`strands.experimental.steering.handlers.llm.llm_handler` ¶

LLM-based steering handler that uses an LLM to provide contextual guidance.

`SteeringAction = Annotated[Proceed | Guide | Interrupt, Field(discriminator='type')]` `module-attribute` ¶

`logger = logging.getLogger(name)` `module-attribute` ¶

`Agent` ¶

Core Agent interface.

An agent orchestrates the following workflow:

Receives user input
Processes the input using a language model
Decides whether to use tools to gather information or perform actions
Executes those tools and receives results
Continues reasoning with the new information
Produces a final response

Source code in strands/agent/agent.py

class Agent:
    """Core Agent interface.

    An agent orchestrates the following workflow:

    1. Receives user input
    2. Processes the input using a language model
    3. Decides whether to use tools to gather information or perform actions
    4. Executes those tools and receives results
    5. Continues reasoning with the new information
    6. Produces a final response
    """

    # For backwards compatibility
    ToolCaller = _ToolCaller

    def __init__(
        self,
        model: Union[Model, str, None] = None,
        messages: Optional[Messages] = None,
        tools: Optional[list[Union[str, dict[str, str], "ToolProvider", Any]]] = None,
        system_prompt: Optional[str | list[SystemContentBlock]] = None,
        structured_output_model: Optional[Type[BaseModel]] = None,
        callback_handler: Optional[
            Union[Callable[..., Any], _DefaultCallbackHandlerSentinel]
        ] = _DEFAULT_CALLBACK_HANDLER,
        conversation_manager: Optional[ConversationManager] = None,
        record_direct_tool_call: bool = True,
        load_tools_from_directory: bool = False,
        trace_attributes: Optional[Mapping[str, AttributeValue]] = None,
        *,
        agent_id: Optional[str] = None,
        name: Optional[str] = None,
        description: Optional[str] = None,
        state: Optional[Union[AgentState, dict]] = None,
        hooks: Optional[list[HookProvider]] = None,
        session_manager: Optional[SessionManager] = None,
        tool_executor: Optional[ToolExecutor] = None,
    ):
        """Initialize the Agent with the specified configuration.

        Args:
            model: Provider for running inference or a string representing the model-id for Bedrock to use.
                Defaults to strands.models.BedrockModel if None.
            messages: List of initial messages to pre-load into the conversation.
                Defaults to an empty list if None.
            tools: List of tools to make available to the agent.
                Can be specified as:

                - String tool names (e.g., "retrieve")
                - File paths (e.g., "/path/to/tool.py")
                - Imported Python modules (e.g., from strands_tools import current_time)
                - Dictionaries with name/path keys (e.g., {"name": "tool_name", "path": "/path/to/tool.py"})
                - ToolProvider instances for managed tool collections
                - Functions decorated with `@strands.tool` decorator.

                If provided, only these tools will be available. If None, all tools will be available.
            system_prompt: System prompt to guide model behavior.
                Can be a string or a list of SystemContentBlock objects for advanced features like caching.
                If None, the model will behave according to its default settings.
            structured_output_model: Pydantic model type(s) for structured output.
                When specified, all agent calls will attempt to return structured output of this type.
                This can be overridden on the agent invocation.
                Defaults to None (no structured output).
            callback_handler: Callback for processing events as they happen during agent execution.
                If not provided (using the default), a new PrintingCallbackHandler instance is created.
                If explicitly set to None, null_callback_handler is used.
            conversation_manager: Manager for conversation history and context window.
                Defaults to strands.agent.conversation_manager.SlidingWindowConversationManager if None.
            record_direct_tool_call: Whether to record direct tool calls in message history.
                Defaults to True.
            load_tools_from_directory: Whether to load and automatically reload tools in the `./tools/` directory.
                Defaults to False.
            trace_attributes: Custom trace attributes to apply to the agent's trace span.
            agent_id: Optional ID for the agent, useful for session management and multi-agent scenarios.
                Defaults to "default".
            name: name of the Agent
                Defaults to "Strands Agents".
            description: description of what the Agent does
                Defaults to None.
            state: stateful information for the agent. Can be either an AgentState object, or a json serializable dict.
                Defaults to an empty AgentState object.
            hooks: hooks to be added to the agent hook registry
                Defaults to None.
            session_manager: Manager for handling agent sessions including conversation history and state.
                If provided, enables session-based persistence and state management.
            tool_executor: Definition of tool execution strategy (e.g., sequential, concurrent, etc.).

        Raises:
            ValueError: If agent id contains path separators.
        """
        self.model = BedrockModel() if not model else BedrockModel(model_id=model) if isinstance(model, str) else model
        self.messages = messages if messages is not None else []
        # initializing self._system_prompt for backwards compatibility
        self._system_prompt, self._system_prompt_content = self._initialize_system_prompt(system_prompt)
        self._default_structured_output_model = structured_output_model
        self.agent_id = _identifier.validate(agent_id or _DEFAULT_AGENT_ID, _identifier.Identifier.AGENT)
        self.name = name or _DEFAULT_AGENT_NAME
        self.description = description

        # If not provided, create a new PrintingCallbackHandler instance
        # If explicitly set to None, use null_callback_handler
        # Otherwise use the passed callback_handler
        self.callback_handler: Union[Callable[..., Any], PrintingCallbackHandler]
        if isinstance(callback_handler, _DefaultCallbackHandlerSentinel):
            self.callback_handler = PrintingCallbackHandler()
        elif callback_handler is None:
            self.callback_handler = null_callback_handler
        else:
            self.callback_handler = callback_handler

        self.conversation_manager = conversation_manager if conversation_manager else SlidingWindowConversationManager()

        # Process trace attributes to ensure they're of compatible types
        self.trace_attributes: dict[str, AttributeValue] = {}
        if trace_attributes:
            for k, v in trace_attributes.items():
                if isinstance(v, (str, int, float, bool)) or (
                    isinstance(v, list) and all(isinstance(x, (str, int, float, bool)) for x in v)
                ):
                    self.trace_attributes[k] = v

        self.record_direct_tool_call = record_direct_tool_call
        self.load_tools_from_directory = load_tools_from_directory

        self.tool_registry = ToolRegistry()

        # Process tool list if provided
        if tools is not None:
            self.tool_registry.process_tools(tools)

        # Initialize tools and configuration
        self.tool_registry.initialize_tools(self.load_tools_from_directory)
        if load_tools_from_directory:
            self.tool_watcher = ToolWatcher(tool_registry=self.tool_registry)

        self.event_loop_metrics = EventLoopMetrics()

        # Initialize tracer instance (no-op if not configured)
        self.tracer = get_tracer()
        self.trace_span: Optional[trace_api.Span] = None

        # Initialize agent state management
        if state is not None:
            if isinstance(state, dict):
                self.state = AgentState(state)
            elif isinstance(state, AgentState):
                self.state = state
            else:
                raise ValueError("state must be an AgentState object or a dict")
        else:
            self.state = AgentState()

        self.tool_caller = _ToolCaller(self)

        self.hooks = HookRegistry()

        self._interrupt_state = _InterruptState()

        # Initialize session management functionality
        self._session_manager = session_manager
        if self._session_manager:
            self.hooks.add_hook(self._session_manager)

        # Allow conversation_managers to subscribe to hooks
        self.hooks.add_hook(self.conversation_manager)

        self.tool_executor = tool_executor or ConcurrentToolExecutor()

        if hooks:
            for hook in hooks:
                self.hooks.add_hook(hook)
        self.hooks.invoke_callbacks(AgentInitializedEvent(agent=self))

    @property
    def system_prompt(self) -> str | None:
        """Get the system prompt as a string for backwards compatibility.

        Returns the system prompt as a concatenated string when it contains text content,
        or None if no text content is present. This maintains backwards compatibility
        with existing code that expects system_prompt to be a string.

        Returns:
            The system prompt as a string, or None if no text content exists.
        """
        return self._system_prompt

    @system_prompt.setter
    def system_prompt(self, value: str | list[SystemContentBlock] | None) -> None:
        """Set the system prompt and update internal content representation.

        Accepts either a string or list of SystemContentBlock objects.
        When set, both the backwards-compatible string representation and the internal
        content block representation are updated to maintain consistency.

        Args:
            value: System prompt as string, list of SystemContentBlock objects, or None.
                  - str: Simple text prompt (most common use case)
                  - list[SystemContentBlock]: Content blocks with features like caching
                  - None: Clear the system prompt
        """
        self._system_prompt, self._system_prompt_content = self._initialize_system_prompt(value)

    @property
    def tool(self) -> _ToolCaller:
        """Call tool as a function.

        Returns:
            Tool caller through which user can invoke tool as a function.

        Example:
            ```
            agent = Agent(tools=[calculator])
            agent.tool.calculator(...)
            ```
        """
        return self.tool_caller

    @property
    def tool_names(self) -> list[str]:
        """Get a list of all registered tool names.

        Returns:
            Names of all tools available to this agent.
        """
        all_tools = self.tool_registry.get_all_tools_config()
        return list(all_tools.keys())

    def __call__(
        self,
        prompt: AgentInput = None,
        *,
        invocation_state: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
        structured_output_model: Type[BaseModel] | None = None,
        **kwargs: Any,
    ) -> AgentResult:
        """Process a natural language prompt through the agent's event loop.

        This method implements the conversational interface with multiple input patterns:
        - String input: `agent("hello!")`
        - ContentBlock list: `agent([{"text": "hello"}, {"image": {...}}])`
        - Message list: `agent([{"role": "user", "content": [{"text": "hello"}]}])`
        - No input: `agent()` - uses existing conversation history

        Args:
            prompt: User input in various formats:
                - str: Simple text input
                - list[ContentBlock]: Multi-modal content blocks
                - list[Message]: Complete messages with roles
                - None: Use existing conversation history
            invocation_state: Additional parameters to pass through the event loop.
            structured_output_model: Pydantic model type(s) for structured output (overrides agent default).
            **kwargs: Additional parameters to pass through the event loop.[Deprecating]

        Returns:
            Result object containing:

                - stop_reason: Why the event loop stopped (e.g., "end_turn", "max_tokens")
                - message: The final message from the model
                - metrics: Performance metrics from the event loop
                - state: The final state of the event loop
                - structured_output: Parsed structured output when structured_output_model was specified
        """
        return run_async(
            lambda: self.invoke_async(
                prompt, invocation_state=invocation_state, structured_output_model=structured_output_model, **kwargs
            )
        )

    async def invoke_async(
        self,
        prompt: AgentInput = None,
        *,
        invocation_state: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
        structured_output_model: Type[BaseModel] | None = None,
        **kwargs: Any,
    ) -> AgentResult:
        """Process a natural language prompt through the agent's event loop.

