Framework Safety Enforcement

approval and guardrails YAML fields fail closed on frameworks that cannot enforce them

PraisonAI refuses to start a run that would silently drop a safety gate.

Diagram

Quick Start

Gate on the native framework

framework: praisonai honours approval: and guardrails: natively.

agents.yaml

framework: praisonai
topic: Compliance review
roles:
  compliance_agent:
    role: compliance-checker
    goal: Review the contract for policy issues
    backstory: You are a careful compliance reviewer.
    approval:
      backend: console
    guardrails: strict
    tasks:
      review:
        description: Review the contract and list policy issues.
        expected_output: A bullet list of issues.

bash

praisonai agents.yaml

Same YAML on CrewAI refuses to start

Change only framework: crewai. The CrewAI and AutoGen adapters cannot pass these fields through, so the run stops before any tool executes:

ValueError: framework='crewai' cannot enforce safety field(s) ['approval', 'guardrails']
for agent 'compliance-checker'. Use framework: praisonai, or remove the field(s) to run ungated.

Pick a fix
Either switch back to framework: praisonai to keep the gate, or delete the approval: / guardrails: keys (or set approval: false) to run ungated on purpose.

When does the error fire?

Diagram

YAML value	Result on `crewai` / `autogen`
`approval: false` or `approval: null`	Warns, runs (gate disabled)
`approval: {enabled: true, backend: auto, approve_all_tools: false}` (the `--trust` shape)	Warns, runs (`auto` gates nothing)
`approval: {enabled: false, ...}`	Warns, runs (gate disabled)
`approval: {backend: none}`	Warns, runs (`none` gates nothing)
`approval: true`	ValueError (defaults to the `console` backend)
`approval: {backend: console}` (or `slack`, `webhook`, …)	ValueError
`approval: {typo: 1}` (unparseable)	ValueError — invalid config fails closed
`guardrails: null` or `guardrails: ""`	Warns, runs (no gate)
`guardrails: strict` or any non-empty value	ValueError

Non-safety fields an adapter does not read (for example memory on CrewAI) still only log a warning.

Who is affected

`framework:`	Honours `approval` / `guardrails`	On an active gate
`praisonai`	✅ Yes	Gate enforced
`crewai`	❌ No	`ValueError`
`autogen`, `autogen_v2`, `autogen_v4`, `ag2`	❌ No (only `llm` is supported)	`ValueError`

YAML files that never set approval: or guardrails: are unaffected.

How to migrate

Original YAML	Keep the gate	Remove the gate	Disable the gate
`framework: crewai` + `approval: {backend: console}`	Change to `framework: praisonai`	Delete the `approval:` key	Set `approval: false`
`framework: autogen` + `guardrails: strict`	Change to `framework: praisonai`	Delete the `guardrails:` key	Set `guardrails: null`

Best Practices

Use framework: praisonai for gated tools

Approval and guardrails are only enforced on the native framework. If a role touches shell, file, or network tools, run it on praisonai.

Disable explicitly, not by accident

When you really want CrewAI or AutoGen to run ungated, write approval: false or remove the key so the intent is visible in review.

Treat the error as a config check

The error fires at startup, before any agent runs. Add praisonai agents.yaml to CI to catch dropped gates early.

Approval

Human-in-the-loop approval for tools

Guardrails

Validate agent output

Framework Safety Enforcement

Quick Start

When does the error fire?

Who is affected

How to migrate

Best Practices

Related