allowed to make bounded live calls against a real platform – it is a separate safety domain from the always-on MCP servers’ write-tool gates (HPE_MCP_CENTRAL_WRITES, HPE_MCP_GLP_V2BETA1_WRITES, HPE_MCP_PRODUCT_ACCESS, documented in Optional product starters).

Rule	Behavior
Default	Every platform is fully disabled: no live calls of any kind.
Credential presence	Never implies authorization. `credentials_configured(platform)` reports presence only.
Read opt-in	`HPE_MCP_LIVE_TEST_<PLATFORM>_READ=1` enables bounded, read-only live calls.
Disposable-write opt-in	`HPE_MCP_LIVE_TEST_<PLATFORM>_WRITE=1` and the read opt-in together enable a disposable create/read-back/delete round trip against a lab-owned target. The write flag alone is never sufficient.
Status API	`live_test_status(platform)` returns env var names, booleans, and a “credentials configured” flag – never a credential value.

Supported platform keys (shared with hpe_networking_mcp.mcp_servers.shared.PLATFORM_WRITE_GATE_NAMES): central, glp, aos8, edgeconnect, apstra, mist, clearpass, uxi, axis.

Platform	Read env var	Write env var	Credential env vars
Central	`HPE_MCP_LIVE_TEST_CENTRAL_READ`	`HPE_MCP_LIVE_TEST_CENTRAL_WRITE`	`SOURCE_BASE_URL`, `SOURCE_CLIENT_ID`, `SOURCE_CLIENT_SECRET`
GLP	`HPE_MCP_LIVE_TEST_GLP_READ`	`HPE_MCP_LIVE_TEST_GLP_WRITE`	`TARGET_BASE_URL`, `TARGET_CLIENT_ID`, `TARGET_CLIENT_SECRET`
AOS8	`HPE_MCP_LIVE_TEST_AOS8_READ`	`HPE_MCP_LIVE_TEST_AOS8_WRITE`	`AOS8_BASE_URL`, `AOS8_USERNAME`, `AOS8_PASSWORD`
EdgeConnect	`HPE_MCP_LIVE_TEST_EDGECONNECT_READ`	`HPE_MCP_LIVE_TEST_EDGECONNECT_WRITE`	`EDGECONNECT_BASE_URL`, `EDGECONNECT_API_TOKEN`
Apstra	`HPE_MCP_LIVE_TEST_APSTRA_READ`	`HPE_MCP_LIVE_TEST_APSTRA_WRITE`	`APSTRA_BASE_URL`, `APSTRA_API_TOKEN`
Mist	`HPE_MCP_LIVE_TEST_MIST_READ`	`HPE_MCP_LIVE_TEST_MIST_WRITE`	`MIST_HOST`, `MIST_API_TOKEN`
ClearPass	`HPE_MCP_LIVE_TEST_CLEARPASS_READ`	`HPE_MCP_LIVE_TEST_CLEARPASS_WRITE`	`CLEARPASS_BASE_URL`, `CLEARPASS_API_TOKEN`
UXI	`HPE_MCP_LIVE_TEST_UXI_READ`	`HPE_MCP_LIVE_TEST_UXI_WRITE`	`UXI_CLIENT_ID`, `UXI_CLIENT_SECRET`
Axis	`HPE_MCP_LIVE_TEST_AXIS_READ`	`HPE_MCP_LIVE_TEST_AXIS_WRITE`	`AXIS_BASE_URL`, `AXIS_API_TOKEN`

from hpe_networking_mcp.pipeline import live_test_config as live_test

if live_test.live_test_read_enabled("aos8"):
    ...  # bounded, read-only live calls

if live_test.live_test_write_enabled("aos8"):
    ...  # disposable, lab-owned create/read-back/delete round trip

status = live_test.live_test_status("aos8")  # safe to log/print as-is

Testing and linting these modules

uv run pytest tests/unit/test_artifact_contracts.py tests/unit/test_live_test_config.py
uv run ruff check src/hpe_networking_mcp/pipeline/artifact_contracts.py src/hpe_networking_mcp/pipeline/live_test_config.py

See Release artifact automation for how the validation-matrix runner, release-bundle packaging, and restore/ smoke-test tooling reuse these same schemas end to end.