tenra Guardrail

tenra Guardrail is a local-first desktop application for running AI agents inside explicit runtime boundaries. The desktop shell wraps a Rust service and routes agent actions through a Tool Host boundary instead of letting models execute tools directly.

The project is not a generic SaaS starter. Its center of gravity is policy enforcement, approvals, auditability, provider configuration, and local runtime control.

Operational Purpose

• Define a deny-by-default Tool Host boundary for agent actions.
• Keep policy enforcement deterministic and inspectable.
• Separate UI, runtime service, provider configuration, and policy contracts.
• Provide local diagnostics and exportable snapshots for audit review.

Design Posture

• Agents never execute tools directly.
• Network-capable tooling is disabled by default in v0.
• Desktop-first because local filesystem, process, approval, and secrets boundaries live on the machine.
• Web and mobile surfaces are placeholders until the runtime spine is mature.
• Policy and runtime contracts are shared packages, not UI-only conventions.

Architecture

apps/
  desktopapp/   Primary Tauri + React product surface
  webapp/       Future web placeholder
  mobileapp/    Future mobile placeholder

packages/
  runtime-contracts/ Tool Host and runtime service contracts
  policy/            Deny-by-default policy helpers
  provider-config/   Provider catalog and defaults
  secrets/           Secret-detection descriptors and redaction helpers
  privacy/           Privacy defaults and audit redaction rules
  api-contracts/     UI-to-runtime command and event contracts
  domain/            Product models and seeded records
  validation/        Runtime validation helpers
  ui/                Shared navigation and product copy

Current State

• The desktop app is the only active product surface.
• Web and mobile apps are placeholders for future activation.
• Runtime, policy, provider, privacy, and validation packages define the v0 spine.
• The local runtime diagnostics and JSON snapshot export support review work.

Deployment Posture

Guardrail is a local desktop product scaffold. It should not be positioned as a complete agent-safety platform until real Tool Host enforcement, approval UX, audit storage, provider handling, and OS-level boundaries have been validated.

Working Locally

pnpm run bootstrap
pnpm run dev:desktop
pnpm run launch:desktop
pnpm run verify:all
pnpm run doctor

Direction

• Harden the Tool Host boundary and runtime command model.
• Add approvals and audit persistence before expanding tool coverage.
• Keep provider configuration explicit and local-first.
• Activate web or mobile surfaces only when they support the runtime model.

Related Documentation

• Local Service Boundary
• Developer Guide
• Repo Map
• Stability Checklist