Runtime

This page documents an SDK module that is real production surface — the ntro-worker runner uses it — but does not yet have a canonical runbook example. The example below is from the worker code; treat it as “this is how the API is shaped” rather than “this is how a runbook uses it”. The page expands when a runbook starts using config directly.

ntro.capabilities.config is for runtime config access from inside a deployed runbook. It reads the tenant-scoped configuration the worker holds (data platform credentials, provider settings, SMTP host, anything else config-toml-shaped) and returns it as a structured object the runbook can use. This is distinct from the Deploy & Run section — that section is about the act of deploying. This page is about a module called from inside a deployed runbook.

Install

pip install 'ntro[workflow]'

The capability is bundled with the workflow extra. Runbooks always have it.

The API

from ntro.capabilities import config

cfg = config.get()
# cfg.email_smtp_host
# cfg.email_from_address
# cfg.data_plane_dsn
# ...etc

Returns the worker’s loaded config as a typed object. Field set is determined by the worker’s startup config — not the SDK. What you can read depends on what the platform team has populated for the tenant.

Where it lives in the worker

ntro-worker itself uses config.get() to bootstrap its runtime. Roughly:

# From ntro-worker/ntro_worker/runner.py — illustrative
from ntro.capabilities import config

async def start_worker():
    cfg = config.get()

    # Bind to the data plane the tenant binding configured
    db_pool = await asyncpg.create_pool(cfg.data_plane_dsn)

    # Hand the worker the tenant's Temporal namespace
    client = await Client.connect(
        target_host=cfg.temporal_host,
        namespace=cfg.tenant_namespace,
    )
    ...

A runbook activity can do the same:

from ntro.workflow import activity
from ntro.capabilities import config


@activity.defn(name="example.read_config")
async def read_runtime_config() -> dict:
    cfg = config.get()
    return {
        "from_address": cfg.email_from_address,
        "smtp_host": cfg.email_smtp_host,
    }

When you’d reach for this

Most runbooks shouldn’t. The patterns documented elsewhere — ntro.data for the data plane, ai.extract for AI calls, files.parse for documents — already abstract over the credential plumbing. You don’t need to reach into config to get a database connection; get_data_plane(tenant_slug) does it for you. config.get() becomes useful when you’re doing something the SDK doesn’t already wrap:

Reading a tenant-specific setting your runbook needs at runtime (regional reporting threshold, currency display preference)
Calling an external service the SDK has no capability for (your tenant’s bank API, a regulator-specific filing endpoint)
Implementing a custom activity that the platform should provide as a capability one day, but doesn’t yet

Treat it as the escape hatch — useful when needed, not the first thing to reach for.

Disambiguation note

There are three “config” things in Ntropii — keep them straight:

Thing	Where it lives	What it is
`~/.ntro/config.toml`	Author’s machine	Local CLI / SDK connection config (host, API key)
Skill `config_schema`	`runbook.md` frontmatter	The shape of workflow run config — period, GL maps, etc.
`ntro.capabilities.config` (this page)	Tenant worker	The runtime config the worker boots with — DB DSN, SMTP host, etc.

Workflow run config (the second one) flows in via the workflow’s context — not via this module.

Tenant architecture

Why the worker has tenant-scoped config in the first place.

Data

For the common case (DB access), use get_data_plane() not config.get().

Get Started

Tooling

Building workflows

Ntro SDK

API Reference

Deploy & Run

Install

The API

Where it lives in the worker

When you’d reach for this

Disambiguation note

Tenant architecture

Data

​Install

​The API

​Where it lives in the worker

​When you’d reach for this

​Disambiguation note

​Related

Tenant architecture

Data

Install

The API

Where it lives in the worker

When you’d reach for this

Disambiguation note

Related