        This method implements the conversational interface with multiple input patterns:
        - String input: Simple text input
        - ContentBlock list: Multi-modal content blocks
        - Message list: Complete messages with roles
        - No input: Use existing conversation history

        Args:
            prompt: User input in various formats:
                - str: Simple text input
                - list[ContentBlock]: Multi-modal content blocks
                - list[Message]: Complete messages with roles
                - None: Use existing conversation history
            invocation_state: Additional parameters to pass through the event loop.
            structured_output_model: Pydantic model type(s) for structured output (overrides agent default).
            **kwargs: Additional parameters to pass through the event loop.[Deprecating]

        Returns:
            Result: object containing:

                - stop_reason: Why the event loop stopped (e.g., "end_turn", "max_tokens")
                - message: The final message from the model
                - metrics: Performance metrics from the event loop
                - state: The final state of the event loop
        """
        events = self.stream_async(
            prompt, invocation_state=invocation_state, structured_output_model=structured_output_model, **kwargs
        )
        async for event in events:
            _ = event

        return cast(AgentResult, event["result"])

    def structured_output(self, output_model: Type[T], prompt: AgentInput = None) -> T:
        """This method allows you to get structured output from the agent.

        If you pass in a prompt, it will be used temporarily without adding it to the conversation history.
        If you don't pass in a prompt, it will use only the existing conversation history to respond.

        For smaller models, you may want to use the optional prompt to add additional instructions to explicitly
        instruct the model to output the structured data.

        Args:
            output_model: The output model (a JSON schema written as a Pydantic BaseModel)
                that the agent will use when responding.
            prompt: The prompt to use for the agent in various formats:
                - str: Simple text input
                - list[ContentBlock]: Multi-modal content blocks
                - list[Message]: Complete messages with roles
                - None: Use existing conversation history

        Raises:
            ValueError: If no conversation history or prompt is provided.
        """
        warnings.warn(
            "Agent.structured_output method is deprecated."
            " You should pass in `structured_output_model` directly into the agent invocation."
            " see: https://strandsagents.com/latest/documentation/docs/user-guide/concepts/agents/structured-output/",
            category=DeprecationWarning,
            stacklevel=2,
        )

        return run_async(lambda: self.structured_output_async(output_model, prompt))

    async def structured_output_async(self, output_model: Type[T], prompt: AgentInput = None) -> T:
        """This method allows you to get structured output from the agent.

        If you pass in a prompt, it will be used temporarily without adding it to the conversation history.
        If you don't pass in a prompt, it will use only the existing conversation history to respond.

        For smaller models, you may want to use the optional prompt to add additional instructions to explicitly
        instruct the model to output the structured data.

        Args:
            output_model: The output model (a JSON schema written as a Pydantic BaseModel)
                that the agent will use when responding.
            prompt: The prompt to use for the agent (will not be added to conversation history).

        Raises:
            ValueError: If no conversation history or prompt is provided.
        -
        """
        if self._interrupt_state.activated:
            raise RuntimeError("cannot call structured output during interrupt")

        warnings.warn(
            "Agent.structured_output_async method is deprecated."
            " You should pass in `structured_output_model` directly into the agent invocation."
            " see: https://strandsagents.com/latest/documentation/docs/user-guide/concepts/agents/structured-output/",
            category=DeprecationWarning,
            stacklevel=2,
        )
        await self.hooks.invoke_callbacks_async(BeforeInvocationEvent(agent=self))
        with self.tracer.tracer.start_as_current_span(
            "execute_structured_output", kind=trace_api.SpanKind.CLIENT
        ) as structured_output_span:
            try:
                if not self.messages and not prompt:
                    raise ValueError("No conversation history or prompt provided")

                temp_messages: Messages = self.messages + await self._convert_prompt_to_messages(prompt)

                structured_output_span.set_attributes(
                    {
                        "gen_ai.system": "strands-agents",
                        "gen_ai.agent.name": self.name,
                        "gen_ai.agent.id": self.agent_id,
                        "gen_ai.operation.name": "execute_structured_output",
                    }
                )
                if self.system_prompt:
                    structured_output_span.add_event(
                        "gen_ai.system.message",
                        attributes={"role": "system", "content": serialize([{"text": self.system_prompt}])},
                    )
                for message in temp_messages:
                    structured_output_span.add_event(
                        f"gen_ai.{message['role']}.message",
                        attributes={"role": message["role"], "content": serialize(message["content"])},
                    )
                events = self.model.structured_output(output_model, temp_messages, system_prompt=self.system_prompt)
                async for event in events:
                    if isinstance(event, TypedEvent):
                        event.prepare(invocation_state={})
                        if event.is_callback_event:
                            self.callback_handler(**event.as_dict())

                structured_output_span.add_event(
                    "gen_ai.choice", attributes={"message": serialize(event["output"].model_dump())}
                )
                return event["output"]

            finally:
                await self.hooks.invoke_callbacks_async(AfterInvocationEvent(agent=self))

    def cleanup(self) -> None:
        """Clean up resources used by the agent.

        This method cleans up all tool providers that require explicit cleanup,
        such as MCP clients. It should be called when the agent is no longer needed
        to ensure proper resource cleanup.

        Note: This method uses a "belt and braces" approach with automatic cleanup
        through finalizers as a fallback, but explicit cleanup is recommended.
        """
        self.tool_registry.cleanup()

    def __del__(self) -> None:
        """Clean up resources when agent is garbage collected."""
        # __del__ is called even when an exception is thrown in the constructor,
        # so there is no guarantee tool_registry was set..
        if hasattr(self, "tool_registry"):
            self.tool_registry.cleanup()

    async def stream_async(
        self,
        prompt: AgentInput = None,
        *,
        invocation_state: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
        structured_output_model: Type[BaseModel] | None = None,
        **kwargs: Any,
    ) -> AsyncIterator[Any]:
        """Process a natural language prompt and yield events as an async iterator.

        This method provides an asynchronous interface for streaming agent events with multiple input patterns:
        - String input: Simple text input
        - ContentBlock list: Multi-modal content blocks
        - Message list: Complete messages with roles
        - No input: Use existing conversation history

        Args:
            prompt: User input in various formats:
                - str: Simple text input
                - list[ContentBlock]: Multi-modal content blocks
                - list[Message]: Complete messages with roles
                - None: Use existing conversation history
            invocation_state: Additional parameters to pass through the event loop.
            structured_output_model: Pydantic model type(s) for structured output (overrides agent default).
            **kwargs: Additional parameters to pass to the event loop.[Deprecating]

        Yields:
            An async iterator that yields events. Each event is a dictionary containing
                information about the current state of processing, such as:

                - data: Text content being generated
                - complete: Whether this is the final chunk
                - current_tool_use: Information about tools being executed
                - And other event data provided by the callback handler

        Raises:
            Exception: Any exceptions from the agent invocation will be propagated to the caller.

        Example:
            ```python
            async for event in agent.stream_async("Analyze this data"):
                if "data" in event:
                    yield event["data"]
            ```
        """
        self._interrupt_state.resume(prompt)

        self.event_loop_metrics.reset_usage_metrics()

        merged_state = {}
        if kwargs:
            warnings.warn("`**kwargs` parameter is deprecating, use `invocation_state` instead.", stacklevel=2)
            merged_state.update(kwargs)
            if invocation_state is not None:
                merged_state["invocation_state"] = invocation_state
        else:
            if invocation_state is not None:
                merged_state = invocation_state

        callback_handler = self.callback_handler
        if kwargs:
            callback_handler = kwargs.get("callback_handler", self.callback_handler)

        # Process input and get message to add (if any)
        messages = await self._convert_prompt_to_messages(prompt)

        self.trace_span = self._start_agent_trace_span(messages)

        with trace_api.use_span(self.trace_span):
            try:
                events = self._run_loop(messages, merged_state, structured_output_model)

                async for event in events:
                    event.prepare(invocation_state=merged_state)

                    if event.is_callback_event:
                        as_dict = event.as_dict()
                        callback_handler(**as_dict)
                        yield as_dict

                result = AgentResult(*event["stop"])
                callback_handler(result=result)
                yield AgentResultEvent(result=result).as_dict()

                self._end_agent_trace_span(response=result)

            except Exception as e:
                self._end_agent_trace_span(error=e)
                raise

    async def _run_loop(
        self,
        messages: Messages,
        invocation_state: dict[str, Any],
        structured_output_model: Type[BaseModel] | None = None,
    ) -> AsyncGenerator[TypedEvent, None]:
        """Execute the agent's event loop with the given message and parameters.

        Args:
            messages: The input messages to add to the conversation.
            invocation_state: Additional parameters to pass to the event loop.
            structured_output_model: Optional Pydantic model type for structured output.

        Yields:
            Events from the event loop cycle.
        """
        await self.hooks.invoke_callbacks_async(BeforeInvocationEvent(agent=self))

        agent_result: AgentResult | None = None
        try:
            yield InitEventLoopEvent()

            await self._append_messages(*messages)

            structured_output_context = StructuredOutputContext(
                structured_output_model or self._default_structured_output_model
            )

            # Execute the event loop cycle with retry logic for context limits
            events = self._execute_event_loop_cycle(invocation_state, structured_output_context)
            async for event in events:
                # Signal from the model provider that the message sent by the user should be redacted,
                # likely due to a guardrail.
                if (
                    isinstance(event, ModelStreamChunkEvent)
                    and event.chunk
                    and event.chunk.get("redactContent")
                    and event.chunk["redactContent"].get("redactUserContentMessage")
                ):
                    self.messages[-1]["content"] = self._redact_user_content(
                        self.messages[-1]["content"], str(event.chunk["redactContent"]["redactUserContentMessage"])
                    )
                    if self._session_manager:
                        self._session_manager.redact_latest_message(self.messages[-1], self)
                yield event

            # Capture the result from the final event if available
            if isinstance(event, EventLoopStopEvent):
                agent_result = AgentResult(*event["stop"])

        finally:
            self.conversation_manager.apply_management(self)
            await self.hooks.invoke_callbacks_async(AfterInvocationEvent(agent=self, result=agent_result))

    async def _execute_event_loop_cycle(
        self, invocation_state: dict[str, Any], structured_output_context: StructuredOutputContext | None = None
    ) -> AsyncGenerator[TypedEvent, None]:
        """Execute the event loop cycle with retry logic for context window limits.

        This internal method handles the execution of the event loop cycle and implements
        retry logic for handling context window overflow exceptions by reducing the
        conversation context and retrying.

