honcho/sdks/python
Marianne a1895e9ecc
Kass/readme refresh (#681)
* docs(readme): repositioning pass + staleness fixes (P0-P4 audit)

Restructure README to match dual audience (AI-tool users + product
developers) per Vineeth's audit. No content deleted - long internal
sections collapsed under `<details>` for scannability.

Staleness fixes:
- Replace 404'd doc links (.../tutorial/SDK, /api-reference/introduction)
  with verified replacements under /v3/documentation/reference/sdk
  and /v3/api-reference/introduction
- Fix Python quickstart to pass api_key (managed default api.honcho.dev
  would 401 otherwise)
- Drop hardcoded `gpt-4` model reference; read OPENAI_MODEL from env
- Replace archived Dialectic blog link with current Chat Endpoint docs
- Drop M3-Macbook-specific note; minor grammar ("deriver's" -> "derivers")
- Replace TL;DR Python-only example with side-by-side Python + TypeScript
  framed around the "Honcho Loop" (store / reason / query / inject)

New sections:
- Start Here: three-path table (AI tools / building product / self-host)
- The Honcho Loop: operation model before code
- What Honcho Gives You: API-at-a-glance table
- Integrations: verified install commands for Claude Code (plugin + raw
  MCP), OpenCode, OpenClaw, Hermes
- Honcho vs RAG: stubbed with TODO; copy deferred to marketing
- SDKs section with clearer Python/TypeScript landing pointers

Restructured:
- Core Concepts moved above Architecture; Collections/Documents reframed
  as internal mechanism (Conclusions is the public surface)
- Storage / Reasoning / Retrieving deep-dive wrapped in <details>
- Local Development, Pre-commit hooks, Fly deployment, full config
  matrix wrapped in <details>

Known follow-up (not in this branch): SDK docs at docs.honcho.dev and
PyPI PKG-INFO advertise `HONCHO_BASE_URL`, but the actual SDK code
(sdks/python/src/honcho/client.py:234, sdks/typescript/src/client.ts:154)
reads `HONCHO_URL`. README aligned with code; docs + PKG-INFO need
separate fix.

* docs(readme): restore "stateful agents" in opening sentence

Plastic Labs' canonical positioning uses "stateful agents" across
materials, and the original README opened with "for building stateful
agents." The repositioning pass in d6d60435 dropped the term entirely
(now zero occurrences) by following Vineeth's suggested opening copy
verbatim - but his audit's executive summary explicitly praised the
"stateful agents" positioning and didn't ask to remove it. Restoring
it in the bolded thesis sentence.

* docs(readme): drop self-referential "observations" in Conclusions bullet

The Conclusions definition shouldn't define itself in terms of
"observations." Per Plastic's positioning, "conclusions" is the
documentation-facing name for what the Deriver produces;
"observations" remains the internal code symbol. The README's
two remaining "observations" references (inside the <details>
Internal storage block and the Storage primitives block) are
explicit code-internal framing and stay.

* docs(readme): restore content dropped without audit instruction

Self-audit against Vineeth's audit found seven items I'd dropped that weren't in the audit's instructions to drop: outcome-marketing line, Contents TOC (audit said rename, not remove), multi-repo prose, org-onboarding detail, peer-paradigm feature bullets, Architecture "Key Features" bullets, and Learn More pointers. Also fixes two residual "Dialectic API" → "Chat Endpoint" mentions the original P0 sweep missed.

* docs(readme): add "Why Honcho" capability table + agent-skill onboarding

Closes the two gaps flagged in the freshness/repositioning audit: adds Vineeth's recommended "Why Honcho" capability table between Start Here and The Honcho Loop, and adds the `npx skills add plastic-labs/honcho` + `/honcho-integration` agent-skill path as a subsection of Integrations (verified against current docs).

