Execute AND Prove
Every competitor does one thing. HELM does all of them — and proves it mathematically.
AI agents are acting without proof
AI agents are already placing trades, deploying code, and handling customer data. But there's no proof of what they did, why they did it, or whether they were authorized.
Compliance frameworks are catching up. The EU AI Act mandates risk management, documentation, and conformity assessments for high-risk AI systems by August 2, 2026.
Existing tools either run agents OR govern them — never both.
The provable operations platform
HELM sits at the intersection where no one else operates. Every competitor solves one piece — orchestration, governance, compliance, or security — but none combine all four with cryptographic provability.
Agent Execution
Run AI agent workflows with a deterministic execution kernel
Policy Governance
CEL policy engine with 25 conform gates and fail-closed enforcement
Cryptographic Proofs
Every action generates a signed, hash-linked receipt with Merkle anchoring
Compliance Automation
10 regulatory frameworks built in. Audit-ready evidence in under an hour.
Capability matrix
| Capability | HELM | Credo AI | Vanta | LangGraph | ServiceNow | Arize | t54 Labs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agent execution engine | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Cryptographic receipts | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ⚠ |
| Deterministic replay | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Formal verification (TLA+) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Policy engine (CEL) | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| OrgDNA compilation | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Compliance automation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ⚠ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Agent security | ✓ | ⚠ | ✗ | ✗ | ⚠ | ✓ | ⚠ |
| Multi-framework compliance | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Open-source core | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Per-outcome pricing | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| PQC cryptography | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| MCP-native connectors | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
Already using LangGraph?
HELM adds governance + cryptographic receipts to your agent workflows. Use HELM as a proxy — one BASE_URL change.
Already using Vanta?
HELM adds AI-native execution + crypto proofs. Vanta proves humans followed processes. HELM proves agents produced outcomes with cryptographic certainty.
Already using Credo AI?
HELM adds the execution engine. Credo AI governs — HELM both executes AND governs. One platform instead of two.
Already using ServiceNow?
HELM adds provability + open-source flexibility. Use HELM as the governance and verification layer alongside ServiceNow.
The receipt difference
See what separates a traditional audit report from a HELM cryptographic receipt.
Traditional Audit
- PDF report generated manually
- Days or weeks to produce
- Can be tampered with
- Requires trust in the auditor
- Point-in-time snapshot
HELM Receipt
- Cryptographic proof generated automatically
- Generated in real-time (< 5ms)
- Tamper-evident via hash chain
- Independently verifiable offline
- Continuous, every-action coverage
Identity providers authenticate. HELM authorizes.
Teleport, SPIFFE, and OIDC answer "who is this agent?" HELM answers "should this side-effect execute, under this exact policy, risk class, and evidence chain?"
Secure Access (Identity)
Authenticates agents via short-lived certificates, scopes network access, and discovers shadow MCP servers.
Teleport, SPIFFE, OIDC
Governed Execution (HELM)
Validates delegation sessions at Guardian Gate 5, enforces tool-level scope, and produces tamper-evident receipts.
HELM Execution Authority
How it works
- Agent authenticates via upstream IdP
- HELM creates deny-all delegation session
- Capabilities scoped to subset of delegator
- Every action receipted in the ProofGraph
Scores reflect native, first-class capabilities as of February 2026. 'Partial' means the feature is achievable via plugins or workarounds but is not a core design goal. This comparison focuses on AI agent execution governance — dedicated compliance-management platforms (Credo.ai, EQS Group, etc.) operate at a different layer.
| Capability | HELM Mindburn Labs Governed execution kernel | LangGraph LangChain Stateful graph orchestration | CrewAI CrewAI Inc. Role-based multi-agent crews | Agents SDK OpenAI GPT-native agent API | AutoGen Microsoft Conversational agent framework | Guardrails AI Guardrails AI Output validation & structure | NeMo Guardrails NVIDIA Programmable dialog safety | Llama Guard Meta Safety classification model |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orchestration | ||||||||
| Multi-Model Orchestration | ||||||||
| Multi-Agent Chaining | ||||||||
| Persistent Agent Memory | ||||||||
| Tool-Level Gating / Permissions | ||||||||
| Human-in-the-Loop Controls | ||||||||
| Open Source | ||||||||
| Governance & Safety | ||||||||
| Input/Output Guardrails | ||||||||
| Risk Classification | ||||||||
| Hallucination Detection | ||||||||
| Fail-Closed Enforcement | ||||||||
| Delegated Access Governance | ||||||||
| Compliance & Audit | ||||||||
| EU AI Act Compliance-Ready | ||||||||
| Conformance Levels (L1–L4) | ||||||||
| Offline Auditability | ||||||||
| Provenance & Proof | ||||||||
| Cryptographic Receipts | ||||||||
| Deterministic Replay | ||||||||
| ProofGraph DAG | ||||||||
| Features with full support | 16/17 | 5/17 | 4/17 | 2/17 | 5/17 | 3/17 | 3/17 | 3/17 |
Why HELM wins
HELM isn't just another orchestration layer. It's the first execution kernel that produces mathematical proof of what happened.
Verifiable, not vibes
Every tool call, every decision, every risk assessment is captured in a cryptographically chained receipt. No logging middleware. No trust-me dashboards. Proof.
Deterministic replay
Re-run any execution offline and verify the same outputs. This is the foundation for regulatory compliance — auditability that survives scrutiny.
Native compliance
HELM was designed from day one for EU AI Act Article 9 (risk management), Article 12 (record-keeping), and Article 13 (transparency). Not bolted on.
ProofGraph — not logs
Traditional frameworks log to files or databases. HELM constructs a directed acyclic graph of cryptographic receipts. Each node is verifiable. The graph is tamper-evident.
Conformance, not configuration
HELM defines formal conformance levels (L1–L4) with measurable guarantees. Not a checkbox compliance exercise — a mathematical standard with test vectors.
Fail-closed by design
Unlike guardrail add-ons that can be bypassed, HELM's kernel enforces governance at the execution boundary. If proof can't be produced, the action doesn't execute.
Migrating from another framework?
HELM provides migration guides with code examples for LangGraph, CrewAI, OpenAI Agents SDK, and AutoGen patterns. Most teams migrate in under a day.
Ready to prove what your AI does?
Start with the open-source kernel. Add governance and compliance when you need it.