How to Secure Devin and Autonomous Coding Agents

SafeClaw by Authensor enforces deny-by-default policies on fully autonomous coding agents like Devin, gating every file write, shell command, git operation, and deployment action before execution. Autonomous coding agents operate with minimal human oversight — SafeClaw provides the policy layer that prevents unauthorized or destructive actions even when no human is watching.

How Autonomous Coding Agents Work

Devin and similar autonomous coding agents (OpenHands, SWE-Agent, Aider) have access to a full development environment: shell, filesystem, browser, and git. They plan multi-step implementations, write code, run tests, debug failures, and can push to remote repositories or trigger deployments. The agent runs in a loop — observe, plan, act, evaluate — and each "act" step can modify your codebase, install packages, or execute arbitrary commands. Without a policy layer, the only safety boundary is the agent's own judgment.

Autonomous Agent → Planned Action → [SafeClaw Policy Check] → Execute or Block

Quick Start

npx @authensor/safeclaw

Creates a safeclaw.yaml in the agent's working directory. SafeClaw intercepts at the tool execution layer, evaluating every action against your policy.

Step 1: Define Policies for Autonomous Agents

Autonomous agents need stricter policies than interactive ones because there's no human in the loop:

# safeclaw.yaml
version: 1
default: deny

policies:
  - name: "devin-file-operations"
    description: "Scope file access for autonomous agent"
    actions:
      - tool: "write_file"
        effect: allow
        constraints:
          path_pattern: "src/|tests/|docs/**"
          max_size_bytes: 100000
      - tool: "read_file"
        effect: allow
        constraints:
          path_pattern: "**"
          exclude_pattern: ".env|.key|.pem|secrets/*"
      - tool: "delete_file"
        effect: deny

- name: "devin-shell-commands"
    description: "Tightly restrict shell access"
    actions:
      - tool: "shell"
        effect: allow
        constraints:
          command_pattern: "npm test|npm run build|npm run lint|npx tsc"
      - tool: "shell"
        effect: allow
        constraints:
          command_pattern: "git add |git commit |git status|git diff|git log"
      - tool: "shell"
        effect: deny
        constraints:
          command_pattern: "git push|git force-push"
      - tool: "shell"
        effect: deny
        constraints:
          command_pattern: "rm -rf|sudo |curl  | sh|chmod |pkill "
      - tool: "shell"
        effect: deny

- name: "devin-git-policy"
    description: "Control git operations"
    actions:
      - tool: "git_commit"
        effect: allow
      - tool: "git_push"
        effect: deny
      - tool: "git_force_push"
        effect: deny
      - tool: "git_branch_delete"
        effect: deny

- name: "devin-network-policy"
    description: "Restrict network access"
    actions:
      - tool: "http_request"
        effect: allow
        constraints:
          url_pattern: "https://registry.npmjs.org/**"
      - tool: "http_request"
        effect: deny

Step 2: Integrate SafeClaw into the Agent's Runtime

For agents that use a tool execution framework, SafeClaw wraps the executor:

import { SafeClaw } from "@authensor/safeclaw";

const safeclaw = new SafeClaw("./safeclaw.yaml");

// Wrap the agent's tool executor
function safeExecute(toolName: string, args: Record<string, any>) {
  const decision = safeclaw.evaluate(toolName, args);

if (!decision.allowed) {
    return {
      success: false,
      error: Action blocked by SafeClaw policy: ${decision.reason},
      policy: decision.matchedPolicy,
    };
  }

return originalExecutor(toolName, args);
}

// Replace the agent's executor with the safe version
agent.setToolExecutor(safeExecute);

Step 3: Prevent Escalation Patterns

Autonomous agents can attempt to escalate their own privileges — for example, editing the policy file itself, or installing a package that modifies system configurations:

policies:
  - name: "anti-escalation"
    description: "Prevent privilege escalation"
    actions:
      - tool: "write_file"
        effect: deny
        constraints:
          path_pattern: "safeclaw.yaml|.safeclaw/**"
      - tool: "shell"
        effect: deny
        constraints:
          command_pattern: "safeclawconfig|policyedit"
      - tool: "shell"
        effect: deny
        constraints:
          command_pattern: "npm install -g |pip install --user "

SafeClaw's policy file is evaluated at startup and cannot be modified by the agent at runtime.

Step 4: Set Action Budgets

For long-running autonomous agents, limit the total number of actions per session:

limits:
  max_actions_per_session: 500
  max_file_writes_per_session: 100
  max_shell_commands_per_session: 50

This prevents runaway loops where the agent keeps retrying failed operations.

Step 5: Review the Autonomous Session Log

After the agent completes its work, review the full audit trail:

npx @authensor/safeclaw audit --session latest

The hash-chained log shows every action attempted, every policy decision, and the complete sequence — providing the evidence needed for code review of autonomous agent output.

Why SafeClaw

• 446 tests covering policy evaluation, edge cases, and audit integrity
• Deny-by-default — essential for agents operating without human oversight
• Sub-millisecond evaluation — no slowdown to the agent's planning-execution loop
• Hash-chained audit log — tamper-evident proof of every autonomous action
• Works with Claude AND OpenAI — supports whatever model powers the autonomous agent

Related Pages

• How to Secure AI Agents in Cursor IDE
• How to Add Action Gating to GitHub Copilot Workflows
• How to Add Safety Policies to Replit AI Agent
• How to Secure CrewAI Multi-Agent Systems