        Args:
            invocation_state: Additional parameters to pass to the event loop.
            structured_output_context: Optional structured output context for this invocation.

        Yields:
            Events of the loop cycle.
        """
        # Add `Agent` to invocation_state to keep backwards-compatibility
        invocation_state["agent"] = self

        if structured_output_context:
            structured_output_context.register_tool(self.tool_registry)

        try:
            events = event_loop_cycle(
                agent=self,
                invocation_state=invocation_state,
                structured_output_context=structured_output_context,
            )
            async for event in events:
                yield event

        except ContextWindowOverflowException as e:
            # Try reducing the context size and retrying
            self.conversation_manager.reduce_context(self, e=e)

            # Sync agent after reduce_context to keep conversation_manager_state up to date in the session
            if self._session_manager:
                self._session_manager.sync_agent(self)

            events = self._execute_event_loop_cycle(invocation_state, structured_output_context)
            async for event in events:
                yield event

        finally:
            if structured_output_context:
                structured_output_context.cleanup(self.tool_registry)

    async def _convert_prompt_to_messages(self, prompt: AgentInput) -> Messages:
        if self._interrupt_state.activated:
            return []

        messages: Messages | None = None
        if prompt is not None:
            # Check if the latest message is toolUse
            if len(self.messages) > 0 and any("toolUse" in content for content in self.messages[-1]["content"]):
                # Add toolResult message after to have a valid conversation
                logger.info(
                    "Agents latest message is toolUse, appending a toolResult message to have valid conversation."
                )
                tool_use_ids = [
                    content["toolUse"]["toolUseId"] for content in self.messages[-1]["content"] if "toolUse" in content
                ]
                await self._append_messages(
                    {
                        "role": "user",
                        "content": generate_missing_tool_result_content(tool_use_ids),
                    }
                )
            if isinstance(prompt, str):
                # String input - convert to user message
                messages = [{"role": "user", "content": [{"text": prompt}]}]
            elif isinstance(prompt, list):
                if len(prompt) == 0:
                    # Empty list
                    messages = []
                # Check if all item in input list are dictionaries
                elif all(isinstance(item, dict) for item in prompt):
                    # Check if all items are messages
                    if all(all(key in item for key in Message.__annotations__.keys()) for item in prompt):
                        # Messages input - add all messages to conversation
                        messages = cast(Messages, prompt)

                    # Check if all items are content blocks
                    elif all(any(key in ContentBlock.__annotations__.keys() for key in item) for item in prompt):
                        # Treat as List[ContentBlock] input - convert to user message
                        # This allows invalid structures to be passed through to the model
                        messages = [{"role": "user", "content": cast(list[ContentBlock], prompt)}]
        else:
            messages = []
        if messages is None:
            raise ValueError("Input prompt must be of type: `str | list[Contentblock] | Messages | None`.")
        return messages

    def _start_agent_trace_span(self, messages: Messages) -> trace_api.Span:
        """Starts a trace span for the agent.

        Args:
            messages: The input messages.
        """
        model_id = self.model.config.get("model_id") if hasattr(self.model, "config") else None
        return self.tracer.start_agent_span(
            messages=messages,
            agent_name=self.name,
            model_id=model_id,
            tools=self.tool_names,
            system_prompt=self.system_prompt,
            custom_trace_attributes=self.trace_attributes,
            tools_config=self.tool_registry.get_all_tools_config(),
        )

    def _end_agent_trace_span(
        self,
        response: Optional[AgentResult] = None,
        error: Optional[Exception] = None,
    ) -> None:
        """Ends a trace span for the agent.

        Args:
            span: The span to end.
            response: Response to record as a trace attribute.
            error: Error to record as a trace attribute.
        """
        if self.trace_span:
            trace_attributes: dict[str, Any] = {
                "span": self.trace_span,
            }

            if response:
                trace_attributes["response"] = response
            if error:
                trace_attributes["error"] = error

            self.tracer.end_agent_span(**trace_attributes)

    def _initialize_system_prompt(
        self, system_prompt: str | list[SystemContentBlock] | None
    ) -> tuple[str | None, list[SystemContentBlock] | None]:
        """Initialize system prompt fields from constructor input.

        Maintains backwards compatibility by keeping system_prompt as str when string input
        provided, avoiding breaking existing consumers.

        Maps system_prompt input to both string and content block representations:
        - If string: system_prompt=string, _system_prompt_content=[{text: string}]
        - If list with text elements: system_prompt=concatenated_text, _system_prompt_content=list
        - If list without text elements: system_prompt=None, _system_prompt_content=list
        - If None: system_prompt=None, _system_prompt_content=None
        """
        if isinstance(system_prompt, str):
            return system_prompt, [{"text": system_prompt}]
        elif isinstance(system_prompt, list):
            # Concatenate all text elements for backwards compatibility, None if no text found
            text_parts = [block["text"] for block in system_prompt if "text" in block]
            system_prompt_str = "\n".join(text_parts) if text_parts else None
            return system_prompt_str, system_prompt
        else:
            return None, None

    async def _append_messages(self, *messages: Message) -> None:
        """Appends messages to history and invoke the callbacks for the MessageAddedEvent."""
        for message in messages:
            self.messages.append(message)
            await self.hooks.invoke_callbacks_async(MessageAddedEvent(agent=self, message=message))

    def _redact_user_content(self, content: list[ContentBlock], redact_message: str) -> list[ContentBlock]:
        """Redact user content preserving toolResult blocks.

        Args:
            content: content blocks to be redacted
            redact_message: redact message to be replaced

        Returns:
            Redacted content, as follows:
            - if the message contains at least a toolResult block,
                all toolResult blocks(s) are kept, redacting only the result content;
            - otherwise, the entire content of the message is replaced
                with a single text block with the redact message.
        """
        redacted_content = []
        for block in content:
            if "toolResult" in block:
                block["toolResult"]["content"] = [{"text": redact_message}]
                redacted_content.append(block)

        if not redacted_content:
            # Text content is added only if no toolResult blocks were found
            redacted_content = [{"text": redact_message}]

        return redacted_content

`system_prompt` `property` `writable` ¶

Get the system prompt as a string for backwards compatibility.

Returns the system prompt as a concatenated string when it contains text content, or None if no text content is present. This maintains backwards compatibility with existing code that expects system_prompt to be a string.

Returns:

Type	Description
`str \| None`	The system prompt as a string, or None if no text content exists.

`tool` `property` ¶

Call tool as a function.

Returns:

Type	Description
`_ToolCaller`	Tool caller through which user can invoke tool as a function.

Example

agent = Agent(tools=[calculator])
agent.tool.calculator(...)

`tool_names` `property` ¶

Get a list of all registered tool names.

Returns:

Type	Description
`list[str]`	Names of all tools available to this agent.

`call(prompt=None, *, invocation_state=None, structured_output_model=None, **kwargs)` ¶

Process a natural language prompt through the agent's event loop.

This method implements the conversational interface with multiple input patterns: - String input: agent("hello!") - ContentBlock list: agent([{"text": "hello"}, {"image": {...}}]) - Message list: agent([{"role": "user", "content": [{"text": "hello"}]}]) - No input: agent() - uses existing conversation history

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`prompt`	`AgentInput`	User input in various formats: - str: Simple text input - list[ContentBlock]: Multi-modal content blocks - list[Message]: Complete messages with roles - None: Use existing conversation history	`None`
`invocation_state`	`dict[str, Any] \| None`	Additional parameters to pass through the event loop.	`None`
`structured_output_model`	`Type[BaseModel] \| None`	Pydantic model type(s) for structured output (overrides agent default).	`None`
`**kwargs`	`Any`	Additional parameters to pass through the event loop.[Deprecating]	`{}`

Returns:

Type	Description
`AgentResult`	Result object containing: stop_reason: Why the event loop stopped (e.g., "end_turn", "max_tokens") message: The final message from the model metrics: Performance metrics from the event loop state: The final state of the event loop structured_output: Parsed structured output when structured_output_model was specified

Source code in strands/agent/agent.py

def __call__(
    self,
    prompt: AgentInput = None,
    *,
    invocation_state: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
    structured_output_model: Type[BaseModel] | None = None,
    **kwargs: Any,
) -> AgentResult:
    """Process a natural language prompt through the agent's event loop.

    This method implements the conversational interface with multiple input patterns:
    - String input: `agent("hello!")`
    - ContentBlock list: `agent([{"text": "hello"}, {"image": {...}}])`
    - Message list: `agent([{"role": "user", "content": [{"text": "hello"}]}])`
    - No input: `agent()` - uses existing conversation history

    Args:
        prompt: User input in various formats:
            - str: Simple text input
            - list[ContentBlock]: Multi-modal content blocks
            - list[Message]: Complete messages with roles
            - None: Use existing conversation history
        invocation_state: Additional parameters to pass through the event loop.
        structured_output_model: Pydantic model type(s) for structured output (overrides agent default).
        **kwargs: Additional parameters to pass through the event loop.[Deprecating]

    Returns:
        Result object containing:

            - stop_reason: Why the event loop stopped (e.g., "end_turn", "max_tokens")
            - message: The final message from the model
            - metrics: Performance metrics from the event loop
            - state: The final state of the event loop
            - structured_output: Parsed structured output when structured_output_model was specified
    """
    return run_async(
        lambda: self.invoke_async(
            prompt, invocation_state=invocation_state, structured_output_model=structured_output_model, **kwargs
        )
    )

`del()` ¶

Clean up resources when agent is garbage collected.

