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Runtime Overview

The Waxell Runtime is the execution engine that brings your SDK-defined agents to life. It handles execution context, durability, and pluggable backends.

Core Responsibilities​

  • Execution Context: Manages state during workflow execution
  • Durability: Checkpoint and resume for long-running workflows
  • Backend Abstraction: Pluggable backends for different environments
  • Governance Hooks: Integration points for policy enforcement

Key Abstractions​

ConceptPurpose
RuntimeConfigDI container for backend configuration
ExecutionContextPure execution state management
WorkflowEnvelopeExecution boundary with checkpoint/resume
StepDurable execution unit

Local vs Production​

The runtime provides different backends for different environments:

# Local development (in-memory, no external dependencies)
from waxell_runtime import RuntimeConfig
config = RuntimeConfig.get()  # Uses defaults

# Production (Redis, Celery, Django)
# Automatically configured by waxell-infra Django app

Working with Claude Code​

If you use Claude Code, install the bundled Waxell Runtime skill so Claude writes idiomatic agent code for you:

wax claude-init

This drops .claude/skills/waxell-runtime/SKILL.md into your project. The skill activates whenever Claude sees from waxell_runtime import ... and teaches the canonical decorators, the ctx proxy API, working memory conventions, env-var setup, and common pitfalls. Re-run wax claude-init after upgrading waxell-runtime to refresh.

Next Steps​