AI Releases

Overview

AI Releases are the declarative release units of Kavach Enterprise. They make a production configuration reviewable as one canonical document instead of a collection of mutable settings spread across services.

Studio / Git / REST
        ↓
Canonical YAML or JSON
        ↓
Validation → canonicalization → fingerprint
        ↓
Immutable object storage + version metadata
        ↓
Impact analysis → simulation → persisted evidence
        ↓
Approval → release readiness → runtime resolution

Implementation model

Internally, the Governed Artifact Framework owns the lifecycle mechanics shared by release types: schema-version routing, canonicalization, SHA-256 content fingerprints, immutable versions, tenant-scoped persistence, audit history, approval state, and read-only runtime resolution. Each artifact type owns only its schema, reference semantics, and deterministic semantic-diff mapping.

Behavior Contracts are implemented first. Evaluation Profiles, Memory Contracts, Agent Contracts, Routing Policies, Tool Packs, and Guardrail Packages can adopt the same lifecycle without inventing a separate persistence or governance model.

Behavior Contracts

A Behavior Contract composes pinned references to the model, prompts, policies, datasets, tools, MCP servers, evaluation configuration, and runtime settings that determine an AI workflow's observable behavior. It does not deploy models, execute tools, or construct an agent runtime.

Metadata changes remain distinct from behavioral changes. A behavioral change creates a new immutable version and a new fingerprint.

Canonical source

YAML and JSON are equivalent editing formats, but the canonical document is the artifact. Studio is a synchronized visual editor; Git and REST imports pass through the same validation and canonicalization pipeline.

apiVersion: kavach.ai/v1alpha1
kind: BehaviorContract
metadata:
  name: Claims Triage
  labels:
    domain: claims
spec:
  model:
    ref:
      asset_id: impact-model-claims-triage
      version: v2
  prompts:
    system:
      ref:
        asset_id: impact-prompt-claims-triage
        version: v2
  policies: []
  tools: []
  mcp_servers: []
  memory:
    contract_ref: null
  extensions: {}

Immutable persistence

Relational storage remains authoritative for the logical identity, version, fingerprint, lifecycle, approval state, and audit records. The canonical YAML is stored separately through a cloud-neutral object storage SPI. SeaweedFS is the local default; S3, MinIO, and local filesystem providers are supported, with Azure Blob and GCS as future provider implementations.

SeaweedFS browser path
/buckets/kavach-behavior-contracts/
  org_default/project_default/28_07_2026/
    studio-claims-triage/v1/contract.yaml

S3 URI
s3://kavach-behavior-contracts/
  org_default/project_default/28_07_2026/
    studio-claims-triage/v1/contract.yaml

Object URIs are internal. Downloads are served by the API, and every retrieval verifies the stored document and its fingerprint.

Release workflow

A contract release is sequenced by explicit evidence, not by a browser workflow alone. The backend owns every transition and fails closed when evidence does not match the exact immutable version.

1. Validate the canonical schema and pinned references.
2. Generate an Impact Analyzer plan bound to the contract fingerprint.
3. Run an isolated replay simulation through Impact Analyzer.
4. Persist the completed simulation result as audit evidence.
5. Submit the plan and contract for governance approval.
6. Record approval to authorize runtime consumption.

Simulation evidence must match the contract fingerprint and the plan revision. A new behavioral version makes previous evidence historical; it cannot approve the new version.

Studio authoring

In Studio, open Enterprise → Behavior Contracts and select New Contract. The authoring flow covers General, Model, Prompt, Policies, Tools, Evaluation, Runtime, and Review. The Canonical Source panel stays synchronized with supported YAML and JSON edits, while Governance Preview shows validation, fingerprint, referenced assets, approval policy, and predicted risk.

After creating an immutable version, the Release Readiness view exposes only the next valid action. Studio renders the backend-owned readiness assessment; it does not derive impact, simulation, or approval state in the browser. See Kavach Studio for the console architecture.

REST API

Behavior Contract routes live under /api/v1/enterprise/behavior-contracts and use the standard organization and project tenant headers.

• POST /api/v1/enterprise/behavior-contracts
• POST /api/v1/enterprise/behavior-contracts/import
• GET /api/v1/enterprise/behavior-contracts/{contract_id}/versions
• GET /api/v1/enterprise/behavior-contracts/{contract_id}/versions/{version}/yaml
• GET /api/v1/enterprise/behavior-contracts/{contract_id}/versions/{version}/json
• POST /api/v1/enterprise/behavior-contracts/{contract_id}/versions/{version}/validate
• POST /api/v1/enterprise/behavior-contracts/{contract_id}/versions/{version}/impact-plan
• POST /api/v1/enterprise/behavior-contracts/{contract_id}/versions/{version}/simulations
• POST /api/v1/enterprise/behavior-contracts/{contract_id}/versions/{version}/simulations/{simulation_id}/persist
• POST /api/v1/enterprise/behavior-contracts/{contract_id}/versions/{version}/submit-for-approval
• POST /api/v1/enterprise/behavior-contracts/{contract_id}/versions/{version}/approve
• GET /api/v1/enterprise/behavior-contracts/{contract_id}/versions/{version}/promotion-readiness

Runtime resolution

External runtimes resolve approved contract versions; they do not author or mutate them. The resolution response contains the canonical, fingerprinted specification and resolved pinned references so a runtime can construct its own graph deterministically.

GET /api/v1/enterprise/behavior-contracts/claims-triage/versions/1/resolve
If-None-Match: "sha256:..."

Boundaries

Governed Artifacts do not replace the asset registry, Impact Analyzer, Replay, Evaluation, Governance Decisions, CI/CD, or agent runtimes. They provide the immutable, auditable release unit that composes those systems and binds their evidence to one exact version.