* docs: split contributor-only sections out of README; trust auth for local postgres

- Move pre-commit hooks setup from README to CONTRIBUTING.md (pure
  contributor content; the README still links to it).
- Move Fly.io deployment notes from README to the self-hosting docs.
- Wrap remaining <details>/<summary> blocks with markdownlint
  disable/enable to clear pre-existing MD033/MD001 failures.
- Add POSTGRES_HOST_AUTH_METHOD=trust to the example compose template
  with an inline warning, so host-side tests and tooling can connect
  without supplying a password.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix: (docs) update docs and evals urls and split pre-commit into contributing docs

---------

Co-authored-by: Vineeth Voruganti <13438633+VVoruganti@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-05-14 13:15:37 -04:00
..
examples feat: honcho 3.0, sdks 2.0, excise stainless, update v3 docs, changelogs (#331) 2026-01-22 15:16:28 -05:00
src/honcho Kass/readme refresh (#681) 2026-05-14 13:15:37 -04:00
.gitignore feat: add new ergo sdks to monorepo (#142) 2025-06-26 17:07:23 -04:00
CHANGELOG.md feat: retry on more httpx exceptions (#467) 2026-04-03 12:20:53 -04:00
README.md Kass/readme refresh (#681) 2026-05-14 13:15:37 -04:00
pyproject.toml feat: adding honcho-cli package (#424) 2026-04-20 13:27:35 -04:00

README.md

Honcho Python SDK

The official Python library for the Honcho conversational memory platform. Honcho provides tools for managing peers, sessions, and conversation context across multi-party interactions, enabling advanced conversational AI applications with persistent memory and theory-of-mind capabilities.

Installation

pip install honcho-ai

Quick Start

from honcho import Honcho

# Initialize client
client = Honcho(api_key="your-api-key")

# Create peers (participants in conversations)
alice = client.peer("alice")
bob = client.peer("bob")

# Create a session for group conversations
session = client.session("conversation-1")

# Add messages to the session
session.add_messages([
    alice.message("Hello, Bob!"),
    bob.message("Hi Alice, how are you?")
])

# Query conversation context
response = alice.chat("What did Bob say to the user?")
print(response)

Core Concepts

Peers

Peers represent participants in conversations.

# Create peers
assistant = client.peer("assistant")
user = client.peer("user-123")

# Chat with global context
response = user.chat("What did I talk about yesterday?")

# Chat with perspective of another peer
response = user.chat("Does the assistant know my preferences?", target=assistant)

Sessions

Sessions group related conversations and messages:

# Create a session
session = client.session("project-discussion")

# Add peers to session
session.add_peers([alice, bob])

# Add messages
session.add_messages([
    alice.message("Let's discuss the project timeline"),
    bob.message("I think we need two more weeks")
])

# Get conversation context
context = session.context()

Messages and Context

Retrieve and use conversation history:

# Get messages from a session
messages = session.messages()

# Convert to OpenAI format for further prompting
openai_messages = context.to_openai(assistant="assistant")

# Convert to Anthropic format for further prompting
anthropic_messages = context.to_anthropic(assistant="assistant")

Async Support

The SDK provides async access via the .aio accessor on any instance:

from honcho import Honcho

async def main():
    client = Honcho(api_key="your-api-key")

    # Async peer and session creation
    peer = await client.aio.peer("user-123")
    session = await client.aio.session("conversation-1")

    # Async chat
    response = await peer.aio.chat("What does this user prefer?")

    # Async iteration
    async for p in client.aio.peers():
        print(p.id)

Metadata Management

# Set peer metadata
user.set_metadata({"location": "San Francisco", "preferences": {"theme": "dark"}})

# Session metadata
session.set_metadata({"topic": "project-planning", "priority": "high"})

Multi-Perspective Queries

# Alice's view of what Bob knows
response = alice.chat("Does Bob remember our discussion about the budget?", target=bob)

# Session-specific perspective
response = alice.chat("What does Bob think about this project?",
                     target=bob,
                     session=session)

Configuration

Environment Variables

export HONCHO_API_KEY="your-api-key"
export HONCHO_BASE_URL="https://api.honcho.dev"  # Optional
export HONCHO_WORKSPACE_ID="your-workspace"  # Optional

Client Options

client = Honcho(
    api_key="your-api-key",
    environment="production",  # or "local"
    workspace_id="custom-workspace",
    base_url="https://api.honcho.dev"
)

License

Apache 2.0 - see LICENSE for details.

Support