guardian-runtime 1.2.0

Local-first runtime governance layer for AI systems

Guardian Runtime

Guardian Runtime sits securely on your machine, acting as a bodyguard for your code.
Whenever you use AI tools like Cursor or Claude Code, it scans every prompt locally to stop sensitive secrets and PII from reaching the cloud.
It also tracks your API spending to prevent surprise bills, all without slowing you down.

🌐 Docs & Demo: ashp15205.github.io/guardian-runtime
📦 PyPI: pypi.org/project/guardian-runtime

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What is Guardian Runtime?

Guardian Runtime is a local HTTP proxy that runs entirely on your own machine. It sits between your AI coding tool and the cloud, inspecting every prompt before it leaves your infrastructure.

  Your AI Tool                  Guardian Runtime              Cloud LLM
  (Claude Code / Cursor)        (localhost:8080)              (OpenAI / Anthropic / Gemini)
         │                             │                              │
         │  Prompt + Files             │                              │
         │ ──────────────────────────▶ │                              │
         │                             │    Secret Scanner            │
         │                             │    PII Detector              │
         │                             │    Doc Converter (PDF→MD)    │
         │                             │    Token Counter             │
         │                             │    Budget Guard              │
         │                             │    Jailbreak Detector        │
         │                             │                              │
         │  [BLOCKED] ◀──────────────  │  ✗ Threat found              │
         │  "line 3: AWS key. y/n?"    │                              │
         │                             │ ───────────────────────────▶ │
         │ Optimized Response ◀─────── │ ◀──────────────────────────  │

All data stays on your machine. Your API keys live in a local .env file. All logs write to ~/.guardian_runtime/. Nothing leaves without clearance.

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Table of Contents

• The Problem
• Architecture & Security Pipeline
• Features
• Supported Tools & Providers
• Installation
• Quickstart
• Interactive Block — How It Looks
• Use Cases
• CLI Reference
• Policy Configuration
• License

---

The Problem

Risk	Description
💸 Cost Runaways	Agents operate in loops. A stuck agent can rack up a $100+ API bill overnight with zero warning.
🔒 Secret Leaks	Agents read your entire workspace. One .env file with an AWS_SECRET_KEY in context, and that credential silently travels to an Anthropic or OpenAI cloud server.
🏛 Compliance Risk	Sending unauthorized PII (SSNs, emails, Aadhaar) to public LLM APIs violates GDPR, HIPAA, and India's DPDP Act.

---

Architecture & Security Pipeline

Every request passes through a strict local pipeline before reaching the cloud:

Agent / Dev                  Guardian Runtime (local)              Cloud LLM
     │                              │                                  │
     │  1. Prompt + Files           │                                  │
     │ ────────────────────────────▶│                                  │
     │                              │ [File Router]                    │
     │                              │ ├─ Code files  → Secret Scanner  │
     │                              │ └─ Doc files   → MarkItDown → MD │
     │                              │                                  │
     │                              │ [Security Guards]                │
     │                              │ ├─ Regex: AWS / GitHub / OAI keys│
     │                              │ ├─ PII: SSN / Aadhaar / email    │
     │                              │ ├─ Jailbreak patterns (40+)      │
     │                              │ └─ Report exact line number      │
     │                              │                                  │
     │                              │ [Interactive Block]              │
     │  "line 3: secret. y/n?" ◀──  │  Ask user before dropping        │
     │                              │                                  │
     │                              │ [Token Optimizer]                │
     │                              │ ├─ tiktoken counting             │
     │                              │ ├─ Whitespace normalization      │
     │                              │ └─ Terse Mode injection          │
     │                              │                                  │
     │                              │ [FinOps Budget Guard]            │
     │                              │ └ Block if daily_budget exceeded │
     │                              │                                  │
     │                              │  2. Clean, verified prompt       │
     │                              │ ────────────────────────────────▶│
     │                              │                                  │
     │                              │  3. LLM Response                 │
     │                              │◀──────────────────────────────── │
     │                              │                                  │
     │                              │ [Output Guard]                   │
     │                              │  Audit response for leaks        │
     │                              │                                  │
     │  4. Optimzied Response       │                                  │
     │◀──────────────────────────── │                                  │

---

Features

#	Feature	Description
01	🔑 Secret Scanner	Detects AWS keys, GitHub tokens, OpenAI/Anthropic keys, Stripe secrets, Razorpay, Groq. Reports the exact line number.
02	👤 PII Detector	Catches Aadhaar, PAN, SSN, credit cards, email, phone, passport. Fully offline.
03	🛡️ Jailbreak Guard	40+ patterns detecting DAN mode, role-play attacks, and prompt injection.
04	💬 Interactive y/n Override	Replies inside your chat: "Secret on line 3. Proceed? y/n" — stays in the flow. Works on OpenAI, Anthropic, and Gemini formats.
05	📄 Document Converter	PDF, DOCX, XLSX → Markdown via Microsoft MarkItDown. Also available as a CLI command.
06	💸 Hard Budget Caps	Set daily_budget: 5.00. Guardian blocks any request that would push you over.
07	⚡ Terse Mode	Injects a system prompt forcing concise replies. Cuts output tokens 40–70% in benchmarks.
08	🌐 Universal Proxy	Speaks OpenAI, Anthropic, AND native Gemini (/v1beta/models/{model}:generateContent) formats.
09	📊 Session Analytics	Tracks cost, tokens, blocks, and conversions locally. Query via guardian_runtime analytics or GET /stats.

