arXiv Computation and Language

Canonical Procedural Actions: An Auditable Annotation Protocol for Tool-Use Agent Traces

arXiv AI
Aug 28

When Tool Outputs Become Commands: Separating Action Induction from Runtime Authorization in Tool-Augmented LLM Agents

The paper introduces SARA, a framework that separates action induction from runtime authorization in tool‑augmented LLM agents. By treating these as distinct roles, SARA uses an Action Probe to record action provenance and only authorizes tool calls that align with the user objective and past successful executions. Experiments on AgentDojo and AgentDyn show that SARA reduces action‑to‑side‑effect risk to below 0.63% while preserving task performance.

By Xiaokun Guo, Zhen Xu, Dongdong Huo, Yanqiu Zhang, Wei Wang, Qinfu Yang, Dongjin Yu, Yu Wang
arXiv AI
Aug 20

LEDGER: Claim-to-Evidence Trace Graphs for Auditing LLM Agents

LEDGER is a tracing and review system for large language model agents that constructs layered trace graphs from observed sessions. It groups raw trace records into Evidence Nodes and Workflow Nodes, anchors artifacts as evidence, and adds typed semantic edges linking claims to supporting actions, artifacts, and checks. The resulting traces reveal workflow decisions, artifact lineage, repair steps, validation coverage, and claim‑support paths for evidence‑centered audit.

By Daehong Kim, Haichao Miao, Shusen Liu
arXiv AI
Oct 2

Actions with Receipts: Jointly Binding Claims, Evidence, and Execution for Replayable Tool-Agent Auditing

The paper introduces a claim‑anchored execution contract that binds a tool‑using agent’s emitted claim to its exact source span, the ordered execution prefix that produced it, and the source version and access state observed. Each receipt contains deterministic anchors, source identifiers, offsets, hashes, quotes, and a domain‑separated execution commitment, allowing a verifier to reconstruct these bindings before semantic or task labels are joined. The contract defines seven independently testable properties and demonstrates high detection rates against cross‑object attacks, with strong performance on conflict‑aware support guard evaluations.

By Miaobo Hu, Shuhao Hu, Xiaobo Guo, Xin Wang, Bokun Wang, Yina Sa, Daren Zha, Jun Xiao
arXiv AI
Sep 24

Silent Failures in Agent-Tool Interaction: An Audit of ToolUniverse

The paper audits silent failures in agent-to-tool interactions within the ToolUniverse environment, focusing on 15 scientific tools. It identifies 91 failures—primarily missing data or inconsistent search/filtering—occurring mainly in the API and wrapper layers, and shows how these silent failures can propagate downstream into seemingly valid outputs. The authors propose contextual reliability and recommend testing, disclosure, monitoring, and measurement strategies for the agent-tool pipeline.

By Shreya Gopalan, Devansh Singh, Sundaraparipurnan Narayanan
arXiv AI
Aug 11

From Trajectories to Evidence: Auditable Experimental Records for Industrial Research Agents

arXiv:2608. 05235v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Research agents increasingly conduct multi-round machine-learning experiments in industrial recommendation settings and retain the resulting trajectories to guide later decisions.

By Zijie Zhuang, Changxin Lao, Pengbo Xu, Hanwen Xu, Ruochen Yang, Yingzhi He, Peng Zhang, Jiangxia Cao, Yusheng Huang, Guohong Mu, Jian Liang, Ruiming Tang, Shuang Yang, Zhaojie Liu, Wenwu Ou, Kun Gai
arXiv AI
Aug 7

TRAJDEBUG: Tracing Error Lifecycle to Identify Critical Failures in Long-Horizon Agent Trajectories

arXiv:2608. 06346v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: LLM-based agentic systems have shown remarkable capabilities in complex domains, while suffering from cascading errors and difficulty in debugging.

By Yunjia Qi, Zehua Yin, Xintong Shi, Hao Peng, Songyuanyi Lu, Yixian Liu, Richeng Xuan, Yuhong Liu, Zhichao Hu, Xiaozhi Wang, Lei Hou, Bin Xu, Juanzi Li
arXiv AI
Oct 31

Soei: Structured Observability of Evidence and Intent for Multi-Agent AI Software Engineering

The paper introduces Soei, a structured observability framework for AI coding agents, addressing the need to track what work was done, by whom, and whether it is finished. It evaluates an existing tool, Agenttrail, revealing inconsistencies and security gaps, and presents empirical findings from 45 real coding-agent sessions, highlighting issues such as unverified code edits and credential exposure. Soei comprises an event schema, hash‑chained ledger, PROV‑aligned graph, and verification layer, achieving efficient storage, fast verification, and tamper detection on the same dataset.

By Mohammed Nayeem Khan, K S Sarun Kumar