Developer Guide
NL Protocol for Developers
Everything you need to understand, implement, and test the Never-Leak Protocol in your systems.
You are
A backend engineer, DevOps engineer, or security engineer building systems that need to handle secrets safely in AI agent contexts.
What you'll learn
- ✓ How opaque handles replace direct secret access, keeping credentials out of the agent context window
- ✓ How to implement a Basic (L1-L3) conformant system with agent identity, action-based access, and execution isolation
- ✓ Wire protocol JSON schemas and transport bindings (HTTP, stdio, WebSocket)
- ✓ Testing your implementation for conformance against the NL Protocol specification
Recommended path
1
Learn core concepts
Understand opaque handles, scope grants, isolation boundaries, and the agent identity model.
2
Read the getting started guide
Step-by-step walkthrough for building your first NL-compliant action handler.
3
Explore the specification
The full protocol specification covering all 7 levels, wire formats, and security requirements.
4
Check conformance requirements
Review the three conformance tiers (Basic, Standard, Advanced) and what each requires.
Time commitment
~30 minutes to understand the basics, ~2-4 hours for a minimal implementation.