---

Supported Tools & Providers

Category	Tools
Visual IDEs	Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code (via Cline/RooCode)
Terminal Agents	Claude Code, Aider, GitHub Copilot CLI
Frameworks	LangChain, AutoGen, LlamaIndex, CrewAI
LLM Providers	OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini
API Formats	OpenAI REST, Anthropic REST, Gemini v1beta (native)

---

Installation

# Full install (all providers + document converter + ML scanner)
pip install "guardian_runtime[all]"

# Or install only what you need:
pip install "guardian_runtime[openai]"
pip install "guardian_runtime[anthropic]"
pip install "guardian_runtime[gemini]"

Done. No signup. No cloud account required.

---

Quickstart

1. Start the proxy

guardian_runtime proxy --port 8080

2. Connect your AI tool

# Claude Code
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080
claude

# Aider
export OPENAI_API_BASE=http://localhost:8080/v1
aider

# Gemini CLI
export HTTPS_PROXY=http://localhost:8080
gemini

# Cursor / Windsurf
# Settings → AI → Base URL → http://localhost:8080

3. Python SDK (optional)

from guardian_runtime import GuardianRuntime, GuardianRuntimeBlockedError

gr = GuardianRuntime()  # zero-config

try:
    response = gr.complete(
        model="gpt-4o",
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": user_input}],
        raise_on_block=True
    )
    print(response.content)
except GuardianRuntimeBlockedError as e:
    print(f"Blocked: {e.response.violations[0].detail}")

---

Interactive Block — How It Looks

When Guardian detects a secret or PII, instead of crashing your session, it replies inside your chat window as the assistant:

[GUARDIAN_RUNTIME BLOCKED] Your request was intercepted.

Violation : secret
Detail    : AWS Access Key ID found on line 3
Line      : AWS_KEY=AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE

Type y/n in your next message to proceed or cancel.

• Type y → Guardian bypasses the scanner for that single request only.
• Type n → Block holds. The secret never leaves your machine.

---

Use Cases

Terminal Agents (Claude Code, Aider)

guardian_runtime proxy --port 8080
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080
claude  # All Claude Code traffic is now protected

Visual IDEs (Cursor, Windsurf)

1. guardian_runtime proxy --port 8080
2. Cursor Settings (Cmd+,) → Models → Override Base URL
3. Set to: http://localhost:8080

Agentic Frameworks (LangChain, AutoGen)

from langchain_openai import ChatOpenAI

llm = ChatOpenAI(
    model="gpt-4o",
    base_url="http://localhost:8080/v1",
    api_key="sk-proj-..."
)

Document Conversion

# Convert before uploading to any AI chat
guardian_runtime convert report.pdf --out report.md

---

CLI Reference

Command	Description
guardian_runtime proxy --port 8080	Start the local security proxy
guardian_runtime convert <file> --out <file.md>	Convert PDF/DOCX/XLSX to Markdown
guardian_runtime scan "<text>"	Manually scan any text for threats
guardian_runtime analytics	Show today's cost, tokens, and blocks
guardian_runtime analytics --all	Show all-time historical analytics
guardian_runtime logs	Tail the live JSONL event stream
guardian_runtime init	Generate a boilerplate policy.yaml
guardian_runtime validate	Check policy.yaml for syntax errors
guardian_runtime status	Show health of local installation
guardian_runtime clean	Delete all local data and logs
GET /stats	Live REST endpoint (while proxy is running)

---

Policy Configuration

Run guardian_runtime init to generate a policy.yaml, then customize:

version: "1.0"
agents:
  default:
    llm:
      provider: openai
      default_model: gpt-4o

    input_guard:
      scanner_enabled: true         # Secret + PII scanning
      jailbreak_detection: true     # 40+ jailbreak patterns
      scanner_action: block         # "block" or "warn"

    cost:
      daily_budget: 5.00            # Hard block at $5/day
      max_input_tokens: 20000       # Block oversized context windows

    optimizer:
      enabled: true
      terse_mode: true              # Cuts output tokens 40–70%
      max_history_messages: 20      # Trim old chat history

---

License

Released under the MIT License. Zero tracking. Zero cloud dependencies. Your code is yours.