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Compatibility

This page describes practical compatibility boundaries for Bernstein integrations.

Last updated: 2026-04-19

Runtime compatibility

  • Python: project targets Python 3.12+.
  • Task server/API: FastAPI-based local or remote server operation.
  • CLI adapters: 37 CLI agent adapters (36 third-party + generic) in src/bernstein/adapters/, including the OpenAI Agents SDK v2 adapter (openai_agents).

Supported CLI agent adapters

Adapter Provider Structured Output MCP
claude Anthropic JSON schema enforced Yes
codex OpenAI JSON (--json) No
gemini Google JSON (--output-format json) No
openai_agents OpenAI (Agents SDK v2) JSONL event stream Yes (Bernstein-bridged)
aider Multi No No
amp Sourcegraph No No
qwen Multi No No
ollama Local No No
cody Sourcegraph No No
cursor Cursor No Yes
goose Block No No
continue Multi No No
opencode Multi JSON (--format json) No
kiro AWS No No
kilo Stackblitz No Yes (ACP/MCP)
cloudflare Cloudflare No No
iac N/A (Terraform/Pulumi) No No
generic Any Depends on CLI No

Support modules

Module Purpose
caching_adapter Prompt prefix deduplication and response reuse
claude_agents Subagent definitions for Claude Code --agents flag
claude_exit_codes Exit code to lifecycle enum mapping
claude_stream_parser Stream-JSON event parsing
conformance Golden-transcript replay and adapter conformance testing
env_isolation Environment variable filtering for credential safety
manager Internal ManagerAgent spawner
plugin_sdk Third-party adapter plugin base classes
registry Adapter discovery and registration
skills_injector Per-task Claude Code skill injection

Compatibility details can vary by adapter version and local toolchain.

Protocol and integration layers

MCP

  • Bernstein includes an MCP server (src/bernstein/core/protocols/mcp_server.py) exposed via bernstein mcp.
  • MCP tool registry with auto-discovery and per-task configuration.
  • MCP gateway proxy (bernstein gateway) for routing MCP traffic.
  • MCP health monitoring, lazy discovery, sandbox, marketplace, and metrics modules in src/bernstein/core/protocols/.
  • MCP auth lifecycle management and version compatibility checking.
  • MCP composition and skill bridge for combining tools across servers.
  • Practical compatibility depends on client/runtime transport expectations.

A2A

  • A2A task/artifact routes implemented in task routes.
  • A2A federation support (a2a_federation.py) for cross-instance agent coordination.
  • A2A available as part of the server API surface.

ACP

  • ACP IDE bridge (acp_ide_bridge.py) for editor integration.
  • ACP-related compatibility workflows and spec docs exist.
  • Treat ACP support as integration-dependent rather than one fixed matrix.

Protocol negotiation

  • Runtime protocol version handshake (protocol_negotiation.py) for MCP/A2A/ACP.
  • Schema registry (schema_registry.py) for versioned message schemas.
  • Ensures protocol compatibility is detected at connection time, not at failure time.

Quality gates

Bernstein v1.8.4 ships an expanded quality gate pipeline in src/bernstein/core/quality/:

  • Standard gates: lint, type-check, tests, coverage
  • Architecture conformance (arch_conformance.py, arch_rules.py)
  • Benchmark gate (benchmark_gate.py, perf_benchmark_gate.py)
  • Mutation testing (mutation_testing.py, test_mutation_verify.py)
  • Dead code detection (dead_code_detector.py)
  • Dependency scanning (dependency_scan.py, dep_validator.py)
  • Flaky test detection (flaky_detector.py)
  • Integration test generation (integration_test_gen.py)
  • Cross-model verification (cross_model_verifier.py)
  • Consensus verification (consensus_verifier.py)
  • LLM judge (llm_judge.py)
  • Gate caching (gate_cache.py) and plugin system (gate_plugins.py)

Cost and quota management

  • Peak-hour scheduling (cost/peak_hour_router.py) for time-of-day cost optimization
  • Cost anomaly detection, forecasting, and root cause analysis
  • Budget actions and completion budgets
  • Cost arbitrage across providers
  • Cloud cost export integration

How to verify in your environment

Use environment-specific validation instead of relying on static matrices:

  1. Run bernstein doctor.
  2. Run your target CLI adapter smoke checks (bernstein test-adapter <name>).
  3. Validate required API endpoints (/status, /tasks, /metrics, protocol-specific routes).
  4. If using remote workers, validate cluster endpoints and auth paths.
  5. Generate a debug bundle (bernstein debug) for comprehensive triage information.

Notes on historical matrices

Older protocol matrices in docs/workflows are useful as references for prior CI checks, but they should not be treated as evergreen compatibility guarantees for all environments.