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DefenseClaw
Security governance for AI coding agents and agentic runtimes.
Scan capabilities before use, inspect runtime traffic, and export durable audit evidence.
DefenseClaw combines a Python operator CLI, a Go gateway, connector hooks, policy, scanners, and observability exporters. It is an enforcement and evidence layer; it does not prove that an agent, model interaction, or third-party capability is risk-free.
Get started
curl -LsSf https://github.com/cisco-ai-defense/defenseclaw/releases/latest/download/install.sh | bash
defenseclaw quickstart
Then read the docs. On native Windows, see Install DefenseClaw.
Documentation
The DefenseClaw documentation website is the source of truth for installation, setup, configuration, commands, and operator workflows:
| Topic | Canonical guide |
|---|---|
| Install | Install DefenseClaw |
| First run | Quickstart |
| Upgrade | Upgrade |
| Windows | Native Windows |
| Connectors | Connector compatibility |
| Guardrails | Guardrail setup |
| Configuration | Configuration reference |
| CLI | CLI reference |
| Observability | Observability |
Repository Markdown is limited to contributor guidance, implementation
contracts, package-local notes, generated schema references, test fixtures, and
historical design records. Start at docs/README.md.
Source development
Source targets are contributor tooling. They are not an installation or upgrade
path for a release-managed host; use the website guides above for those tasks.
The checked-in toolchain contracts are Python >=3.10,<3.14
(pyproject.toml) and Go 1.26.4
(go.mod). CI exercises the TypeScript components with Node.js 24.
git clone https://github.com/cisco-ai-defense/defenseclaw.git
cd defenseclaw
make build
make test
make check
make lint
make build produces checkout artifacts without publishing them or changing
managed installation state; its pycli step may create or update the shared
repository-local .venv. Run make help before using state-changing source
targets. All local source targets share that one locked, test-ready .venv;
there is no separate production-versus-development Python environment to
select. make test, make check, and make py-lint bootstrap that environment
when needed. make all intentionally rebuilds and activates the current
checkout for local development; the lower-level
make install, make dev-install, and scripts/install-dev.sh targets enforce
source-ownership rules and are not an upgrade path. Release installs upgrade
with defenseclaw upgrade, which runs the latest release's installer; see the
upgrade page.
The principal source areas are:
| Area | Path |
|---|---|
| Python CLI and TUI | cli/defenseclaw/ |
| Go gateway commands | cmd/ |
| Go implementation packages | internal/ |
| OpenClaw extension | extensions/defenseclaw/ |
| Policy bundles | policies/ |
| Versioned schemas | schemas/ |
| Release and developer automation | scripts/ |
| Tests and fixtures | test/ and component-local *_test.* files |
See CONTRIBUTING.md for the pull-request workflow and
SECURITY.md for private vulnerability reporting.
License
Apache-2.0. See LICENSE and NOTICE.
Copyright 2026 Cisco Systems, Inc. and its affiliates.