agent-gorgon

The problem

An autonomous agent process can spawn a child that reads ~/.ssh/id_rsa, writes outside its workspace, or shells out to curl/wget -- and by default nothing watches for that at runtime except the agent's own (possibly compromised or simply buggy) judgment. Sandboxes and input-side filters don't cover this: they run before or around the agent, not against what its process tree actually does once it starts executing. Agent Gorgon is the userspace layer that watches the running process tree, applies a deterministic policy to what it sees, and can pause or kill a matching process -- calibrated first in a mode that changes nothing.

See what an autonomous agent process does, apply deterministic runtime policy, and keep evidence of every control decision. Agent Gorgon observes the process tree plus file and network activity visible from user space. It can safely rehearse policy in audit-only mode, then attempt SIGSTOP or SIGKILL for reviewed triggers when active controls are enabled.

Version 0.1.8 made agent_gorgon the canonical Python import and agent-gorgon the primary command. The earlier agent_warden import and agent-warden commands remain available as deprecated compatibility aliases. Version 0.2.0 adds the packaged agent-gorgon-audit-demo command: a one-command, audit-only owned-process demo that works from a bare pip install. Version 0.3.0 adds agent-gorgon run, which launches a command and watches the process tree it creates, and the packaged --scope coding-agent starter scope.

Why teams use it

• Calibrate before signaling. Audit-only mode shows which actions would HALT or KILL without pausing or terminating the target.
• Keep control deterministic. The optional local LLM is advisory-only; it cannot authorize a HALT or KILL.
• Preserve an evidence trail. JSONL actions and incident reports separate the policy verdict, signal attempt, and observed process outcome.
• Add a reactive layer around existing agents. agent-gorgon run wraps the command you already use, and PID mode attaches to a process you did not launch. Neither requires the target application to adopt an SDK.

Install and first run

pip install agent-gorgon==0.3.0
agent-gorgon run --audit-only --scope coding-agent -- <your agent command>

That is the whole first success: Agent Gorgon launches your command, watches the process tree it creates, and prints what it would have halted -- without pausing or terminating anything. When the command exits you get its exit status back plus one summary line:

agent-gorgon run: mode=audit-only exit=0 observed=14 safe=11 flags=3 would-halt=0 would-kill=0 evidence=/home/you/.local/share/agent-gorgon/logs/actions_20260911_101500.jsonl

Read that evidence file before you turn anything on. Active SIGSTOP/SIGKILL controls require an explicit --enforce, and they are worth enabling only once the flags you see are the ones you expect. Watch a command you launch covers the details; attaching to an already-running process is the advanced path.

The package, Python import, and primary command all use Gorgon names:

agent-gorgon --help
agent-gorgon run --help

For Python integrations, import the canonical namespace:

from agent_gorgon.warden import Scope

Existing agent_warden imports and agent-warden / agent-warden-forensic commands continue to work as deprecated compatibility aliases. The legacy commands print a deprecation notice; update integrations to the Gorgon names when convenient.

The shim's source and its deprecation window live in compat/suy-sideguy/README.md.

Requires Python 3.9+. Start with --audit-only; active controls are enabled only when that flag is omitted, after you have reviewed the policy against a disposable target.

Support boundary: CI exercises Python 3.9–3.12 on Ubuntu. Production use on macOS, Windows, or Python 3.13+ is currently UNEVALUATED; active controls and command reduction are POSIX-oriented.

Watch a command you launch

agent-gorgon run removes the "find the PID first" step: it launches the command itself, watches the process tree that command creates, forwards the command's exit status, and writes the same evidence JSONL as PID mode.

agent-gorgon run --audit-only --scope coding-agent -- python3 my_agent.py
agent-gorgon run --audit-only --scope coding-agent -- npm test

--scope coding-agent is a starter scope shipped inside the wheel, written for a coding agent (Claude Code, Codex, Aider, or your own harness). It allows the directory you launched from plus the toolchain caches and read-only system paths every build touches, so ordinary work stays quiet; it treats reads of ~/.ssh, ~/.aws, ~/.gnupg, ~/.config/gcloud, ~/.config/gh, ~/.netrc, ~/.git-credentials and key material (.pem, .key, .p12) as KILL verdicts, and curl, wget, nc and the other transfer tools as forbidden commands. Anything outside the allowed trees -- an out-of-tree .env, a connection to a host that is not on the allowlist -- is FLAGged rather than silently accepted. --scope starter remains the narrower low-disruption profile.

