Safety Controls for AI Infrastructure Management Agents

AI infrastructure management agents — systems that provision cloud resources, manage Kubernetes clusters, configure networking, and execute deployment pipelines — operate with the highest privilege level of any agent category, because a single misconfigured command can take down production services, expose databases to the public internet, or generate unbounded cloud costs. SafeClaw by Authensor provides infrastructure-specific safety controls: command-level gating with explicit whitelists, blast-radius limits, environment-scoped policies, and mandatory human approval for production-impacting actions. Install with npx @authensor/safeclaw to gate your infrastructure agent.

Infrastructure Agent Threat Model

Infrastructure agents typically need access to powerful CLIs: kubectl, terraform, aws, gcloud, docker. Each tool can cause catastrophic damage:

  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  INFRASTRUCTURE AGENT BLAST RADIUS               │
  │                                                   │
  │  kubectl delete namespace prod    ──▶ TOTAL LOSS  │
  │  terraform destroy                ──▶ TOTAL LOSS  │
  │  aws ec2 terminate-instances      ──▶ SERVICE DOWN│
  │  docker rm -f $(docker ps -q)     ──▶ ALL GONE    │
  │  iptables -F                      ──▶ NETWORK OPEN│
  │  chmod -R 777 /                   ──▶ FULL EXPLOIT│
  │                                                   │
  │  SafeClaw: deny-by-default for ALL commands       │
  │  Only whitelisted operations execute              │
  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

SafeClaw Policy for Infrastructure Agents

# safeclaw-infra-agent.yaml
version: "1.0"
agent: infra-manager
rules:
  # === KUBERNETES (read-only by default) ===
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "kubectl get **"
    decision: allow
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "kubectl describe **"
    decision: allow
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "kubectl logs **"
    decision: allow
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "kubectl apply -f **"
    context: "staging"
    decision: allow
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "kubectl apply -f **"
    context: "production"
    decision: require_approval
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "kubectl delete **"
    decision: deny

# === TERRAFORM ===
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "terraform plan **"
    decision: allow
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "terraform validate **"
    decision: allow
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "terraform apply **"
    decision: require_approval
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "terraform destroy **"
    decision: deny

# === AWS CLI (read-only) ===
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "aws  describe- **"
    decision: allow
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "aws  list- **"
    decision: allow
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "aws  get- **"
    decision: allow
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "aws **"
    decision: deny  # Deny all mutating AWS operations

# === DOCKER ===
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "docker ps **"
    decision: allow
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "docker logs **"
    decision: allow
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "docker build **"
    decision: allow
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "docker rm **"
    decision: deny
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "docker stop **"
    decision: require_approval

# === DESTRUCTIVE PATTERNS ===
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "rm -rf **"
    decision: deny
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "sudo **"
    decision: deny
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "chmod **"
    decision: deny

# === DEFAULT ===
  - action: shell_execute
    decision: deny
  - action: network_request
    decision: deny
  - action: file_write
    path: "infra/configs/**"
    decision: allow
  - action: file_write
    decision: deny

Environment-Scoped Policies

A critical pattern for infrastructure agents: different policies for different environments:

# safeclaw-infra-staging.yaml
environment: staging
rules:
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "kubectl apply -f **"
    decision: allow   # Auto-apply in staging
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "kubectl delete pod **"
    decision: allow   # Allow pod restarts in staging

safeclaw-infra-production.yaml
environment: production
rules:
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "kubectl apply -f **"
    decision: require_approval  # Human gate in production
  - action: shell_execute
    command: "kubectl delete **"
    decision: deny              # Never auto-delete in production

Load the appropriate policy based on the target environment:

import { createGate } from '@authensor/safeclaw';

const env = process.env.TARGET_ENV;
const gate = createGate({
  policy: ./policies/safeclaw-infra-${env}.yaml
});

Blast Radius Limits

Prevent the agent from affecting too many resources in a single session:

blast_radius_limits:
  max_resources_modified: 5
  max_namespaces_touched: 1
  max_services_restarted: 3
  on_limit_exceeded: halt_and_alert

Cost Controls

Infrastructure agents can generate massive cloud bills. SafeClaw's budget limits prevent cost runaway:

cost_limits:
  max_instance_type: "m5.xlarge"  # No launching expensive instances
  max_instances_created: 3
  deny_resource_types:
    - "gpu-instance"
    - "p4d.24xlarge"
  on_limit_exceeded: deny_and_alert

SafeClaw's hash-chained audit trail creates a complete record of every infrastructure command attempted and executed, essential for incident response and compliance. The tool has 446 tests, is MIT-licensed, and works with Claude and OpenAI.

Cross-References

• DevOps Agent Infrastructure Industry Guide
• Infrastructure Agent Recipe
• Preventing Cloud Cost Runaway
• System Config Change Prevention
• AWS AI Agent Safety