The Jev interface — state in, typed questions (noul, choice, score) out,
answers carrying probabilities and confidence — on top of any OpenAI-compatible model.
Same call as typesafe-sdk, different backend: point jevper at a hosted LLM or a self-hosted llama.cpp
server and code written for Jev keeps working, unchanged.
It does not call the hosted TypeSafe API and does not depend on typesafe-sdk or openai at runtime — the
client object is duck-typed. Any object exposing responses.create or chat.completions.create works,
including a self-hosted llama.cpp server.
jevperis an independent implementation of the documented System One wire format. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or supported by TypeSafe AI — questions about the API itself belong in their docs.
from openai import OpenAI
from jevper import Choice, SystemOneClient
client = SystemOneClient(OpenAI(), model="gpt-5.6-terra", method="logprobs")
response = client.system_one(
state="I was charged twice for the same subscription this month.",
questions={
"intent": Choice(
instructions="Pick the intent of the message.",
criteria={
"billing": "money, invoices, refunds, charges",
"technical": "errors, crashes, login or performance problems",
"sales": "pricing, plans, purchasing, upgrades",
},
)
},
)
answer = response.answers["intent"]
answer.choice # "billing"
answer.probabilities # {"billing": 0.88, "technical": 0.08, "sales": 0.03}
answer.confidence # 0.83Python 3.10+. The only runtime dependency is pydantic>=2.7.
For development:
git clone https://github.com/zhulinchng/jevper && cd jevper
uv venv && uv pip install -e '.[test]'
pytest -qflowchart LR
A["state + questions"] --> B["build_parts + assemble: system prompt, state turns, few-shot turns, question block"]
B --> C{"method (auto resolves first)"}
C -->|logprobs| D["logprobs=true, top_logprobs=20"]
C -->|grammar| E["+ GBNF grammar in extra_body"]
C -->|structured| F["strict JSON schema: probabilities"]
C -->|discrete| G["strict JSON schema: one label"]
D --> H["first label token -> softmax over the labels"]
E --> H
F --> I["probability dict from JSON"]
G --> J["one-hot from the chosen label"]
H --> K["Answer: choice / noul / score"]
I --> K
J --> K
Each question becomes its own provider call, so questions are independent and run concurrently
(max_concurrency, default 8). Answers come back keyed by your question ids, in insertion order.
Three types, mirroring the Jev API — Noul answers yes/no with one probability, Choice picks one of your
labelled options, Score rates on an ordered scale:
| Type | Criteria | Answer |
|---|---|---|
Noul(instructions=..., criteria={"true": ..., "false": ...}) |
optional | {"type": "noul", "noul": 0.93} |
Choice(instructions=..., criteria={"billing": "...", ...}) |
2–255 keys | {"type": "choice", "choice": "billing", "probabilities": {...}, "confidence": 0.83} |
Score(instructions=..., criteria=["Calm", "Frustrated", "Very angry"]) |
2–10 levels | {"type": "score", "score": 1.05, "legend": {...}, "probabilities": {...}, "confidence": 0.92} |
Score.score is the probability-weighted level index (Σ i·pᵢ, levels zero-based), as in the Jev API.
Choice takes up to 255 options, the Jev API limit. The two methods that read a label token —
logprobs and grammar — stop at 26, because the first token of "AA" is "A"; past 26 options they
raise InvalidQuestionError pointing at structured and discrete, which answer in JSON and use
two-letter labels. The default method="auto" never hits that error: it answers a wide Choice in JSON.
Questions can also be passed as raw mappings ({"type": "choice", "criteria": {...}}) and are validated the
same way.
method= decides how the decision is elicited. All four share the same label→option mapping, so switching
methods does not change your types; only the label alphabet differs (logprobs and grammar need
single-letter labels, so they cap at 26 options).
| Method | Request | Readout | Needs |
|---|---|---|---|
auto (default) |
logprobs, or structured where the provider cannot return logprobs |
whichever method it resolved to | a provider that returns logprobs, or JSON-schema structured output |
logprobs |
logprobs=true, top_logprobs=20 |
softmax over the labels' logprobs of the first answer token | a provider that returns chat logprobs (or the Responses surface with include logprobs) |
grammar |
the same plus a GBNF grammar in extra_body |
same as logprobs |
a Chat Completions server that accepts grammar (llama.cpp and friends) |
structured |
strict JSON schema, model returns a probability per option | the model's own numbers, rescaled to sum 1 when off by more than 1e-6 |
JSON-schema structured output |
discrete |
strict JSON schema, model returns one option | one-hot distribution | JSON-schema structured output |
auto is the default because logprobs are not universal: OpenAI's reasoning models reject them
(logprobs are not supported with reasoning models.), Anthropic and Gemini's OpenAI-compatibility endpoint
never had them, and a model that returns a logprob with no alternatives gives you no distribution at all.
auto reads the logprobs where they exist — they are one short call and the model's real distribution
rather than a self-report — and answers in JSON where they do not, remembering the verdict per model and
surface. See docs/methods.md for the
provider table, the exact request bodies, the readout rules and the failure modes.