Calibrate before you enforce. The packaged scope cannot know where your code lives beyond the launch directory, so run a real session in audit-only, read the evidence, and copy the file to add your own trees:

cp "$(python3 -c 'import agent_warden.scopes as s; print(s.__path__[0])')/coding-agent.yaml" .
agent-gorgon run --audit-only --scope ./coding-agent.yaml -- python3 my_agent.py

It is audit-only by default -- verdicts are recorded and no SIGSTOP or SIGKILL is sent unless you pass --enforce. The last line is a one-line session summary on stderr, so the watched command keeps stdout to itself:

agent-gorgon run: mode=audit-only exit=0 observed=14 safe=11 flags=3 would-halt=0 would-kill=0 \
  evidence=/home/you/.local/share/agent-gorgon/logs/actions_20260911_101500.jsonl

Useful options: --out FILE writes the action evidence JSONL to an explicit path, --scope FILE selects a scope, --poll sets the poll interval, --enforce turns on active controls, and --shutdown-grace bounds how long a relayed signal is given.

Behavior worth knowing before you wrap a real session:

• The command runs in its own process group, and when stdin is a TTY that group is given the terminal foreground, so interactive agents keep working and Ctrl-C reaches the command rather than the watcher.
• A SIGINT or SIGTERM sent to agent-gorgon run is relayed to the command's group, always preceded by SIGCONT, so a paused tree is never left stopped.
• The command's exit status is forwarded; a command killed by signal N exits 128+N.
• If the scope cannot be loaded or the watcher cannot start, the command is terminated rather than left running unwatched.
• Stdio the command inherited from agent-gorgon run (for example your own > session.log redirect) is not attributed to the command. A file the command opens itself still is.

To attach to a process you did not launch, see Advanced: attach to an already-running process.

Advanced: attach to an already-running process

agent-gorgon run covers the common case. PID mode is for attaching to a process you did not launch -- a long-lived agent daemon, a session someone else started, a process inside a supervisor. It takes an exact --agent-pid and is otherwise identical: the same scopes, the same verdicts, the same evidence.

This POSIX demo creates a temporary command named wget that only runs sleep. Agent Gorgon sees the suspicious child name and records the HALT it would request, but --audit-only sends no signal and the command performs no network activity:

DEMO_DIR=$(mktemp -d /tmp/agent-gorgon-demo.XXXXXX)
ln -s "$(command -v sleep)" "$DEMO_DIR/wget"
/bin/sh -c '"$1" 3 & wait' agent-demo "$DEMO_DIR/wget" &
TARGET_PID=$!

agent-gorgon \
  --scope starter \
  --agent-pid "$TARGET_PID" \
  --poll 0.05 \
  --no-llm \
  --audit-only \
  --log-dir "$DEMO_DIR/evidence"

The useful result is explicit:

Control: audit-only (SIGSTOP/SIGKILL disabled)
LLM: qwen3:4b disabled (rules only)
🟡 AUDIT ONLY, would HALT: Suspicious process spawned: wget
Observed: 1 | Safe: 0 | Flags: 0 | Halts: 1 | Kills: 0

Generate a private JSON summary at an explicit path:

agent-gorgon-forensic \
  --last-hours 24 \
  --workspace "$DEMO_DIR/workspace" \
  --evidence-dir "$DEMO_DIR/evidence" \
  --out "$DEMO_DIR/report.json"

The installed starter scope is for audit-only evaluation. For a real workload, copy and narrow a scope from examples, prefer an exact --agent-pid, and keep evidence outside the target's workspace. Remove the temporary demo directory when you no longer need its report.