Source code in strands/agent/agent.py

def __del__(self) -> None:
    """Clean up resources when agent is garbage collected."""
    # __del__ is called even when an exception is thrown in the constructor,
    # so there is no guarantee tool_registry was set..
    if hasattr(self, "tool_registry"):
        self.tool_registry.cleanup()

`init(model=None, messages=None, tools=None, system_prompt=None, structured_output_model=None, callback_handler=_DEFAULT_CALLBACK_HANDLER, conversation_manager=None, record_direct_tool_call=True, load_tools_from_directory=False, trace_attributes=None, *, agent_id=None, name=None, description=None, state=None, hooks=None, session_manager=None, tool_executor=None)` ¶

Initialize the Agent with the specified configuration.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`model`	`Union[Model, str, None]`	Provider for running inference or a string representing the model-id for Bedrock to use. Defaults to strands.models.BedrockModel if None.	`None`
`messages`	`Optional[Messages]`	List of initial messages to pre-load into the conversation. Defaults to an empty list if None.	`None`
`tools`	`Optional[list[Union[str, dict[str, str], ToolProvider, Any]]]`	List of tools to make available to the agent. Can be specified as: String tool names (e.g., "retrieve") File paths (e.g., "/path/to/tool.py") Imported Python modules (e.g., from strands_tools import current_time) Dictionaries with name/path keys (e.g., {"name": "tool_name", "path": "/path/to/tool.py"}) ToolProvider instances for managed tool collections Functions decorated with `@strands.tool` decorator. If provided, only these tools will be available. If None, all tools will be available.	`None`
`system_prompt`	`Optional[str \| list[SystemContentBlock]]`	System prompt to guide model behavior. Can be a string or a list of SystemContentBlock objects for advanced features like caching. If None, the model will behave according to its default settings.	`None`
`structured_output_model`	`Optional[Type[BaseModel]]`	Pydantic model type(s) for structured output. When specified, all agent calls will attempt to return structured output of this type. This can be overridden on the agent invocation. Defaults to None (no structured output).	`None`
`callback_handler`	`Optional[Union[Callable[..., Any], _DefaultCallbackHandlerSentinel]]`	Callback for processing events as they happen during agent execution. If not provided (using the default), a new PrintingCallbackHandler instance is created. If explicitly set to None, null_callback_handler is used.	`_DEFAULT_CALLBACK_HANDLER`
`conversation_manager`	`Optional[ConversationManager]`	Manager for conversation history and context window. Defaults to strands.agent.conversation_manager.SlidingWindowConversationManager if None.	`None`
`record_direct_tool_call`	`bool`	Whether to record direct tool calls in message history. Defaults to True.	`True`
`load_tools_from_directory`	`bool`	Whether to load and automatically reload tools in the `./tools/` directory. Defaults to False.	`False`
`trace_attributes`	`Optional[Mapping[str, AttributeValue]]`	Custom trace attributes to apply to the agent's trace span.	`None`
`agent_id`	`Optional[str]`	Optional ID for the agent, useful for session management and multi-agent scenarios. Defaults to "default".	`None`
`name`	`Optional[str]`	name of the Agent Defaults to "Strands Agents".	`None`
`description`	`Optional[str]`	description of what the Agent does Defaults to None.	`None`
`state`	`Optional[Union[AgentState, dict]]`	stateful information for the agent. Can be either an AgentState object, or a json serializable dict. Defaults to an empty AgentState object.	`None`
`hooks`	`Optional[list[HookProvider]]`	hooks to be added to the agent hook registry Defaults to None.	`None`
`session_manager`	`Optional[SessionManager]`	Manager for handling agent sessions including conversation history and state. If provided, enables session-based persistence and state management.	`None`
`tool_executor`	`Optional[ToolExecutor]`	Definition of tool execution strategy (e.g., sequential, concurrent, etc.).	`None`

Raises:

Type	Description
`ValueError`	If agent id contains path separators.

Source code in strands/agent/agent.py

def __init__(
    self,
    model: Union[Model, str, None] = None,
    messages: Optional[Messages] = None,
    tools: Optional[list[Union[str, dict[str, str], "ToolProvider", Any]]] = None,
    system_prompt: Optional[str | list[SystemContentBlock]] = None,
    structured_output_model: Optional[Type[BaseModel]] = None,
    callback_handler: Optional[
        Union[Callable[..., Any], _DefaultCallbackHandlerSentinel]
    ] = _DEFAULT_CALLBACK_HANDLER,
    conversation_manager: Optional[ConversationManager] = None,
    record_direct_tool_call: bool = True,
    load_tools_from_directory: bool = False,
    trace_attributes: Optional[Mapping[str, AttributeValue]] = None,
    *,
    agent_id: Optional[str] = None,
    name: Optional[str] = None,
    description: Optional[str] = None,
    state: Optional[Union[AgentState, dict]] = None,
    hooks: Optional[list[HookProvider]] = None,
    session_manager: Optional[SessionManager] = None,
    tool_executor: Optional[ToolExecutor] = None,
):
    """Initialize the Agent with the specified configuration.

    Args:
        model: Provider for running inference or a string representing the model-id for Bedrock to use.
            Defaults to strands.models.BedrockModel if None.
        messages: List of initial messages to pre-load into the conversation.
            Defaults to an empty list if None.
        tools: List of tools to make available to the agent.
            Can be specified as:

            - String tool names (e.g., "retrieve")
            - File paths (e.g., "/path/to/tool.py")
            - Imported Python modules (e.g., from strands_tools import current_time)
            - Dictionaries with name/path keys (e.g., {"name": "tool_name", "path": "/path/to/tool.py"})
            - ToolProvider instances for managed tool collections
            - Functions decorated with `@strands.tool` decorator.

            If provided, only these tools will be available. If None, all tools will be available.
        system_prompt: System prompt to guide model behavior.
            Can be a string or a list of SystemContentBlock objects for advanced features like caching.
            If None, the model will behave according to its default settings.
        structured_output_model: Pydantic model type(s) for structured output.
            When specified, all agent calls will attempt to return structured output of this type.
            This can be overridden on the agent invocation.
            Defaults to None (no structured output).
        callback_handler: Callback for processing events as they happen during agent execution.
            If not provided (using the default), a new PrintingCallbackHandler instance is created.
            If explicitly set to None, null_callback_handler is used.
        conversation_manager: Manager for conversation history and context window.
            Defaults to strands.agent.conversation_manager.SlidingWindowConversationManager if None.
        record_direct_tool_call: Whether to record direct tool calls in message history.
            Defaults to True.
        load_tools_from_directory: Whether to load and automatically reload tools in the `./tools/` directory.
            Defaults to False.
        trace_attributes: Custom trace attributes to apply to the agent's trace span.
        agent_id: Optional ID for the agent, useful for session management and multi-agent scenarios.
            Defaults to "default".
        name: name of the Agent
            Defaults to "Strands Agents".
        description: description of what the Agent does
            Defaults to None.
        state: stateful information for the agent. Can be either an AgentState object, or a json serializable dict.
            Defaults to an empty AgentState object.
        hooks: hooks to be added to the agent hook registry
            Defaults to None.
        session_manager: Manager for handling agent sessions including conversation history and state.
            If provided, enables session-based persistence and state management.
        tool_executor: Definition of tool execution strategy (e.g., sequential, concurrent, etc.).

    Raises:
        ValueError: If agent id contains path separators.
    """
    self.model = BedrockModel() if not model else BedrockModel(model_id=model) if isinstance(model, str) else model
    self.messages = messages if messages is not None else []
    # initializing self._system_prompt for backwards compatibility
    self._system_prompt, self._system_prompt_content = self._initialize_system_prompt(system_prompt)
    self._default_structured_output_model = structured_output_model
    self.agent_id = _identifier.validate(agent_id or _DEFAULT_AGENT_ID, _identifier.Identifier.AGENT)
    self.name = name or _DEFAULT_AGENT_NAME
    self.description = description

    # If not provided, create a new PrintingCallbackHandler instance
    # If explicitly set to None, use null_callback_handler
    # Otherwise use the passed callback_handler
    self.callback_handler: Union[Callable[..., Any], PrintingCallbackHandler]
    if isinstance(callback_handler, _DefaultCallbackHandlerSentinel):
        self.callback_handler = PrintingCallbackHandler()
    elif callback_handler is None:
        self.callback_handler = null_callback_handler
    else:
        self.callback_handler = callback_handler

    self.conversation_manager = conversation_manager if conversation_manager else SlidingWindowConversationManager()

    # Process trace attributes to ensure they're of compatible types
    self.trace_attributes: dict[str, AttributeValue] = {}
    if trace_attributes:
        for k, v in trace_attributes.items():
            if isinstance(v, (str, int, float, bool)) or (
                isinstance(v, list) and all(isinstance(x, (str, int, float, bool)) for x in v)
            ):
                self.trace_attributes[k] = v

    self.record_direct_tool_call = record_direct_tool_call
    self.load_tools_from_directory = load_tools_from_directory

    self.tool_registry = ToolRegistry()

    # Process tool list if provided
    if tools is not None:
        self.tool_registry.process_tools(tools)

    # Initialize tools and configuration
    self.tool_registry.initialize_tools(self.load_tools_from_directory)
    if load_tools_from_directory:
        self.tool_watcher = ToolWatcher(tool_registry=self.tool_registry)

    self.event_loop_metrics = EventLoopMetrics()

    # Initialize tracer instance (no-op if not configured)
    self.tracer = get_tracer()
    self.trace_span: Optional[trace_api.Span] = None

    # Initialize agent state management
    if state is not None:
        if isinstance(state, dict):
            self.state = AgentState(state)
        elif isinstance(state, AgentState):
            self.state = state
        else:
            raise ValueError("state must be an AgentState object or a dict")
    else:
        self.state = AgentState()

    self.tool_caller = _ToolCaller(self)

    self.hooks = HookRegistry()

    self._interrupt_state = _InterruptState()

    # Initialize session management functionality
    self._session_manager = session_manager
    if self._session_manager:
        self.hooks.add_hook(self._session_manager)

    # Allow conversation_managers to subscribe to hooks
    self.hooks.add_hook(self.conversation_manager)

    self.tool_executor = tool_executor or ConcurrentToolExecutor()

    if hooks:
        for hook in hooks:
            self.hooks.add_hook(hook)
    self.hooks.invoke_callbacks(AgentInitializedEvent(agent=self))

`cleanup()` ¶

Clean up resources used by the agent.

This method cleans up all tool providers that require explicit cleanup, such as MCP clients. It should be called when the agent is no longer needed to ensure proper resource cleanup.

Note: This method uses a "belt and braces" approach with automatic cleanup through finalizers as a fallback, but explicit cleanup is recommended.

Source code in strands/agent/agent.py

def cleanup(self) -> None:
    """Clean up resources used by the agent.

    This method cleans up all tool providers that require explicit cleanup,
    such as MCP clients. It should be called when the agent is no longer needed
    to ensure proper resource cleanup.

    Note: This method uses a "belt and braces" approach with automatic cleanup
    through finalizers as a fallback, but explicit cleanup is recommended.
    """
    self.tool_registry.cleanup()

`invoke_async(prompt=None, *, invocation_state=None, structured_output_model=None, **kwargs)` `async` ¶

Process a natural language prompt through the agent's event loop.

