Objectives and completion evidence | Sikaru

An objective gives a session an explicit outcome, a completion criterion, and optional evidence paths. Use one when you need verification and continued work toward an outcome, instead of treating any finished turn as success.

An objective starts active. You can pause and resume it. A passing verdict completes it. A final round that fails or is inconclusive blocks it. You can cancel an unfinished objective.

Attach an objective to a session run

objective = client.execution_objectives.create(
    project,
    session_id=session_id,
    run_id=run_id,
    idempotency_key="case-42-objective",
    objective="Produce the case analysis report",
    criterion="The report answers each question and cites supporting evidence.",
    evidence_paths=["report.md"],
)["objective"]

run_id must belong to that session.
Evidence paths refer to the run’s workspace, not files on your API client’s machine.
Choose concrete completion criteria and files the task actually produces.

Objective verification must be available in the service. Creation or resumption can return 503 when it is unavailable.

Observe and control

state = client.execution_objectives.get(project, objective["id"])["objective"]
print(state["status"])

Statuses include active, paused, blocked, completed, and cancelled. A session can have only one unfinished objective, including paused or blocked objectives. An objective’s completion is distinct from a single run completing.

Operation	Effect
`pause(project, objective_id)`	Pauses objective progress.
`resume(...)`	Continues it. Can select a new completed, delivered source run through `ResumeInput(source_run_id=...)`.
`cancel(...)`	Cancels the objective.

These controls are separate from run cancellation. If the user wants to stop execution immediately, cancel the active run too.

When you resume with a new source run, keep the session’s identity and inspect any conflict before you retry.

Read operations need runs:read. Objective mutations need runs:create.

CLI commands are under sikaru execution-objectives; use --schema for each operation.

Bound verification rounds

Set max_rounds when you create an objective (default 3, range 1–20).

The original source run is round one.
Every independent verification round counts, including reassessment after an inconclusive verdict.
Pausing before a verdict is recorded does not use another round.
maxRounds in the objective response is the immutable admitted limit. Changing it under an existing idempotency key conflicts.

What happens on the last round:

A passing verdict on the final round still completes the objective.
A failed final round blocks with Admitted objective round limit exhausted and never queues another acting run.
An inconclusive verdict still blocks without continuation and keeps its evidence reason.

An objective with all rounds recorded cannot resume, even with a different source run. Cancel it and create a new objective to explicitly admit more work. Cancellation does not cancel an already running turn. Existing session budgets can stop work earlier.

Creating or resuming an objective in a draft session also requires harness:write. Read, pause, and cancel keep their existing scopes.

Next steps

Sessions and steering

Create the session and runs that objectives attach to.

Evaluations

Measure agent quality across many tasks.