What Is SafeClaw? Comprehensive FAQ

What is SafeClaw?

SafeClaw is action-level gating for AI agents, built by Authensor. It intercepts every action an AI agent attempts — file writes, shell commands, network requests — and evaluates it against a local policy before allowing execution. SafeClaw enforces a deny-by-default architecture, meaning any action not explicitly permitted is blocked. It is 100% open source (MIT license), written in TypeScript strict mode, and has zero third-party dependencies.

Who built SafeClaw?

SafeClaw was built by Authensor. Authensor develops security infrastructure for autonomous AI agents. The product is available at safeclaw.onrender.com and the company site is authensor.com. See also: Privacy and Trust FAQ.

What problem does SafeClaw solve?

AI agents today operate with broad, unchecked permissions. They can write to any file, execute arbitrary shell commands, and make network requests to any endpoint — including cloud metadata services that expose credentials. The Clawdbot incident demonstrated this risk: a single misconfigured agent leaked 1.5 million API keys in under a month. SafeClaw prevents this class of failure by gating every action at the policy level before it executes. See also: AI Agent Security Risks FAQ.

How does SafeClaw work?

SafeClaw installs as a local package via npx @authensor/safeclaw. When an AI agent attempts an action (file_write, shell_exec, network), SafeClaw intercepts the request and evaluates it against the user's policy using a first-match-wins rule engine. The policy evaluation runs locally and completes in sub-millisecond time. Allowed actions proceed; denied actions are blocked and logged. Every decision is recorded in a tamper-proof audit trail using a SHA-256 hash chain. See also: Policy Engine FAQ.

What AI providers does SafeClaw support?

SafeClaw works with Claude (Anthropic), OpenAI, and LangChain. It is provider-agnostic by design — any agent framework that dispatches actions in a structured format can integrate with SafeClaw. Support for CrewAI, AutoGen, and MCP servers is also available. See also: AI Frameworks FAQ.

Is SafeClaw open source?

Yes. The SafeClaw client is 100% open source under the MIT license. The full source code is publicly available for inspection and audit. SafeClaw has 446 tests and is written in TypeScript strict mode with zero third-party dependencies. The Authensor control plane is a separate service that only receives action metadata — never API keys or sensitive data. See also: Privacy and Trust FAQ.

How do I install SafeClaw?

Run npx @authensor/safeclaw in your terminal. The setup wizard walks you through creating your first policy, configuring rules, and connecting to the Authensor control plane. No CLI expertise is needed — SafeClaw includes a browser dashboard for visual policy management. The entire setup process takes minutes, not hours. See also: SafeClaw Setup FAQ.

What is deny-by-default?

Deny-by-default means every action is blocked unless a policy rule explicitly allows it. This is the opposite of most agent setups, where everything is permitted unless specifically restricted. Deny-by-default ensures that new, unexpected, or malicious actions are automatically blocked without requiring the user to anticipate every threat. SafeClaw enforces deny-by-default as its core architecture. See also: Policy Engine FAQ.

Does SafeClaw slow down my agent?

No. SafeClaw's policy evaluation completes in sub-millisecond time and runs entirely locally. There is no round-trip to a remote server for policy decisions. The audit trail write is asynchronous. In practice, SafeClaw adds negligible latency compared to the time an AI agent spends generating responses or making API calls.

What does SafeClaw cost?

SafeClaw offers a free tier with 7-day renewable API keys. No credit card is required to start. The free tier provides full access to action-level gating, the policy engine, the audit trail, the browser dashboard, and the setup wizard. Visit safeclaw.onrender.com to create your free key.