This method implements the conversational interface with multiple input patterns: - String input: Simple text input - ContentBlock list: Multi-modal content blocks - Message list: Complete messages with roles - No input: Use existing conversation history

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`prompt`	`AgentInput`	User input in various formats: - str: Simple text input - list[ContentBlock]: Multi-modal content blocks - list[Message]: Complete messages with roles - None: Use existing conversation history	`None`
`invocation_state`	`dict[str, Any] \| None`	Additional parameters to pass through the event loop.	`None`
`structured_output_model`	`Type[BaseModel] \| None`	Pydantic model type(s) for structured output (overrides agent default).	`None`
`**kwargs`	`Any`	Additional parameters to pass through the event loop.[Deprecating]	`{}`

Returns:

Name	Type	Description
`Result`	`AgentResult`	object containing: stop_reason: Why the event loop stopped (e.g., "end_turn", "max_tokens") message: The final message from the model metrics: Performance metrics from the event loop state: The final state of the event loop

Source code in strands/agent/agent.py

async def invoke_async(
    self,
    prompt: AgentInput = None,
    *,
    invocation_state: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
    structured_output_model: Type[BaseModel] | None = None,
    **kwargs: Any,
) -> AgentResult:
    """Process a natural language prompt through the agent's event loop.

    This method implements the conversational interface with multiple input patterns:
    - String input: Simple text input
    - ContentBlock list: Multi-modal content blocks
    - Message list: Complete messages with roles
    - No input: Use existing conversation history

    Args:
        prompt: User input in various formats:
            - str: Simple text input
            - list[ContentBlock]: Multi-modal content blocks
            - list[Message]: Complete messages with roles
            - None: Use existing conversation history
        invocation_state: Additional parameters to pass through the event loop.
        structured_output_model: Pydantic model type(s) for structured output (overrides agent default).
        **kwargs: Additional parameters to pass through the event loop.[Deprecating]

    Returns:
        Result: object containing:

            - stop_reason: Why the event loop stopped (e.g., "end_turn", "max_tokens")
            - message: The final message from the model
            - metrics: Performance metrics from the event loop
            - state: The final state of the event loop
    """
    events = self.stream_async(
        prompt, invocation_state=invocation_state, structured_output_model=structured_output_model, **kwargs
    )
    async for event in events:
        _ = event

    return cast(AgentResult, event["result"])

`stream_async(prompt=None, *, invocation_state=None, structured_output_model=None, **kwargs)` `async` ¶

Process a natural language prompt and yield events as an async iterator.

This method provides an asynchronous interface for streaming agent events with multiple input patterns: - String input: Simple text input - ContentBlock list: Multi-modal content blocks - Message list: Complete messages with roles - No input: Use existing conversation history

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`prompt`	`AgentInput`	User input in various formats: - str: Simple text input - list[ContentBlock]: Multi-modal content blocks - list[Message]: Complete messages with roles - None: Use existing conversation history	`None`
`invocation_state`	`dict[str, Any] \| None`	Additional parameters to pass through the event loop.	`None`
`structured_output_model`	`Type[BaseModel] \| None`	Pydantic model type(s) for structured output (overrides agent default).	`None`
`**kwargs`	`Any`	Additional parameters to pass to the event loop.[Deprecating]	`{}`

Yields:

Type	Description
`AsyncIterator[Any]`	An async iterator that yields events. Each event is a dictionary containing information about the current state of processing, such as: data: Text content being generated complete: Whether this is the final chunk current_tool_use: Information about tools being executed And other event data provided by the callback handler

Raises:

Type	Description
`Exception`	Any exceptions from the agent invocation will be propagated to the caller.

Example

async for event in agent.stream_async("Analyze this data"):
    if "data" in event:
        yield event["data"]

Source code in strands/agent/agent.py

async def stream_async(
    self,
    prompt: AgentInput = None,
    *,
    invocation_state: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
    structured_output_model: Type[BaseModel] | None = None,
    **kwargs: Any,
) -> AsyncIterator[Any]:
    """Process a natural language prompt and yield events as an async iterator.

    This method provides an asynchronous interface for streaming agent events with multiple input patterns:
    - String input: Simple text input
    - ContentBlock list: Multi-modal content blocks
    - Message list: Complete messages with roles
    - No input: Use existing conversation history

    Args:
        prompt: User input in various formats:
            - str: Simple text input
            - list[ContentBlock]: Multi-modal content blocks
            - list[Message]: Complete messages with roles
            - None: Use existing conversation history
        invocation_state: Additional parameters to pass through the event loop.
        structured_output_model: Pydantic model type(s) for structured output (overrides agent default).
        **kwargs: Additional parameters to pass to the event loop.[Deprecating]

    Yields:
        An async iterator that yields events. Each event is a dictionary containing
            information about the current state of processing, such as:

            - data: Text content being generated
            - complete: Whether this is the final chunk
            - current_tool_use: Information about tools being executed
            - And other event data provided by the callback handler

    Raises:
        Exception: Any exceptions from the agent invocation will be propagated to the caller.

    Example:
        ```python
        async for event in agent.stream_async("Analyze this data"):
            if "data" in event:
                yield event["data"]
        ```
    """
    self._interrupt_state.resume(prompt)

    self.event_loop_metrics.reset_usage_metrics()

    merged_state = {}
    if kwargs:
        warnings.warn("`**kwargs` parameter is deprecating, use `invocation_state` instead.", stacklevel=2)
        merged_state.update(kwargs)
        if invocation_state is not None:
            merged_state["invocation_state"] = invocation_state
    else:
        if invocation_state is not None:
            merged_state = invocation_state

    callback_handler = self.callback_handler
    if kwargs:
        callback_handler = kwargs.get("callback_handler", self.callback_handler)

    # Process input and get message to add (if any)
    messages = await self._convert_prompt_to_messages(prompt)

    self.trace_span = self._start_agent_trace_span(messages)

    with trace_api.use_span(self.trace_span):
        try:
            events = self._run_loop(messages, merged_state, structured_output_model)

            async for event in events:
                event.prepare(invocation_state=merged_state)

                if event.is_callback_event:
                    as_dict = event.as_dict()
                    callback_handler(**as_dict)
                    yield as_dict

            result = AgentResult(*event["stop"])
            callback_handler(result=result)
            yield AgentResultEvent(result=result).as_dict()

            self._end_agent_trace_span(response=result)

        except Exception as e:
            self._end_agent_trace_span(error=e)
            raise

`structured_output(output_model, prompt=None)` ¶

This method allows you to get structured output from the agent.

If you pass in a prompt, it will be used temporarily without adding it to the conversation history. If you don't pass in a prompt, it will use only the existing conversation history to respond.

For smaller models, you may want to use the optional prompt to add additional instructions to explicitly instruct the model to output the structured data.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`output_model`	`Type[T]`	The output model (a JSON schema written as a Pydantic BaseModel) that the agent will use when responding.	required
`prompt`	`AgentInput`	The prompt to use for the agent in various formats: - str: Simple text input - list[ContentBlock]: Multi-modal content blocks - list[Message]: Complete messages with roles - None: Use existing conversation history	`None`

Raises:

Type	Description
`ValueError`	If no conversation history or prompt is provided.

Source code in strands/agent/agent.py

def structured_output(self, output_model: Type[T], prompt: AgentInput = None) -> T:
    """This method allows you to get structured output from the agent.

    If you pass in a prompt, it will be used temporarily without adding it to the conversation history.
    If you don't pass in a prompt, it will use only the existing conversation history to respond.

    For smaller models, you may want to use the optional prompt to add additional instructions to explicitly
    instruct the model to output the structured data.

    Args:
        output_model: The output model (a JSON schema written as a Pydantic BaseModel)
            that the agent will use when responding.
        prompt: The prompt to use for the agent in various formats:
            - str: Simple text input
            - list[ContentBlock]: Multi-modal content blocks
            - list[Message]: Complete messages with roles
            - None: Use existing conversation history

    Raises:
        ValueError: If no conversation history or prompt is provided.
    """
    warnings.warn(
        "Agent.structured_output method is deprecated."
        " You should pass in `structured_output_model` directly into the agent invocation."
        " see: https://strandsagents.com/latest/documentation/docs/user-guide/concepts/agents/structured-output/",
        category=DeprecationWarning,
        stacklevel=2,
    )

    return run_async(lambda: self.structured_output_async(output_model, prompt))

`structured_output_async(output_model, prompt=None)` `async` ¶

This method allows you to get structured output from the agent.

If you pass in a prompt, it will be used temporarily without adding it to the conversation history. If you don't pass in a prompt, it will use only the existing conversation history to respond.

For smaller models, you may want to use the optional prompt to add additional instructions to explicitly instruct the model to output the structured data.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`output_model`	`Type[T]`	The output model (a JSON schema written as a Pydantic BaseModel) that the agent will use when responding.	required
`prompt`	`AgentInput`	The prompt to use for the agent (will not be added to conversation history).	`None`

Raises:

Type	Description
`ValueError`	If no conversation history or prompt is provided.

-

Source code in strands/agent/agent.py

async def structured_output_async(self, output_model: Type[T], prompt: AgentInput = None) -> T:
    """This method allows you to get structured output from the agent.

    If you pass in a prompt, it will be used temporarily without adding it to the conversation history.
    If you don't pass in a prompt, it will use only the existing conversation history to respond.

    For smaller models, you may want to use the optional prompt to add additional instructions to explicitly
    instruct the model to output the structured data.

    Args:
        output_model: The output model (a JSON schema written as a Pydantic BaseModel)
            that the agent will use when responding.
        prompt: The prompt to use for the agent (will not be added to conversation history).

    Raises:
        ValueError: If no conversation history or prompt is provided.
    -
    """
    if self._interrupt_state.activated:
        raise RuntimeError("cannot call structured output during interrupt")

    warnings.warn(
        "Agent.structured_output_async method is deprecated."
        " You should pass in `structured_output_model` directly into the agent invocation."
        " see: https://strandsagents.com/latest/documentation/docs/user-guide/concepts/agents/structured-output/",
        category=DeprecationWarning,
        stacklevel=2,
    )
    await self.hooks.invoke_callbacks_async(BeforeInvocationEvent(agent=self))
    with self.tracer.tracer.start_as_current_span(
        "execute_structured_output", kind=trace_api.SpanKind.CLIENT
    ) as structured_output_span:
        try:
            if not self.messages and not prompt:
                raise ValueError("No conversation history or prompt provided")

            temp_messages: Messages = self.messages + await self._convert_prompt_to_messages(prompt)

            structured_output_span.set_attributes(
                {
                    "gen_ai.system": "strands-agents",
                    "gen_ai.agent.name": self.name,
                    "gen_ai.agent.id": self.agent_id,
                    "gen_ai.operation.name": "execute_structured_output",
                }
            )
            if self.system_prompt:
                structured_output_span.add_event(
                    "gen_ai.system.message",
                    attributes={"role": "system", "content": serialize([{"text": self.system_prompt}])},
                )
            for message in temp_messages:
                structured_output_span.add_event(
                    f"gen_ai.{message['role']}.message",
                    attributes={"role": message["role"], "content": serialize(message["content"])},
                )
            events = self.model.structured_output(output_model, temp_messages, system_prompt=self.system_prompt)
            async for event in events:
                if isinstance(event, TypedEvent):
                    event.prepare(invocation_state={})
                    if event.is_callback_event:
                        self.callback_handler(**event.as_dict())

            structured_output_span.add_event(
                "gen_ai.choice", attributes={"message": serialize(event["output"].model_dump())}
            )
            return event["output"]

        finally:
            await self.hooks.invoke_callbacks_async(AfterInvocationEvent(agent=self))

`DefaultPromptMapper` ¶

Bases: LLMPromptMapper

Default prompt mapper for steering evaluation.

