aid: hugging-face-transformers
name: Hugging Face Transformers Rules
description: >-
  Operational rules and guardrails for working with the Hugging Face
  Transformers ecosystem - the open-source library, the Inference API,
  the Hub API, Spaces, and Text Generation Inference. Codifies model
  trust, authentication, content policy, and write-action policies for
  agents and integrations.
modified: '2026-04-28'
rules:
  - id: hf-token-auth
    name: User Access Token Authentication
    description: >-
      Calls to the Inference API, the Hub API write endpoints, and gated
      model downloads require a Hugging Face user access token in the
      Authorization header (Bearer scheme). Tokens must be scoped (read,
      write, fine-grained) and never embedded in source control or logs.
    applies_to:
      - hugging-face-transformers:inference-api
      - hugging-face-transformers:hub-api
      - hugging-face-transformers:spaces-api
    severity: required
  - id: hf-model-trust
    name: Model Source Trust
    description: >-
      Loading a model from the Hub executes code defined by the model
      author when `trust_remote_code=True`. Treat unknown repositories as
      untrusted, prefer official organizations, and never enable remote
      code execution without explicit user confirmation.
    applies_to:
      - hugging-face-transformers:transformers-library
      - hugging-face-transformers:hub-api
    severity: required
  - id: hf-license-compliance
    name: Respect Model and Dataset Licenses
    description: >-
      Models and datasets on the Hub carry per-repo licenses (Apache,
      MIT, OpenRAIL, Llama Community, gated, etc.). Verify license terms
      before redistribution, fine-tuning, or commercial use, and surface
      the license to the user when downloading new artifacts.
    applies_to:
      - hugging-face-transformers:transformers-library
      - hugging-face-transformers:hub-api
    severity: required
  - id: hf-gated-models
    name: Gated Model Access
    description: >-
      Some repositories require accepting terms or being granted access
      by the owner. Agents must not attempt to bypass gating and should
      surface the gate URL to the user when access is denied.
    applies_to:
      - hugging-face-transformers:hub-api
      - hugging-face-transformers:inference-api
    severity: required
  - id: hf-pii-and-prompts
    name: PII and Prompt Hygiene
    description: >-
      Prompts and uploaded files sent to the Inference API or hosted
      Spaces leave the local environment. Strip secrets, credentials,
      and personally identifiable information before sending, and prefer
      local inference for sensitive workloads.
    applies_to:
      - hugging-face-transformers:inference-api
      - hugging-face-transformers:spaces-api
      - hugging-face-transformers:text-generation-inference
    severity: required
  - id: hf-destructive-confirm
    name: Confirm Destructive Hub Actions
    description: >-
      Deleting models, datasets, or Spaces, transferring repository
      ownership, or changing visibility from public to private requires
      explicit user confirmation. Agents must not call DELETE or
      ownership-change endpoints unattended.
    applies_to:
      - hugging-face-transformers:hub-api
      - hugging-face-transformers:spaces-api
    severity: required
  - id: hf-rate-limits
    name: Respect Rate and Compute Limits
    description: >-
      The Inference API enforces per-token rate and compute limits and
      may return HTTP 429 or 503 (model loading). Implement exponential
      backoff with jitter and avoid retry storms.
    applies_to:
      - hugging-face-transformers:inference-api
    severity: required
  - id: hf-cost-awareness
    name: Inference Endpoint Cost Awareness
    description: >-
      Dedicated Inference Endpoints and GPU-backed Spaces generate
      ongoing compute costs. Surface estimated cost and require user
      confirmation before provisioning, scaling, or upgrading hardware.
    applies_to:
      - hugging-face-transformers:inference-api
      - hugging-face-transformers:spaces-api
    severity: required
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com