v0.11.0

Release Notes for v0.11.0

✨ New Features

• Contract Performance Statistics Tracking

  • Added a contract_perf_stats method to contract-decorated classes, which tracks and reports granular timing statistics (mean, std, min, max, percentage) for each contract operation: input validation, act execution, output validation, forward execution, total execution, and "overhead" (untracked contract time).
  • Unit tests exercise and validate this detailed performance statistics capability.

• Improved Type and Semantic Validation

  • The contract mechanism now leverages a single TypeValidationFunction to handle both type and semantic validation, streamlining error handling and remedy functions.
  • The previously separate SemanticValidationFunction is now unified, reducing code duplication and making semantic and type checks more consistent.

• Rich Field Descriptions for LLM Guidance

  • Strongly encourage and enforce the use of descriptive Field(description="...") for all LLMDataModel attributes. These descriptions are directly used to improve LLM prompting, validation, error messages, and data generation.
  • Updated documentation with clearer guidance and rationale on crafting informative descriptions and prompts.

🐛 Bug Fixes & Refactorings

• Refined Contract Input and Output Handling

  • The contract decorator now strictly enforces keyword arguments (no positional input) and validates the input type up-front.
  • Input object identity and propagation through the contract lifecycle are preserved and tested (no accidental re-instantiation).

• Improved Error Reporting & Context

  • Type and semantic validation errors are now accumulated and reported with greater clarity when remedy retries are enabled.
  • Error accumulation context is correctly passed to remedies, improving developer diagnostics.

• Act Method Refactoring

  • The act method inside contracts is validated for correct signature and type annotations.
  • If no act is defined, the input is propagated unchanged, simplifying state-modifying contracts.

• Output Type Checks

  • Output from contracts is checked against expected type annotation, with informative error messages if mismatches are detected.

• Contract Performance Test Coverage

  • New and expanded tests for:
    • End-to-end contract flows with state-modifying act methods.
    • Verification that the same input object is propagated and contract state changes are handled as expected.
    • Tracking and assertion of contract performance statistics.

• Codebase Cleanup

  • Removed unused imports (e.g., SemanticValidationError class and related references).
  • Simplified logic around data model registration and remedy handling.

📘 Documentation

• Expanded and clarified the documentation for contracts, field descriptions, prompt design, and the role of pre/post validation.
• Added best practices for driving LLMs with meaningful validation and semantic checks.
• Highlighted the separation of static contract prompts and dynamic input state.

Full Changelog: v0.10.0...v0.11.0