Source code in strands/experimental/steering/handlers/llm/mappers.py

class DefaultPromptMapper(LLMPromptMapper):
    """Default prompt mapper for steering evaluation."""

    def create_steering_prompt(
        self, steering_context: SteeringContext, tool_use: ToolUse | None = None, **kwargs: Any
    ) -> str:
        """Create default steering prompt using Agent SOP structure.

        Uses Agent SOP format for structured, constraint-based prompts.
        See: https://github.com/strands-agents/agent-sop
        """
        context_str = (
            json.dumps(steering_context.data.get(), indent=2) if steering_context.data.get() else "No context available"
        )

        if tool_use:
            event_description = (
                f"Tool: {tool_use['name']}\nArguments: {json.dumps(tool_use.get('input', {}), indent=2)}"
            )
            action_type = "tool call"
        else:
            event_description = "General evaluation"
            action_type = "action"

        return _STEERING_PROMPT_TEMPLATE.format(
            action_type=action_type,
            action_type_title=action_type.title(),
            context_str=context_str,
            event_description=event_description,
        )

`create_steering_prompt(steering_context, tool_use=None, **kwargs)` ¶

Create default steering prompt using Agent SOP structure.

Uses Agent SOP format for structured, constraint-based prompts. See: https://github.com/strands-agents/agent-sop

Source code in strands/experimental/steering/handlers/llm/mappers.py

def create_steering_prompt(
    self, steering_context: SteeringContext, tool_use: ToolUse | None = None, **kwargs: Any
) -> str:
    """Create default steering prompt using Agent SOP structure.

    Uses Agent SOP format for structured, constraint-based prompts.
    See: https://github.com/strands-agents/agent-sop
    """
    context_str = (
        json.dumps(steering_context.data.get(), indent=2) if steering_context.data.get() else "No context available"
    )

    if tool_use:
        event_description = (
            f"Tool: {tool_use['name']}\nArguments: {json.dumps(tool_use.get('input', {}), indent=2)}"
        )
        action_type = "tool call"
    else:
        event_description = "General evaluation"
        action_type = "action"

    return _STEERING_PROMPT_TEMPLATE.format(
        action_type=action_type,
        action_type_title=action_type.title(),
        context_str=context_str,
        event_description=event_description,
    )

`Guide` ¶

Bases: BaseModel

Cancel tool and provide contextual feedback for agent to explore alternatives.

The tool call is cancelled and the agent receives the reason as contextual feedback to help them consider alternative approaches while maintaining adaptive reasoning capabilities.

Source code in strands/experimental/steering/core/action.py

class Guide(BaseModel):
    """Cancel tool and provide contextual feedback for agent to explore alternatives.

    The tool call is cancelled and the agent receives the reason as contextual
    feedback to help them consider alternative approaches while maintaining
    adaptive reasoning capabilities.
    """

    type: Literal["guide"] = "guide"
    reason: str

`Interrupt` ¶

Bases: BaseModel

Pause tool execution for human input via interrupt system.

The tool call is paused and human input is requested through Strands' interrupt system. The human can approve or deny the operation, and their decision determines whether the tool executes or is cancelled.

Source code in strands/experimental/steering/core/action.py

class Interrupt(BaseModel):
    """Pause tool execution for human input via interrupt system.

    The tool call is paused and human input is requested through Strands'
    interrupt system. The human can approve or deny the operation, and their
    decision determines whether the tool executes or is cancelled.
    """

    type: Literal["interrupt"] = "interrupt"
    reason: str

`LLMPromptMapper` ¶

Bases: Protocol

Protocol for mapping context and events to LLM evaluation prompts.

Source code in strands/experimental/steering/handlers/llm/mappers.py

class LLMPromptMapper(Protocol):
    """Protocol for mapping context and events to LLM evaluation prompts."""

    def create_steering_prompt(
        self, steering_context: SteeringContext, tool_use: ToolUse | None = None, **kwargs: Any
    ) -> str:
        """Create steering prompt for LLM evaluation.

        Args:
            steering_context: Steering context with populated data
            tool_use: Tool use object for tool call events (None for other events)
            **kwargs: Additional event data for other steering events

        Returns:
            Formatted prompt string for LLM evaluation
        """
        ...

`create_steering_prompt(steering_context, tool_use=None, **kwargs)` ¶

Create steering prompt for LLM evaluation.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`steering_context`	`SteeringContext`	Steering context with populated data	required
`tool_use`	`ToolUse \| None`	Tool use object for tool call events (None for other events)	`None`
`**kwargs`	`Any`	Additional event data for other steering events	`{}`

Returns:

Type	Description
`str`	Formatted prompt string for LLM evaluation

Source code in strands/experimental/steering/handlers/llm/mappers.py

def create_steering_prompt(
    self, steering_context: SteeringContext, tool_use: ToolUse | None = None, **kwargs: Any
) -> str:
    """Create steering prompt for LLM evaluation.

    Args:
        steering_context: Steering context with populated data
        tool_use: Tool use object for tool call events (None for other events)
        **kwargs: Additional event data for other steering events

    Returns:
        Formatted prompt string for LLM evaluation
    """
    ...

`LLMSteeringHandler` ¶

Bases: SteeringHandler

Steering handler that uses an LLM to provide contextual guidance.

Uses natural language prompts to evaluate tool calls and provide contextual steering guidance to help agents navigate complex workflows.

Source code in strands/experimental/steering/handlers/llm/llm_handler.py

class LLMSteeringHandler(SteeringHandler):
    """Steering handler that uses an LLM to provide contextual guidance.

    Uses natural language prompts to evaluate tool calls and provide
    contextual steering guidance to help agents navigate complex workflows.
    """

    def __init__(
        self,
        system_prompt: str,
        prompt_mapper: LLMPromptMapper | None = None,
        model: Model | None = None,
        context_providers: list[SteeringContextProvider] | None = None,
    ):
        """Initialize the LLMSteeringHandler.

        Args:
            system_prompt: System prompt defining steering guidance rules
            prompt_mapper: Custom prompt mapper for evaluation prompts
            model: Optional model override for steering evaluation
            context_providers: List of context providers for populating steering context
        """
        providers = context_providers or [LedgerProvider()]
        super().__init__(context_providers=providers)
        self.system_prompt = system_prompt
        self.prompt_mapper = prompt_mapper or DefaultPromptMapper()
        self.model = model

    async def steer(self, agent: "Agent", tool_use: ToolUse, **kwargs: Any) -> SteeringAction:
        """Provide contextual guidance for tool usage.

        Args:
            agent: The agent instance
            tool_use: The tool use object with name and arguments
            **kwargs: Additional keyword arguments for steering evaluation

        Returns:
            SteeringAction indicating how to guide the agent's next action
        """
        # Generate steering prompt
        prompt = self.prompt_mapper.create_steering_prompt(self.steering_context, tool_use=tool_use)

        # Create isolated agent for steering evaluation (no shared conversation state)
        from .....agent import Agent

        steering_agent = Agent(system_prompt=self.system_prompt, model=self.model or agent.model, callback_handler=None)

        # Get LLM decision
        llm_result: _LLMSteering = cast(
            _LLMSteering, steering_agent(prompt, structured_output_model=_LLMSteering).structured_output
        )

        # Convert LLM decision to steering action
        match llm_result.decision:
            case "proceed":
                return Proceed(reason=llm_result.reason)
            case "guide":
                return Guide(reason=llm_result.reason)
            case "interrupt":
                return Interrupt(reason=llm_result.reason)
            case _:
                logger.warning("decision=<%s> | uŹknown llm decision, defaulting to proceed", llm_result.decision)  # type: ignore[unreachable]
                return Proceed(reason="Unknown LLM decision, defaulting to proceed")

`init(system_prompt, prompt_mapper=None, model=None, context_providers=None)` ¶

Initialize the LLMSteeringHandler.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`system_prompt`	`str`	System prompt defining steering guidance rules	required
`prompt_mapper`	`LLMPromptMapper \| None`	Custom prompt mapper for evaluation prompts	`None`
`model`	`Model \| None`	Optional model override for steering evaluation	`None`
`context_providers`	`list[SteeringContextProvider] \| None`	List of context providers for populating steering context	`None`

Source code in strands/experimental/steering/handlers/llm/llm_handler.py

def __init__(
    self,
    system_prompt: str,
    prompt_mapper: LLMPromptMapper | None = None,
    model: Model | None = None,
    context_providers: list[SteeringContextProvider] | None = None,
):
    """Initialize the LLMSteeringHandler.

    Args:
        system_prompt: System prompt defining steering guidance rules
        prompt_mapper: Custom prompt mapper for evaluation prompts
        model: Optional model override for steering evaluation
        context_providers: List of context providers for populating steering context
    """
    providers = context_providers or [LedgerProvider()]
    super().__init__(context_providers=providers)
    self.system_prompt = system_prompt
    self.prompt_mapper = prompt_mapper or DefaultPromptMapper()
    self.model = model

`steer(agent, tool_use, **kwargs)` `async` ¶

Provide contextual guidance for tool usage.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`agent`	`'Agent'`	The agent instance	required
`tool_use`	`ToolUse`	The tool use object with name and arguments	required
`**kwargs`	`Any`	Additional keyword arguments for steering evaluation	`{}`

Returns:

Type	Description
`SteeringAction`	SteeringAction indicating how to guide the agent's next action

Source code in strands/experimental/steering/handlers/llm/llm_handler.py

async def steer(self, agent: "Agent", tool_use: ToolUse, **kwargs: Any) -> SteeringAction:
    """Provide contextual guidance for tool usage.

