Open-source guardrail
sudo used to write or to run a shell
AgentTrail Guard asks you about this by default: you decide before the call runs. Where an agent cannot ask, the call is refused instead.
- Default action
- Ask
- Severity
- High severity
- Library version
- 0.2.1 · Sep 29, 2026
What it does
What it catches, and what it misses
Written into the rule itself, next to what it matches, so you can judge it before you trust it.
Holds a sudo that writes or spawns a shell — sudo tee, sudo dd, sudo cp/mv/rm/ln/install, sudo chown, sudo sh -c — as opposed to a sudo that reads or queries. The read/query forms are deliberately NOT matched: sudo apt-get update, sudo -l and sudo systemctl status are ordinary. It reads the command's own words, so it MISSES a write performed by a script invoked with sudo, and it cannot tell which path is being written to. A quoted MENTION is not a use: a search, a git commit -m message, an echo or a curl --data body that only names this command is left alone. That holds only while every shell metacharacter stays inside the quotes, so git commit -m "x" && … is still caught; and the carrier must be the first word, so sudo grep … is not exempt.
Examples
Tested on every build
The rule must match every command on the left and none on the right, or the library does not build. Catching the real thing is easy; staying quiet on the near-miss is the hard part.
Catches (5)
- echo '127.0.0.1 x' | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts
- sudo cp dist/app /usr/local/bin/app
- sudo rm -rf /var/lib/app
- sudo sh -c "echo x > /etc/motd"
- MCP{"command":"sudo cp dist/app /usr/local/bin/app"}
Stays quiet on (8)
- git commit -m "docs: explain echo 127.0.0.1 x | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts"
- grep -rn "echo 127.0.0.1 x | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts" docs/
- echo "never run echo 127.0.0.1 x | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts"
- curl --data "we ran echo 127.0.0.1 x | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts" https://api.example.com/comments
- sudo apt-get update
- sudo -l
- sudo systemctl status nginx
- cp dist/app ./bin/app
In your agent
What "ask" means in each app
The guard runs as a hook in each app, and each app gives a hook different powers. Here is what this rule's default action does in each one.
- Claude Code
- You are asked before the call runs. If your settings.json already allows the tool outright, Claude Code runs it with no prompt.
- Cursor
- A terminal command that reaches the guard gets Cursor's approval card. Any other call that needs approval, such as a file edit or a read, is refused, because Cursor cannot ask there.
- Codex CLI
- Codex cannot ask, so the call is refused, and the reason says a person has to approve it.
Each app hands the guard a different set of calls: in a Cursor sandbox run mode, for one, some terminal commands run without reaching the guard at all. Read the notes for Cursor and for Codex CLI before you rely on a rule there.
Make it yours
Change what it does in one command
Turn it off, change its action, or silence it on one command shape. The narrow one is allow: the rule keeps catching everything else.
Run it locally
Put these guardrails in front of your agent.
AgentTrail Guard is free and open source. It checks every command and file change against the whole library before your agent runs it, on your machine, with no account.
npm i -g @agenttrail/guard