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AutoInterp Agent Framework

The AutoInterp Agent Framework is an automated system designed for mechanistic interpretability research on Large Language Models (LLMs). It adopts a modular approach in which the research process is broken down into steps that are each executed by an API call to an LLM. The system takes as its input a research question and outputs a research report with original analyses,visualizations, and interpretation.

AutoInterp is still in very early stages and may be buggy. Please feel free to submit pull requests or suggest edits; this is intended to be a community project.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

  • Python 3.8+
  • Dependencies from requirements.txt

Installation

  1. Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/akozlo/AutoInterp.git
cd AutoInterp
  1. Set up a Python environment (choose one option):

Option A: Use an existing conda/venv environment

If you already have a conda or venv environment with your desired packages, simply activate it before running AutoInterp. The system will auto-detect and use your active environment:

conda activate myenv  # or: source myenv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

Option B: Create a new virtual environment

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

Option C: Let AutoInterp handle it

If you don't activate any environment, AutoInterp will either:

  • Use Docker sandbox mode (if Docker is installed) - recommended for security
  • Create its own venv at ~/.autointerp/venv and install dependencies automatically
  1. (Optional) Install the package to expose the CLI entry point:
pip install -e .
  1. Ensure necessary environment variables are set, either in the environment or in a .env file:
# Only necessary to provide keys for model providers you will use 
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_key_here
OPENAI_API_KEY=your_key_here
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=your_key_here

# Huggingface token is needed to download some models from transformers
HF_TOKEN=your_key_here

Configuration

Optionally configure config.yaml with custom settings:

  • Task details (name, description)
  • Model configuration
  • LLM provider and model
  • Analysis parameters
  • Visualization settings
  • Resource limits

Usage

Running a Task

# Default run (no install required)
python -m AutoInterp

# Equivalent explicit script call
python main.py

# Override configuration file
python -m AutoInterp --config path/to/override_config.yaml

# Choose where projects are written
python -m AutoInterp --projects-dir /absolute/or/relative/path

# After optional `pip install -e .`
interp-agent --help

Sandboxed Execution with Docker

  • Enable the sandbox by setting analysis.execution.sandbox: true (default) in config.yaml. When enabled, AutoInterp runs generated analysis scripts inside a Docker container instead of directly on the host.
  • Configure the container under execution.docker:
    • image: base image to run (defaults to python:3.10-slim; swap for GPU-enabled images such as pytorch/pytorch:latest if needed).
    • use_gpu: set to true to pass through GPUs via --gpus all (requires the NVIDIA Container Toolkit).
    • cache_dir: persistent host directory where Python packages are installed once and reused across runs.
    • extra_args: additional docker run flags (for custom networks, resource limits, etc.).
    • env: additional environment variables to propagate into the container.
  • Hugging Face, pip, and torch caches are mounted automatically so downloads persist between runs. Project artifacts remain on the host because the project directory is bind-mounted read/write.

Directory Structure

.
├── __init__.py                 # Package entry and exports
├── __main__.py                 # Enables `python -m AutoInterp`
├── core/
│   ├── llm_interface.py        # Manages cognitive loop and interactions with LLM
│   └── utils.py                # General utilities and path resolution
│
├── questions/
│   ├── __init__.py             # Module initialization
│   └── question_manager.py     # Manages research questions
│
├── prompts/
│   ├── prompts.yaml            # Main prompts configuration file
│   ├── analysis_generator.yaml # Analysis Generator Prompts
│   ├── analysis_planner.yaml   # Analysis Planning Prompts
│   ├── evaluator.yaml          # Prompts for evaluating analysis results
│   ├── question_manager.yaml   # Prompts for generating and prioritizing questions
│   ├── reporter.yaml           # Prompts for generating final report
│   ├── visualization_planner.yaml      # Prompts for visualization planning
│   ├── visualization_generator.yaml    # Prompts for visualization generation
│   └── visualization_evaluator.yaml    # Prompts for visualization evaluation
│
├── analysis/
│   ├── analysis_executor.py    # Securely executes generated scripts
│   ├── analysis_generator.py   # Dynamically generates analysis scripts
│   ├── analysis_planner.py     # Devise a plan for the next analysis
│   ├── evaluator.py            # Evaluates analysis outcomes
│   └── visualization_evaluator.py      # Evaluates generated visualizations
│
├── visualization/
│   ├── visualization_planner.py# Plans visualizations for analysis results
│   └── visualization_generator.py      # Generates visualization code
│
├── reporting/
│   └── report_generator.py     # Creates reproducible reports with visualizations
│
├── misc/
│   ├── title.txt               # Project title information
│   └── TransformerLens_Notes.txt# Technical notes and documentation
│
├── main.py                     # Main workflow orchestrator
├── config.yaml                 # Configuration parameters (includes task configuration)
└── PROMPTS_README.md           # Documentation for prompt system

AutoInterp System Components

Question Generation

  • Question Writer: Writes multiple empirical research questions based on the user's initial input.
  • Question Prioritizer: Selects one research question based on feasibility, importance, and relevance to the user's request.

Analysis

  • Planner: Creates detailed plans for analysis approaches based on questions and previous results
  • Generator: Creates Python code for analyses based on questions and plans
  • Executor: Safely runs analysis code in sandboxed environments and captures results
  • Evaluator: Assesses results and determines if they increase or decrease confidence that the research question has been adequately answered.

Visualization

  • Visualization Planner: Plans appropriate visualizations for successful analysis results
  • Visualization Generator: Creates Python visualization code using matplotlib, seaborn, and other libraries
  • Visualization Evaluator: Uses multimodal LLMs to assess visualization quality and detect issues

Reporting

  • Report Generator: Produces comprehensive reports with findings, visualizations, and insights in multiple formats

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit pull requests.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Contact

For questions or feedback, please open an issue on GitHub or contact akozlo@uchicago.edu.