    Args:
        agent: The agent instance
        tool_use: The tool use object with name and arguments
        **kwargs: Additional keyword arguments for steering evaluation

    Returns:
        SteeringAction indicating how to guide the agent's next action
    """
    # Generate steering prompt
    prompt = self.prompt_mapper.create_steering_prompt(self.steering_context, tool_use=tool_use)

    # Create isolated agent for steering evaluation (no shared conversation state)
    from .....agent import Agent

    steering_agent = Agent(system_prompt=self.system_prompt, model=self.model or agent.model, callback_handler=None)

    # Get LLM decision
    llm_result: _LLMSteering = cast(
        _LLMSteering, steering_agent(prompt, structured_output_model=_LLMSteering).structured_output
    )

    # Convert LLM decision to steering action
    match llm_result.decision:
        case "proceed":
            return Proceed(reason=llm_result.reason)
        case "guide":
            return Guide(reason=llm_result.reason)
        case "interrupt":
            return Interrupt(reason=llm_result.reason)
        case _:
            logger.warning("decision=<%s> | uŹknown llm decision, defaulting to proceed", llm_result.decision)  # type: ignore[unreachable]
            return Proceed(reason="Unknown LLM decision, defaulting to proceed")

`LedgerProvider` ¶

Bases: SteeringContextProvider

Combined ledger context provider for both before and after tool calls.

Source code in strands/experimental/steering/context_providers/ledger_provider.py

class LedgerProvider(SteeringContextProvider):
    """Combined ledger context provider for both before and after tool calls."""

    def context_providers(self, **kwargs: Any) -> list[SteeringContextCallback]:
        """Return ledger context providers with shared state."""
        return [
            LedgerBeforeToolCall(),
            LedgerAfterToolCall(),
        ]

`context_providers(**kwargs)` ¶

Return ledger context providers with shared state.

Source code in strands/experimental/steering/context_providers/ledger_provider.py

def context_providers(self, **kwargs: Any) -> list[SteeringContextCallback]:
    """Return ledger context providers with shared state."""
    return [
        LedgerBeforeToolCall(),
        LedgerAfterToolCall(),
    ]

`Model` ¶

Bases: ABC

Abstract base class for Agent model providers.

This class defines the interface for all model implementations in the Strands Agents SDK. It provides a standardized way to configure and process requests for different AI model providers.

Source code in strands/models/model.py

class Model(abc.ABC):
    """Abstract base class for Agent model providers.

    This class defines the interface for all model implementations in the Strands Agents SDK. It provides a
    standardized way to configure and process requests for different AI model providers.
    """

    @abc.abstractmethod
    # pragma: no cover
    def update_config(self, **model_config: Any) -> None:
        """Update the model configuration with the provided arguments.

        Args:
            **model_config: Configuration overrides.
        """
        pass

    @abc.abstractmethod
    # pragma: no cover
    def get_config(self) -> Any:
        """Return the model configuration.

        Returns:
            The model's configuration.
        """
        pass

    @abc.abstractmethod
    # pragma: no cover
    def structured_output(
        self, output_model: Type[T], prompt: Messages, system_prompt: Optional[str] = None, **kwargs: Any
    ) -> AsyncGenerator[dict[str, Union[T, Any]], None]:
        """Get structured output from the model.

        Args:
            output_model: The output model to use for the agent.
            prompt: The prompt messages to use for the agent.
            system_prompt: System prompt to provide context to the model.
            **kwargs: Additional keyword arguments for future extensibility.

        Yields:
            Model events with the last being the structured output.

        Raises:
            ValidationException: The response format from the model does not match the output_model
        """
        pass

    @abc.abstractmethod
    # pragma: no cover
    def stream(
        self,
        messages: Messages,
        tool_specs: Optional[list[ToolSpec]] = None,
        system_prompt: Optional[str] = None,
        *,
        tool_choice: ToolChoice | None = None,
        system_prompt_content: list[SystemContentBlock] | None = None,
        **kwargs: Any,
    ) -> AsyncIterable[StreamEvent]:
        """Stream conversation with the model.

        This method handles the full lifecycle of conversing with the model:

        1. Format the messages, tool specs, and configuration into a streaming request
        2. Send the request to the model
        3. Yield the formatted message chunks

        Args:
            messages: List of message objects to be processed by the model.
            tool_specs: List of tool specifications to make available to the model.
            system_prompt: System prompt to provide context to the model.
            tool_choice: Selection strategy for tool invocation.
            system_prompt_content: System prompt content blocks for advanced features like caching.
            **kwargs: Additional keyword arguments for future extensibility.

        Yields:
            Formatted message chunks from the model.

        Raises:
            ModelThrottledException: When the model service is throttling requests from the client.
        """
        pass

`get_config()` `abstractmethod` ¶

Return the model configuration.

Returns:

Type	Description
`Any`	The model's configuration.

Source code in strands/models/model.py

@abc.abstractmethod
# pragma: no cover
def get_config(self) -> Any:
    """Return the model configuration.

    Returns:
        The model's configuration.
    """
    pass

`stream(messages, tool_specs=None, system_prompt=None, *, tool_choice=None, system_prompt_content=None, **kwargs)` `abstractmethod` ¶

Stream conversation with the model.

This method handles the full lifecycle of conversing with the model:

Format the messages, tool specs, and configuration into a streaming request
Send the request to the model
Yield the formatted message chunks

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`messages`	`Messages`	List of message objects to be processed by the model.	required
`tool_specs`	`Optional[list[ToolSpec]]`	List of tool specifications to make available to the model.	`None`
`system_prompt`	`Optional[str]`	System prompt to provide context to the model.	`None`
`tool_choice`	`ToolChoice \| None`	Selection strategy for tool invocation.	`None`
`system_prompt_content`	`list[SystemContentBlock] \| None`	System prompt content blocks for advanced features like caching.	`None`
`**kwargs`	`Any`	Additional keyword arguments for future extensibility.	`{}`

Yields:

Type	Description
`AsyncIterable[StreamEvent]`	Formatted message chunks from the model.

Raises:

Type	Description
`ModelThrottledException`	When the model service is throttling requests from the client.

Source code in strands/models/model.py

@abc.abstractmethod
# pragma: no cover
def stream(
    self,
    messages: Messages,
    tool_specs: Optional[list[ToolSpec]] = None,
    system_prompt: Optional[str] = None,
    *,
    tool_choice: ToolChoice | None = None,
    system_prompt_content: list[SystemContentBlock] | None = None,
    **kwargs: Any,
) -> AsyncIterable[StreamEvent]:
    """Stream conversation with the model.

    This method handles the full lifecycle of conversing with the model:

    1. Format the messages, tool specs, and configuration into a streaming request
    2. Send the request to the model
    3. Yield the formatted message chunks

    Args:
        messages: List of message objects to be processed by the model.
        tool_specs: List of tool specifications to make available to the model.
        system_prompt: System prompt to provide context to the model.
        tool_choice: Selection strategy for tool invocation.
        system_prompt_content: System prompt content blocks for advanced features like caching.
        **kwargs: Additional keyword arguments for future extensibility.

    Yields:
        Formatted message chunks from the model.

    Raises:
        ModelThrottledException: When the model service is throttling requests from the client.
    """
    pass

`structured_output(output_model, prompt, system_prompt=None, **kwargs)` `abstractmethod` ¶

Get structured output from the model.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`output_model`	`Type[T]`	The output model to use for the agent.	required
`prompt`	`Messages`	The prompt messages to use for the agent.	required
`system_prompt`	`Optional[str]`	System prompt to provide context to the model.	`None`
`**kwargs`	`Any`	Additional keyword arguments for future extensibility.	`{}`

Yields:

Type	Description
`AsyncGenerator[dict[str, Union[T, Any]], None]`	Model events with the last being the structured output.

Raises:

Type	Description
`ValidationException`	The response format from the model does not match the output_model

Source code in strands/models/model.py

@abc.abstractmethod
# pragma: no cover
def structured_output(
    self, output_model: Type[T], prompt: Messages, system_prompt: Optional[str] = None, **kwargs: Any
) -> AsyncGenerator[dict[str, Union[T, Any]], None]:
    """Get structured output from the model.

    Args:
        output_model: The output model to use for the agent.
        prompt: The prompt messages to use for the agent.
        system_prompt: System prompt to provide context to the model.
        **kwargs: Additional keyword arguments for future extensibility.

    Yields:
        Model events with the last being the structured output.

    Raises:
        ValidationException: The response format from the model does not match the output_model
    """
    pass

`update_config(**model_config)` `abstractmethod` ¶

Update the model configuration with the provided arguments.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`**model_config`	`Any`	Configuration overrides.	`{}`

Source code in strands/models/model.py

@abc.abstractmethod
# pragma: no cover
def update_config(self, **model_config: Any) -> None:
    """Update the model configuration with the provided arguments.

    Args:
        **model_config: Configuration overrides.
    """
    pass

`Proceed` ¶

Bases: BaseModel

Allow tool to execute immediately without intervention.

The tool call proceeds as planned. The reason provides context for logging and debugging purposes.

Source code in strands/experimental/steering/core/action.py

class Proceed(BaseModel):
    """Allow tool to execute immediately without intervention.

    The tool call proceeds as planned. The reason provides context
    for logging and debugging purposes.
    """

    type: Literal["proceed"] = "proceed"
    reason: str

`SteeringContextProvider` ¶

Bases: ABC

Abstract base class for context providers that handle multiple event types.

Source code in strands/experimental/steering/core/context.py

class SteeringContextProvider(ABC):
    """Abstract base class for context providers that handle multiple event types."""

    @abstractmethod
    def context_providers(self, **kwargs: Any) -> list[SteeringContextCallback]:
        """Return list of context callbacks with event types extracted from generics."""
        ...

`context_providers(**kwargs)` `abstractmethod` ¶

Return list of context callbacks with event types extracted from generics.

Source code in strands/experimental/steering/core/context.py

@abstractmethod
def context_providers(self, **kwargs: Any) -> list[SteeringContextCallback]:
    """Return list of context callbacks with event types extracted from generics."""
    ...

`SteeringHandler` ¶

Bases: HookProvider, ABC

Base class for steering handlers that provide contextual guidance to agents.

Steering handlers maintain local context and register hook callbacks to populate context data as needed for guidance decisions.

Source code in strands/experimental/steering/core/handler.py

class SteeringHandler(HookProvider, ABC):
    """Base class for steering handlers that provide contextual guidance to agents.

    Steering handlers maintain local context and register hook callbacks
    to populate context data as needed for guidance decisions.
    """

    def __init__(self, context_providers: list[SteeringContextProvider] | None = None):
        """Initialize the steering handler.