Pass reasoning=ReasoningConfig(...) to make the model think before it classifies:
from jevper import ReasoningConfig, reasoning_text
client = SystemOneClient(OpenAI(), model="gpt-5.6-terra", reasoning=ReasoningConfig(effort="medium"))
response = client.system_one(state=..., questions=...)
reasoning_text(response.reasoning) # the trace, as textmode="auto" (the default) uses native provider reasoning on the Responses surface and a two-step
think-then-classify path on Chat Completions, where the analysis text is replayed as an assistant turn before
the answer. The trace always lands on response.reasoning, and the two-step analysis call's usage is counted
in response.usage. See docs/reasoning.md.
Examples are chat turns (example state + question block, then the expected answer), so the demonstration is always in the format the active method expects. They can be attached at three levels:
from jevper import Choice, Example, SystemOneClient
question = Choice(
criteria={"billing": "...", "technical": "..."},
examples=[Example(state="Charged twice for one order", answer="billing")],
)
client = SystemOneClient(OpenAI(), model="gpt-5.6-terra",
examples=[Example(state="Login fails", answer="technical")]) # fallback for every question
client.system_one(state=..., questions={"intent": question},
examples={"intent": [...]}) # or a bare sequence for all questionsPrecedence is question → per call → constructor, and the first non-empty level wins. examples is excluded
from model_dump(), so question dumps keep exactly the Jev wire keys. See
docs/few-shot.md.
response.model # the model actually used
response.answers # {"intent": ChoiceAnswer(...)}
response.nouls / .choices / .scores # filtered views
response.usage # input_tokens, output_tokens, reasoning_tokens, n_calls, n_retries, latency
response.reasoning # tuple[ReasoningContentPart, ...]
response.debug # per-attempt requests/responses, retry reasons, normalization notesresponse.model_dump_json() serializes to the Jev answer shape — the answer field names and JSON keys match
POST /v1/systemone. Token counts are None when any constituent call omitted them; n_calls counts the
provider calls that returned a result, including analysis passes and corrective retries, while n_retries
counts transient-failure retries only. A failed attempt appears in debug["llm_attempts"] but not in usage. See docs/api.md for the full reference.
Local problems fail before any request is sent: an invalid question, an empty questions mapping, an
unusable state, or grammar on a surface that cannot carry a grammar.
| Error | Raised when |
|---|---|
InvalidQuestionError |
question or few-shot example is locally invalid |
UnsupportedMethodError |
method="grammar" on the Responses surface |
ClientCapabilityError |
the client lacks the attribute the chosen surface needs, or the response carried no choices and no explanation of why |
LabelReadoutError |
the first answer token is not a label, or the provider returned no logprobs (or no alternatives, or no logprob for that token). The provider-side cases are not corrective-retried, and method="auto" answers them with structured |
MalformedAnswerError |
the JSON answer had an unusable shape after corrective retries |
ProviderError |
a provider call failed; .attempts carries the attempt history and .status_code the status the provider reported — including one carried inside a 200 body, which is how OpenRouter reports an upstream failure |
JevperError |
constructor misuse, a bad state message, or content that is not JSON-serializable |
Transient failures (HTTP 408/429/500/502/503/504/529, connection and timeout errors — including the httpx
transport errors whose class names carry neither word) are retried per call with
RetryPolicy(n_retries=2, base_delay=0.5, max_delay=8.0) and exponential
backoff min(base_delay · 3ⁿ, max_delay). Unreadable answers get one corrective retry
(n_retry_malformed) with the failure appended to the conversation. ProviderError propagates after all
questions have settled, in question insertion order.
pytest -q # the whole suite runs against a local stub HTTP server; no network, no API keys
ruff check src tests # clean except three PYI034 hints (see docs/internals.md)The suite drives a real openai SDK client at a stdlib ThreadingHTTPServer stub, so the SDK's own
serialization path is exercised; see docs/internals.md.
Optional live check, skipped unless both variables are set:
LLM_MODEL=gpt-5.6-terra OPENAI_API_KEY=... pytest -q tests/test_live.py- docs/api.md — constructor and
system_oneparameters, answer/usage/debug shapes, errors - docs/methods.md — the four methods, request bodies, readout rules, surface selection
- docs/reasoning.md — native vs two-step reasoning, traces, encrypted content
- docs/few-shot.md — example levels, precedence, rendering, structured examples
- docs/internals.md — module map, call flow, concurrency, retries, testing
Apache-2.0 — see LICENSE.