Steer Action Demo

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What This Demonstrates

• Deny: Hard-block compliance violations (OFAC sanctions, high fraud)
• Steer: Guide agent through approval workflows (2FA, manager approval)
• Observe: Record suspicious activity for audit without blocking (new recipients)

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Understanding Steer Actions

• Deny = You cannot do this (permanent block)
• Steer = You need to do X first (correctable)

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Demo Flow

Request Transfer → Steer Triggered → Correct Issue → Retry Transfer → Success

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Quick Start

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Prerequisites

1. Start the AgentControl server
2. Set your OpenAI API key: export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-key"

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Run the Demo

cd examples/steer_action_demo

# 1. Create the controls (one-time setup)
uv run setup_controls.py

# 2. Run the interactive banking agent
uv run autonomous_agent_demo.py

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Try These Scenarios

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1. Simple Transfer (Auto-Approved)

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2. Sanctioned Country (Blocked)

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3. Large Transfer (Requires Approval)

1. Agent requests 2FA code
2. Agent asks for business justification
3. Agent requests manager approval
4. Transfer completes after approvals

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What You Will Learn

• When to use deny vs steer vs observe actions
• How to integrate human feedback (2FA, approvals) into agent workflows
• How structured steering context enables deterministic agent workflows
• Real-world compliance patterns (OFAC, AML, fraud prevention)
• The steer → correct → retry lifecycle

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How It Works

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Structured Steering Context

{
  "required_actions": ["request_2fa", "verify_2fa"],
  "retry_flags": {
    "verified_2fa": true
  },
  "reason": "Large transfer requires identity verification via 2FA"
}

{
  "required_actions": ["justification", "approval"],
  "steps": [
    {
      "step": 1,
      "action": "justification",
      "description": "Request business justification from user"
    },
    {
      "step": 2,
      "action": "approval",
      "description": "Submit to manager for approval"
    }
  ],
  "retry_flags": {
    "manager_approved": true,
    "justification": "<collected_from_user>"
  },
  "reason": "Transfer exceeds daily limit - requires approval"
}

• required_actions: list of actions the agent must complete
• retry_flags: flags to set when retrying after correction
• reason: human-readable explanation
• steps: optional sequential workflow steps with descriptions

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Files

• setup_controls.py - Creates the five banking controls (deny, steer, observe)
• autonomous_agent_demo.py - Interactive agent with deterministic steer handling

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Source Code