        Args:
            context_providers: List of context providers for context updates
        """
        super().__init__()
        self.steering_context = SteeringContext()
        self._context_callbacks = []

        # Collect callbacks from all providers
        for provider in context_providers or []:
            self._context_callbacks.extend(provider.context_providers())

        logger.debug("handler_class=<%s> | initialized", self.__class__.__name__)

    def register_hooks(self, registry: HookRegistry, **kwargs: Any) -> None:
        """Register hooks for steering guidance and context updates."""
        # Register context update callbacks
        for callback in self._context_callbacks:
            registry.add_callback(
                callback.event_type, lambda event, callback=callback: callback(event, self.steering_context)
            )

        # Register steering guidance
        registry.add_callback(BeforeToolCallEvent, self._provide_steering_guidance)

    async def _provide_steering_guidance(self, event: BeforeToolCallEvent) -> None:
        """Provide steering guidance for tool call."""
        tool_name = event.tool_use["name"]
        logger.debug("tool_name=<%s> | providing steering guidance", tool_name)

        try:
            action = await self.steer(event.agent, event.tool_use)
        except Exception as e:
            logger.debug("tool_name=<%s>, error=<%s> | steering handler guidance failed", tool_name, e)
            return

        self._handle_steering_action(action, event, tool_name)

    def _handle_steering_action(self, action: SteeringAction, event: BeforeToolCallEvent, tool_name: str) -> None:
        """Handle the steering action by modifying tool execution flow.

        Proceed: Tool executes normally
        Guide: Tool cancelled with contextual feedback for agent to consider alternatives
        Interrupt: Tool execution paused for human input via interrupt system
        """
        if isinstance(action, Proceed):
            logger.debug("tool_name=<%s> | tool call proceeding", tool_name)
        elif isinstance(action, Guide):
            logger.debug("tool_name=<%s> | tool call guided: %s", tool_name, action.reason)
            event.cancel_tool = (
                f"Tool call cancelled given new guidance. {action.reason}. Consider this approach and continue"
            )
        elif isinstance(action, Interrupt):
            logger.debug("tool_name=<%s> | tool call requires human input: %s", tool_name, action.reason)
            can_proceed: bool = event.interrupt(name=f"steering_input_{tool_name}", reason={"message": action.reason})
            logger.debug("tool_name=<%s> | received human input for tool call", tool_name)

            if not can_proceed:
                event.cancel_tool = f"Manual approval denied: {action.reason}"
                logger.debug("tool_name=<%s> | tool call denied by manual approval", tool_name)
            else:
                logger.debug("tool_name=<%s> | tool call approved manually", tool_name)
        else:
            raise ValueError(f"Unknown steering action type: {action}")

    @abstractmethod
    async def steer(self, agent: "Agent", tool_use: ToolUse, **kwargs: Any) -> SteeringAction:
        """Provide contextual guidance to help agent navigate complex workflows.

        Args:
            agent: The agent instance
            tool_use: The tool use object with name and arguments
            **kwargs: Additional keyword arguments for guidance evaluation

        Returns:
            SteeringAction indicating how to guide the agent's next action

        Note:
            Access steering context via self.steering_context
        """
        ...

`init(context_providers=None)` ¶

Initialize the steering handler.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`context_providers`	`list[SteeringContextProvider] \| None`	List of context providers for context updates	`None`

Source code in strands/experimental/steering/core/handler.py

def __init__(self, context_providers: list[SteeringContextProvider] | None = None):
    """Initialize the steering handler.

    Args:
        context_providers: List of context providers for context updates
    """
    super().__init__()
    self.steering_context = SteeringContext()
    self._context_callbacks = []

    # Collect callbacks from all providers
    for provider in context_providers or []:
        self._context_callbacks.extend(provider.context_providers())

    logger.debug("handler_class=<%s> | initialized", self.__class__.__name__)

`register_hooks(registry, **kwargs)` ¶

Register hooks for steering guidance and context updates.

Source code in strands/experimental/steering/core/handler.py

def register_hooks(self, registry: HookRegistry, **kwargs: Any) -> None:
    """Register hooks for steering guidance and context updates."""
    # Register context update callbacks
    for callback in self._context_callbacks:
        registry.add_callback(
            callback.event_type, lambda event, callback=callback: callback(event, self.steering_context)
        )

    # Register steering guidance
    registry.add_callback(BeforeToolCallEvent, self._provide_steering_guidance)

`steer(agent, tool_use, **kwargs)` `abstractmethod` `async` ¶

Provide contextual guidance to help agent navigate complex workflows.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`agent`	`Agent`	The agent instance	required
`tool_use`	`ToolUse`	The tool use object with name and arguments	required
`**kwargs`	`Any`	Additional keyword arguments for guidance evaluation	`{}`

Returns:

Type	Description
`SteeringAction`	SteeringAction indicating how to guide the agent's next action

Note

Access steering context via self.steering_context

Source code in strands/experimental/steering/core/handler.py

@abstractmethod
async def steer(self, agent: "Agent", tool_use: ToolUse, **kwargs: Any) -> SteeringAction:
    """Provide contextual guidance to help agent navigate complex workflows.

    Args:
        agent: The agent instance
        tool_use: The tool use object with name and arguments
        **kwargs: Additional keyword arguments for guidance evaluation

    Returns:
        SteeringAction indicating how to guide the agent's next action

    Note:
        Access steering context via self.steering_context
    """
    ...

`ToolUse` ¶

Bases: TypedDict

A request from the model to use a specific tool with the provided input.

Attributes:

Name	Type	Description
`input`	`Any`	The input parameters for the tool. Can be any JSON-serializable type.
`name`	`str`	The name of the tool to invoke.
`toolUseId`	`str`	A unique identifier for this specific tool use request.

Source code in strands/types/tools.py

class ToolUse(TypedDict):
    """A request from the model to use a specific tool with the provided input.

    Attributes:
        input: The input parameters for the tool.
            Can be any JSON-serializable type.
        name: The name of the tool to invoke.
        toolUseId: A unique identifier for this specific tool use request.
    """

    input: Any
    name: str
    toolUseId: str

`_LLMSteering` ¶

Bases: BaseModel

Structured output model for LLM steering decisions.

Source code in strands/experimental/steering/handlers/llm/llm_handler.py

class _LLMSteering(BaseModel):
    """Structured output model for LLM steering decisions."""

    decision: Literal["proceed", "guide", "interrupt"] = Field(
        description="Steering decision: 'proceed' to continue, 'guide' to provide feedback, 'interrupt' for human input"
    )
    reason: str = Field(description="Clear explanation of the steering decision and any guidance provided")

strands.experimental.steering.handlers.llm.llm_handler ¶

SteeringAction = Annotated[Proceed | Guide | Interrupt, Field(discriminator='type')] module-attribute ¶

logger = logging.getLogger(__name__) module-attribute ¶

Agent ¶

system_prompt property writable ¶

tool property ¶

tool_names property ¶

__call__(prompt=None, *, invocation_state=None, structured_output_model=None, **kwargs) ¶

__del__() ¶

cleanup() ¶

invoke_async(prompt=None, *, invocation_state=None, structured_output_model=None, **kwargs) async ¶

stream_async(prompt=None, *, invocation_state=None, structured_output_model=None, **kwargs) async ¶

structured_output(output_model, prompt=None) ¶

structured_output_async(output_model, prompt=None) async ¶

DefaultPromptMapper ¶

create_steering_prompt(steering_context, tool_use=None, **kwargs) ¶

Guide ¶

Interrupt ¶

LLMPromptMapper ¶

create_steering_prompt(steering_context, tool_use=None, **kwargs) ¶

LLMSteeringHandler ¶

__init__(system_prompt, prompt_mapper=None, model=None, context_providers=None) ¶

steer(agent, tool_use, **kwargs) async ¶

LedgerProvider ¶

context_providers(**kwargs) ¶

Model ¶

get_config() abstractmethod ¶

stream(messages, tool_specs=None, system_prompt=None, *, tool_choice=None, system_prompt_content=None, **kwargs) abstractmethod ¶

structured_output(output_model, prompt, system_prompt=None, **kwargs) abstractmethod ¶

update_config(**model_config) abstractmethod ¶

Proceed ¶

SteeringContextProvider ¶

context_providers(**kwargs) abstractmethod ¶

SteeringHandler ¶

__init__(context_providers=None) ¶

register_hooks(registry, **kwargs) ¶

steer(agent, tool_use, **kwargs) abstractmethod async ¶

ToolUse ¶

_LLMSteering ¶

`strands.experimental.steering.handlers.llm.llm_handler` ¶

`SteeringAction = Annotated[Proceed | Guide | Interrupt, Field(discriminator='type')]` `module-attribute` ¶

`logger = logging.getLogger(name)` `module-attribute` ¶

`Agent` ¶

`system_prompt` `property` `writable` ¶

`tool` `property` ¶

`tool_names` `property` ¶

`call(prompt=None, *, invocation_state=None, structured_output_model=None, **kwargs)` ¶

`del()` ¶

`cleanup()` ¶

`invoke_async(prompt=None, *, invocation_state=None, structured_output_model=None, **kwargs)` `async` ¶

`stream_async(prompt=None, *, invocation_state=None, structured_output_model=None, **kwargs)` `async` ¶

`structured_output(output_model, prompt=None)` ¶

`structured_output_async(output_model, prompt=None)` `async` ¶

`DefaultPromptMapper` ¶

`create_steering_prompt(steering_context, tool_use=None, **kwargs)` ¶

`Guide` ¶

`Interrupt` ¶

`LLMPromptMapper` ¶

`create_steering_prompt(steering_context, tool_use=None, **kwargs)` ¶

`LLMSteeringHandler` ¶

`init(system_prompt, prompt_mapper=None, model=None, context_providers=None)` ¶

`steer(agent, tool_use, **kwargs)` `async` ¶

`LedgerProvider` ¶

`context_providers(**kwargs)` ¶

`Model` ¶

`get_config()` `abstractmethod` ¶

`stream(messages, tool_specs=None, system_prompt=None, *, tool_choice=None, system_prompt_content=None, **kwargs)` `abstractmethod` ¶

`structured_output(output_model, prompt, system_prompt=None, **kwargs)` `abstractmethod` ¶

`update_config(**model_config)` `abstractmethod` ¶

`Proceed` ¶

`SteeringContextProvider` ¶

`context_providers(**kwargs)` `abstractmethod` ¶

`SteeringHandler` ¶

`init(context_providers=None)` ¶

`register_hooks(registry, **kwargs)` ¶

`steer(agent, tool_use, **kwargs)` `abstractmethod` `async` ¶

`ToolUse` ¶

`_LLMSteering` ¶