For a fully scripted version of this demo -- three scenarios (SAFE/HALT/KILL), each run against a process the command spawns and owns, diffed against a declared ground truth -- run:

agent-gorgon-audit-demo --out /tmp/agent-gorgon-audit-demo.json

This works from a bare pip install agent-gorgon, no repository checkout required. It prints a machine-readable JSON receipt with each scenario's expected vs. observed verdict, attribution counts, and honest watcher-overhead measurements, and exits nonzero if any scenario's observed verdict does not match its declared ground truth. See docs/EVIDENCE.md for a sample result and docs/HARNESS_RECIPES.md for how to add your own scenario.

When to use it

Use Agent Gorgon when you run autonomous or semi-autonomous agents and need userspace runtime observation, reactive process controls, and forensic evidence as one layer in a defense-in-depth setup.

When not to use it

• Not a kernel-level sandbox. If your threat model requires kernel isolation, use a kernel sandbox.
• Not a substitute for input-side prompt-injection defenses.
• Not proof that any single policy file covers every workload safely. Policies need calibration on each workload.
• Not pre-execution interposition. An action may start or finish before polling observes it.

If 40 files disappear between snapshots, agent-gorgon records 40 unattributed delete observations. It does not suspend the monitored process from those observations alone because a directory diff cannot establish which process performed the deletion.

What this tool is (and is not)

✅ What it does

• Polls the process, file, and network signals available for an agent process tree
• Applies deterministic policy rules; an optional local Ollama judge can only recommend SAFE/FLAG
• Attempts HALT on deterministic, process-attributed triggers (SIGSTOP, a reversible pause, plus a local log/report)
• Attempts KILL with SIGKILL for deterministic severe violations
• Stores evidence and can generate incident-ready forensic reports

⚠️ What it does not do

• It is not kernel-level enforcement (it runs in userspace)
• It is reactive polling, not syscall interception or a guarantee that a dangerous action is stopped before effect
• File visibility via psutil.open_files() is best-effort and OS-dependent
• Short-lived children and actions between polls can be missed; this is not complete process or syscall visibility
• Snapshot-diff create/delete observations are unattributed and never suspend or kill the monitored process
• Network observations are remote IP/port pairs; hostname allowlists do not authenticate an observed IP
• Signal attempts can fail or only partially cover a changing process tree; reports record the observed outcome. Failed HALT/KILL attempts remain retryable; retries reconcile actual process state and update one episode report without claiming an unobserved outcome

Where logs and evidence go

Default paths:

• ~/.local/share/agent-gorgon/warden.log
• ~/.local/share/agent-gorgon/logs/actions_*.jsonl
• ~/.local/share/agent-gorgon/logs/incidents/*.json

Agent Gorgon creates these directories for the current user only (0700) and evidence files as private (0600). Define retention and rotation appropriate to your environment.

Privacy and network behavior

• Agent Gorgon has no telemetry or external reporting client.
• By default it probes http://localhost:11434 and, when Ollama is available, sends the current action, a scope summary, and up to 20 recent actions to that local service for non-enforcing advisory analysis. Use --no-llm to disable the probe and advisory calls.
• Remote IP policy checks do not perform reverse DNS. Raw IPs must be allowed or forbidden explicitly; hostname allowlists apply only when a hostname is supplied by an integration.
• Local JSONL evidence contains full observed paths, commands, and remote IP/port values. Protect it as sensitive operational data and configure retention.

Recommended rollout strategy

Start with agent-gorgon run --audit-only and a reviewed scope, against a workload you can afford to lose. Add --no-llm for a deterministic no-advisory trial. Audit-only records verdicts but sends no SIGSTOP or SIGKILL. Enable active controls (omit --audit-only in PID mode, or pass --enforce to agent-gorgon run) only after validating the policy and OS visibility for the exact workload; there is no interactive confirmation mode once active controls are enabled.

Important safety caveats

• SIGKILL is immediate and can interrupt legitimate work if policy is too broad.
• Name targeting requires one unique exact process-name match. Prefer agent-gorgon run, which watches exactly the process it launched, or an exact --agent-pid.
• This project should be one part of a layered defense strategy.

