halt-core 0.3.0

A Zero-Trust security middleware and intent validation engine for AI Agents.

🛑 Halt Core

The Zero-Trust Operating System Layer for Autonomous AI Agents.

Current AI agents are fundamentally flawed. Giving a Large Language Model direct execution access to your terminal or database is like putting a 5-year-old in the driver's seat of a Formula 1 car. They hallucinate, they get tricked by prompt injections, and they make catastrophic mistakes.

Halt Core is the safety belt, the airbag, and the emergency brake. It is a sub-millisecond middleware SDK that intercepts, evaluates, and blocks destructive AI agent commands before they touch your system.

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⚡ Features

• Sub-Millisecond Execution: Stateless rules (deny-lists) execute in ~0.05ms. Your agents won't even feel the latency.
• Stateful Memory Tracking: AI attacks are often multi-step (e.g., download payload -> make executable -> run). Halt Core remembers the agent's session history and blocks dangerous execution chains.
• Semantic Intent Engine (Powered by Microsoft Phi-4): Bad actors obfuscate commands. Halt Core routes suspicious commands through a local, air-gapped Small Language Model (SLM) to read the true intent behind the code.
• Zero-Trust "Fail-Secure" Architecture: If the local LLM daemon goes offline, Halt Core defaults to blocking the action. Security over convenience, always.
• Developer-First SDK: Integrate into any LangChain, CrewAI, or custom Python agent pipeline with exactly two lines of code.

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🛠️ Installation

Halt Core runs locally to ensure maximum data privacy. Your agent's logs never leave your servers.

1. Prerequisites

You need Ollama installed to run the local semantic engine. Once installed, pull the Phi-4-mini model:

ollama run phi4-mini

2. Install Halt Core

Install the SDK directly via pip:

pip install halt-core

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🚀 Quick Start

Integrating Halt Core into your existing AI worker is effortless. Pass the agent's intended action to the evaluate function before executing it on your host machine.

from halt_core import evaluate

# 1. Your AI agent generates a command (e.g., a destructive SQL query)
agent_command = "DROP TABLE production_users;"

# 2. Intercept with Halt Core
decision = evaluate(
    action_type="sql", 
    command=agent_command, 
    agent_id="agent_dba_01"
)

# 3. Act on the decision
if decision["safe"]:
    print("Action Approved. Executing...")
    # Execute the command on your system
else:
    print(f"🛑 ACTION BLOCKED: {decision['reason']}")
    print(f"💡 Remediation sent back to AI: {decision['remediation']}")

Expected Output:

{
  "safe": false,
  "reason": "Action rejected because SQL command contains blocked destructive keyword(s): DROP.",
  "remediation": "Do not execute destructive operations. Use 'SELECT' or consult the administrator. Please try again safely.",
  "latency_ms": 0.106
}

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🧠 How the Architecture Works

1. Fast Lane (Rules & State): The command is first checked against modular static rules and the in-memory state tracker.
2. Deep Inspection (Phi-4): If the command bypasses static rules but looks structurally complex, it is forwarded to the local phi4-mini model.
3. Feedback Loop: Halt Core doesn't just block; it provides structured remediation strings. You can feed this string back into your LLM prompt so your agent can learn from its mistake and self-correct.

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🔒 License

MIT License. Built for the future of safe Artificial General Intelligence.