fix(core): fix dependency pins blocking agent-governance-toolkit-core installs

[Karim Mehalebi (karimad)]

Related Issue

None filed for the original problem yet — happy to file one if maintainers would rather track this separately before review. Filed #4019 for a follow-on gap this PR discloses but doesn't close (see "Known remaining gap" below).

Problem & Solution

Problem: agent-governance-toolkit-core's dependencies pin agt-policies>=5.1.0,<6.0 (bumped in #3939). agt-policies's own main pins agent-control-specification>=0.4.0b0,<0.5.0. Neither version is published to PyPI — PyPI tops out at agt-policies==5.0.0 and agent-control-specification==0.3.1b1 — so a plain pip install agent-governance-toolkit-core (or the [full] extra) cannot resolve today. This is the same recurring bug class as #3414 (closed) and #3733 (open), just a different pair of packages, and it isn't covered by either.

I hit this trying to depend on the fix from #3924 (merged, adds contains/startswith/endswith to the condition DSL) from an external project — there's currently no way to pip install/uv sync to a commit containing that fix without a --no-deps git overlay.

Solution:

1. agt-policies backs only the v4-to-ACS manifest migration CLI (agt migrate). I grepped agent-mesh/src/agentmesh/ (where govern(), GovernanceDenied, and policy.py/PolicyEngine actually live) for any import of agt or agent_control_specification — there are none. The base governance runtime doesn't use this dependency at all; it was pulled into the required set as part of the "merged dependencies" consolidation, not because anything imports it. This PR moves agt-policies out of dependencies and into a new migrate optional-dependency extra, matching the existing pattern already used for other CLI/framework-specific pieces (mcp, redis, django, etc.).
2. Review caught that step 1 alone would break agent_os (force-included into this same wheel), which directly imports agent_control_specification in providers.py, cli/cmd_validate.py, integrations/_native_adapter_runtime.py, and integrations/openai_agents_sdk.py — it previously received that package only transitively via agt-policies. Fixed by declaring agent-control-specification>=0.3.1b0,<0.4.0 as its own direct base dependency, matching the currently-published range.

full does not pull in migrate, so pip install agent-governance-toolkit-core[full] resolves cleanly against what's actually published today.

Known remaining gap: the migrate extra's own agt-policies>=5.1.0,<6.0 pin is untouched by this PR and is still unresolvable on its own (5.1.0 isn't published), and will conflict with this PR's new base agent-control-specification pin once it is (5.1.0 will require ACS >=0.4.0b0, base here requires <0.4.0). There's no ACS release yet that both sides could share, so this isn't fixable in this PR — documented in the CHANGELOG and next to the extra, tracked in #4019.

Impact on Your Work

Blocked me from cleanly depending on the #3924 fix in a downstream project without a manual --no-deps overlay script. Filing this so the next person hitting the same resolver error doesn't have to reinvent that workaround.

Timeline

None.

Alternatives Considered

Widening the base agent-control-specification pin to accept the unpublished 0.4.0b0 beta instead of pinning the currently-published 0.3.1b1 range — rejected because it would just reintroduce the same "depends on something PyPI doesn't have" problem this PR is fixing, one level down.

Type of Change

• Bug fix (non-breaking change that fixes an issue)

Package(s) Affected

• agent-governance-toolkit-core

Testing

Unit Testing

No new tests added — packaging-only change. Ran the existing suite covering the condition DSL and govern() (test_policy_rule_string_operators.py, test_govern.py, 51 passed) against a venv built from this branch to confirm nothing regressed.

Manual Testing

In a clean venv, built from this branch's local source:

pip install ".../agent-governance-toolkit-core[full]"

resolves and installs successfully (confirmed via pip show: agent-control-specification is present at 0.3.1b1; agt-policies is absent, as expected).

