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Who This Guide Is For

Use this guide if you installed the legacy vijil PyPI package with pip install vijil. That package targets a previous API contract. This guide gets you onto vijil-sdk v3, the current SDK and CLI distribution.

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Why Migrate

The legacy vijil package cannot reach current platform endpoints. If a recent legacy install returns authentication failures or 404 responses, the package is likely using the old API contract. Key changes:
  • Authentication moved from a username and token flow against /tokens/verify to bearer API keys.
  • The current CLI replaces generic CRUD commands such as vijil create, vijil list, and vijil describe with workflow verbs and resource commands.
  • The current SDK includes generated models for stronger type checking and IDE completion.

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Install

Uninstall the legacy package, then install the current SDK: 
# Old
pip uninstall vijil

# New
pip install vijil-sdk
The vijil-sdk package installs both the vijil Python SDK and the vijil CLI under one distribution. It requires Python 3.12 or later.

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Authentication Changes

The legacy package prompted for a username and token: 
# Old
vijil login <your-username>
# Enter your token: ****
The current SDK uses bearer API keys generated from your Console deployment under Profile > Personal Information > API Auth Token: 
# New
vijil auth login
# Enter your Vijil API key: ****
# Authenticated. Token saved to ~/.vijil/credentials.json
You can also set VIJIL_API_KEY in your environment. The environment variable takes precedence over the token stored by vijil auth login.

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Command Map

The legacy package exposed 8 top-level commands for generic operations. The current CLI splits those commands into:
  1. Porcelain commands for the high-level agent trust workflow
  2. Plumbing commands for low-level CRUD operations on platform resources (scripting, automation, and direct resource management)
Legacy CommandCurrent CommandNotes
vijil loginvijil auth loginUses an API key instead of username and token authentication
vijil logoutvijil auth logoutClears stored credentials
vijil create <X>Porcelain verbs such as vijil evaluate, vijil test, vijil adapt, vijil protect, vijil register, vijil evolve, or vijil deployChoose the command by intent instead of using a generic create action
vijil list <X>vijil <resource> listResources include agents, evaluations, harnesses, genomes, jobs, scores, reports, proposals, policies, and personas
vijil describe <X>vijil <resource> describe <id>Uses the same resource set as list
vijil delete <X>vijil <resource> delete <id>Uses the same resource set as list
vijil download <X>vijil reports download <id>Reports are the only downloadable artifact today
vijil start <X>Porcelain verbs such as vijil evaluate or vijil testStarting a job is now done using a porcelain verb
vijil stop <X>vijil jobs cancel <id>Job cancellation is a plumbing command
Link to the full CLI reference here.

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Python SDK Changes

The legacy package did not expose a stable Python API beyond CLI invocation. The current package provides the Vijil client: 
from vijil import Vijil

client = Vijil()
evaluation = client.evaluate(agent_id="...", harness="trust-baseline")
print(evaluation.scores)
By default, Vijil() reads VIJIL_API_KEY or the credentials saved by vijil auth login.
Link to the full SDK reference here.

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When to Use MCP Instead

Use vijil-mcp when you need to run Vijil capabilities inside MCP-aware agent framework such as Claude Desktop, Cursor, LangGraph, ADK, or Strands. The vijil-mcp package runs as a separate stdio MCP server that exposes Vijil platform capabilities as tools an agent can call. You can install both vijil-sdk and vijil-mcp in the same environment. They are independent and do not share runtime state.
Last modified on July 9, 2026