SNHP
Math-optimal negotiation moves for AI agents, in plain dollars. Your agent brings the LLM; SNHP brings the game theory — single-price and multi-issue, LLM-free, runs locally.
Install
uvx snhp # zero-install: runs the stdio MCP server on demand
# or
pip install snhp
Wire it into any MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cline, …):
{ "mcpServers": { "snhp": { "command": "uvx", "args": ["snhp"] } } }
Or call the math directly — plain dollars in, the move out:
from gametheory.server.mcp_server import gt_negotiate_turn
gt_negotiate_turn(
side="sell", walk_away=4000, target=6000,
counterparty_offers=[4200, 4500], rounds_left=6,
)
# -> {'action': 'counter', 'recommended_price': 5714.0,
# 'message': 'Thanks for the offer. The best I can do on this is $5,714.00.', ...}
Multi-issue deals logroll automatically — SNHP infers the other side's priorities and proposes the package that maximises joint surplus (concede what you value least to hold what you value most):
from gametheory.server.mcp_server import gt_negotiate_bundle
gt_negotiate_bundle(
issues=[
{"name": "price", "options": [100, 120, 140], "my_utility": [1.0, 0.5, 0.0], "their_utility": [0.0, 0.5, 1.0]},
{"name": "support", "options": ["basic", "priority"], "my_utility": [1.0, 0.0], "their_utility": [0.0, 1.0]},
],
my_priorities={"price": 0.8, "support": 0.2},
)
# -> recommended_offer {'price': 100, 'support': 'priority'} + the trade logic behind it
Hosted agent card, streamable MCP, and a live demo: snhp.dev.
What's here
snhp/ Core algorithm + NegMAS agent + B2B tournament harness
gametheory/ Productization layer (FastAPI, MCP, Tier 1/2/3 endpoints)
gametheory/negotiation/ Plain-terms single- + multi-issue (logrolling) engines
gametheory/server/ HTTP + MCP entry points
gametheory/tests/ pytest suite
SNHP_Whitepaper/ Protocol description + 3 component PRDs
Develop from source
git clone https://github.com/ryuxik/snhp && cd snhp
python -m venv venv && source venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[test]"
python -m pytest gametheory/tests/ # test suite
uvicorn gametheory.server.http:app --reload # local API (catalog at /v1/catalog)
snhp # stdio MCP server
Empirical anchor
Two different numbers — keep them straight
There are two distinct measurements; conflating them is the easy mistake.
1. Head-to-head competitive margin (the product-relevant number). In a
SNHP-scaffolded LLM vs a non-SNHP LLM, how much more of the surplus does the SNHP
side capture? On the committed cross-vendor run (gametheory/server/static/e6_cross_vendor.json,
Sonnet+SNHP vs Haiku, n=20 paired seeds) the pooled margin is ~+12.5%
(mean h3_margin ≈ 0.125, 29/40 positive signs). This is the number the shipped
tools cite as "~12% better head-to-head." Caveats: n=20, LLM-vs-LLM, single-issue
price, and the opponent is a general vanilla prompt — see the strong-baseline
note below.
2. Joint-welfare lift in self-play (a cooperation metric, NOT the same thing). Two-Sonnet B2B contract negotiation, n=20 paired seeds:
| Condition | Joint welfare (frontier ≈ 1.57, estimated) |
|---|---|
| Vanilla Sonnet (general prompt, no SNHP) | 1.40 |
| Pure SNHP-vs-SNHP (math only) | 1.45 |
| Sonnet + SNHP MCP tool (both sides) | 1.59 |
| Haiku + SNHP MCP tool (cross-model) | 1.61 |
Lift from both sides adopting the SNHP tool: +0.186 joint welfare, sign test 18/20, p=0.0004. (The 1.59/1.61 slightly exceed the 1.57 frontier estimate — the frontier was estimated on a coarse grid, so treat these as "at the frontier," not "beyond it.") Cost: $0.025 per matchup at 2026-04 pricing.
3. The build-vs-buy test: SNHP vs a STRONG production prompt
Both numbers above are vs a general vanilla prompt. The sharper question — "why not
just prompt the LLM well?" — is answered by running SNHP against a strong production
prompt (snhp/llm_strong_baseline.py, whose system prompt even includes logrolling
advice). On the 4-issue contract, Haiku+SNHP-tool vs Haiku+strong-prompt, n=12 paired
seeds (python -m snhp.strong_baseline_headtohead, result committed at
gametheory/server/static/strong_baseline_headtohead.json):
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Utility margin (SNHP − strong baseline) | +0.077, 95% CI [+0.039, +0.115] (excludes 0) |
| SNHP share of joint surplus | 54% (CI [52%, 56%]) |
| Sign test | 8/12 positive, 0 negative |
SNHP beats even a strong production prompt — but by roughly half the edge it shows against a weak one. Caveats: n=12, Haiku (not Sonnet), one contract domain; re-run at larger n / a stronger model to tighten the CI.
Network effect: the cooperation premium requires both sides to be SNHP-staked. Asymmetric matchups (Sonnet+SNHP vs vanilla Sonnet) lose 0.11 utility vs symmetric scaffolded play. Peer-mode advisor only fires when counterparty has posted a verifiable SNHP attestation.
Live demo (replay of the actual API trace at seed=42): https://snhp.dev/demo.html
Tournament rank (honest, per-market)
In the committed round-robin (leaderboard/results/leaderboard.json, n_rounds=20),
SNHP's rank by average utility depends on the market:
| Market (BATNA) | SNHP rank | Top of field |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer's market (asymmetric) | #1 of 21 | SNHP 0.508 |
| Seller's market (asymmetric) | #1 of 21 | SNHP 0.520 |
| Symmetric (neutral) | 5th of 21 | Logroller 0.525, The Closer, Cialdini, Principled, then SNHP 0.512 |
So SNHP is #1 in the asymmetric markets and mid-pack in the symmetric one —
do not read this as "#1 overall." Its variance is the smallest in the field. At
n_rounds=100 the symmetric field restabilizes further and Aspiration leads.
This NegMAS agent (snhp/negmas_agent.py) is a research artifact and is NOT the
shipped product recommender — the product claims below are measured on the
shipped code, not on this tournament.
See gametheory/evals/README.md for the eval/tuning runbook.
Tiers
- Tier 1 — Negotiation: sell-side + buy-side recommenders, anchor-attack detection, cryptographic first-strike commit-reveal, LLM-drafted reply emails (paid).
- Tier 2 — Auctions: Vickrey / first-price BNE / English ascending, Myerson optimal reserve, format recommendation, MC simulation.
- Tier 3 — Mechanism design: Gale-Shapley, asymmetric Myerson optimal auction, Gallego-van Ryzin posted-price.
Tier 4 (coalition games) deferred until a paying buyer asks for it.