Then verified the actual governance path still works end-to-end in that same venv:

from agentmesh.governance import govern, GovernanceDenied

def deliver(action):
    return action["response"]

governed = govern(deliver, policy="policy.yaml", agent_id="test:contains-check")
# policy.yaml: deny when action.response contains 'rm -rf'

governed(action={"response": "sure, run rm -rf /tmp/x"})  # -> raises GovernanceDenied
governed(action={"response": "hello world"})               # -> returns "hello world"

Both the contains deny path (#3924) and the benign allow path passed.

Also confirmed agent_os's own use of agent_control_specification still works (agent_os.cli.cmd_validate._validate_manifest() runs end-to-end), and that agt-policies is still installable and pinned correctly when explicitly requested via the new extra (agent-governance-toolkit-core[migrate]) — this PR only changes when it's pulled in, not the pin itself.

Checklist

• I have linked a related issue above, or completed "Problem & Solution", "Impact on Your Work", and "Alternatives Considered"
• My code follows the project style guidelines (ruff check) — no source touched, pyproject.toml/CHANGELOG.md only
• I have added tests that prove my fix/feature works — reused/re-ran existing suite (see Testing); no new source code to add unit tests for
• All new and existing tests pass (pytest)
• I have updated documentation as needed (CHANGELOG.md)
• I have signed the Microsoft CLA

Attribution & Prior Art

• This contribution does not contain code copied or derived from other projects without attribution
• Any external projects that inspired this design are credited in code comments or documentation
• If this PR implements functionality similar to an existing open-source project, I have listed it below

Prior art / related projects (if any):
None — this mirrors the repo's own existing extras pattern (mcp, redis, django).

AI Assistance

• I can explain every meaningful change in this PR: what it does, why, and what tradeoffs were considered
• I have run tests and verification appropriate for this change
• No part of this PR was autonomously submitted by an AI agent without my review
• I have not used AI to generate review comments on others' PRs

AI tools were used to draft the diagnosis, code changes, commit messages, and this description; I reviewed and verified every change myself (see Testing) before pushing.

IP, Patents, and Licensing

• This contribution does not implement patent-pending or patent-encumbered techniques
• This contribution does not require an NDA or licensing agreement to understand or use
• Any AI tools used have terms compatible with the MIT License

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PR Review Summary

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🔍 Code Review	⚠️ Missing	No current-run comment
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Verdict: ⚠️ AI review incomplete; ready for human review

AI review comments are untrusted advisory output. The summary reports workflow-generated completion status only, not model-authored pass/fail claims.

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[MohammadHaroonAbuomar]

• Commit be9c593 has no Signed-off-by trailer, so the DCO check will fail once the gated runs execute. Please git rebase --signoff origin/main (or amend that commit with --signoff) and force-push. Blocking; everything else is in place.
• scripts/ci/check_native_policy_wheels.py:80 asserts "Requires-Dist: agt-policies" in metadata; after this change only the ; extra == 'migrate' line satisfies it, so the check no longer proves what it was written for. Assert the full Requires-Dist: agt-policies<6.0,>=5.1.0; extra == 'migrate' line, or drop the assertion. Non-blocking.

[Karim Mehalebi (karimad)]

• Commit be9c593 has no Signed-off-by trailer, so the DCO check will fail once the gated runs execute. Please git rebase --signoff origin/main (or amend that commit with --signoff) and force-push. Blocking; everything else is in place.
• scripts/ci/check_native_policy_wheels.py:80 asserts "Requires-Dist: agt-policies" in metadata; after this change only the ; extra == 'migrate' line satisfies it, so the check no longer proves what it was written for. Assert the full Requires-Dist: agt-policies<6.0,>=5.1.0; extra == 'migrate' line, or drop the assertion. Non-blocking.

all fixed thanks

[MohammadHaroonAbuomar]

Verified at 3e22d99: every commit now carries a matching sign-off, the pyproject comment is updated, and the one-line test key change in tests/ci/test_release_tooling.py is the fix main's #3939 test needs (25 pass). The base pin matches agt-policies 5.1.0's range; install coherence passes. The check_native_policy_wheels.py assertion note stays open as a follow-up, not a blocker. The docker-compose-test failure was the known relay knock flake, green on rerun. Thanks.