Verdict levels

HALT triggers (attempt SIGSTOP, a reversible pause; the agent is not intentionally killed)

• curl or wget child observed — unexpected outbound-data-transfer process
• 50+ distinct process-attributed network-connection observations in 60 seconds — bulk egress signal
• Process-attributed write outside allowed workspace — unexpected filesystem access, when the OS exposes write mode
• 3+ process-attributed FILE_DELETE events in 10 seconds — available to integrations that can supply attribution; built-in snapshot diffs do not activate this trigger
• Relative recursive delete with no observed child cwd — the target cannot be resolved safely, so the Warden pauses instead of guessing SAFE or assigning irreversible KILL authority
• Recursive delete outside allowed filesystem scope — arbitrary literal targets do not become SAFE merely because their sh/bash wrapper is allowed; conventional relative project cleanup remains low-noise when its observed cwd resolves inside filesystem.allowed_paths
• Recursive delete with unresolved wrapper, command, option, or target semantics — the Warden pauses when exact reduction is not possible instead of guessing SAFE or assigning KILL authority
• Recursive delete inside executable shell command substitution — unquoted/double-quoted `...` and $(...) forms pause reversibly; single-quoted substitution text remains data

KILL triggers (attempt process-tree SIGKILL after observation)

• Attributed private-key access — observed read/write to recognized SSH key names such as id_rsa or id_ed25519, plus key extensions such as *.pem or *.key under ~/.ssh; broad directory rules belong in the operator's scope
• Attributed config write — observed write to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
• Observed child rm -rf command targeting a protected root — filesystem root, home, or a configured forbidden root; relative operands are resolved against the observed child cwd, and supported env wrappers plus root/home glob and ancestor forms are reduced before classification; direct child argv is preserved so literal ~, $HOME, and wildcard bytes are not re-expanded
• Attributed credential read with active or newly observed non-local network egress — an established external socket at read time, or a new external connection inside the configured short window, activates the correlation; IP loopback IPC is exempt and does not disarm it
• Attributed forbidden-path or forbidden-extension access — paths in filesystem.forbidden_paths or extensions in filesystem.forbidden_extensions

Expected flag noise (early rollout)

Early flag noise is normal during policy calibration on real workloads.

• Treat early FLAG events as calibration data, not immediate defects.
• Flags do not auto-kill by default. WARDEN_KILL_ON_FLAGS=1 explicitly enables accumulation kills using flag_threshold and flag_window.
• Keep hard invariants (e.g., forbidden secrets paths / destructive commands) as immediate stop decisions.
• Version 0.1.7 includes audit-only calibration; active controls remain explicit through omission of --audit-only.

Release quality status

Current status based on repository checks and CI configuration; not a formal security certification.

• ✅ Tests in repo (pytest)
• ✅ Package buildable (python -m build)
• ✅ CI workflow (.github/workflows/ci.yml)
• ✅ Release workflow builds, tests, inspects, and smoke-installs the exact tagged artifact before requesting PyPI trusted publication
• ✅ Security disclosure policy (SECURITY.md)

If agent-gorgon saves you time, please star the repo — it helps others find it.

About Hermes Labs

Hermes Labs is an AI reliability engineering studio for production agents and LLM applications. agent-gorgon is the runtime-observation and control layer in its open-source toolkit. More at hermes-labs.ai.

Development

pip install -e .[dev]
pytest

Also see:

• CONTRIBUTING.md
• SECURITY.md
• PUBLISH_CHECKLIST.md
• AGENTS.md
• CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
• Audit checklist: docs/AUDIT_CHECKLIST.md
• Concrete harness recipes: docs/HARNESS_RECIPES.md
• Owned-process audit fixtures, attribution/false-trigger results, honest overhead measurements: agent-gorgon-audit-demo (packaged), examples/harness/ (source-checkout wrapper), and docs/EVIDENCE.md
• Layered plan: docs/IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN_LAYERED.md

Related Hermes Labs tools

• te-drift-detector — experimental lexical feature-delta telemetry for human triage
• hermes-blind — context-compensation scaffold for evidence-bound LLM evaluation prompts
• lintlang — static linter for agent configs and prompts (catch it before runtime)