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The Open-Source Security Cage
for AI Agents

Cage your AI agents before they leak data, burn budgets, or run unchecked.

Kernel-level sandbox · Real-time PII redaction · Tamper-proof audit · Cost & loop kill-switches

Open source (GPL-3.0-only). Built for infra, app dev, and security teams.

pip install akios
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AKIOS control plane and data plane funneling clients, CI/CD and apps into sandboxed agents and policy-gated destinations

Why AKIOS

Sandboxed by Default

Run agents in a strict kernel sandbox (seccomp-bpf + userns). Network and filesystem access denied by default.

Cost & Loop Kills

Hard kill-switches for API costs and infinite loops. Enforce budgets per workflow.

PII Redaction

Real-time PII detection and redaction built-in. 53 patterns catch emails, SSNs, credit cards, API keys, and more — before data reaches any provider.

Auditable Logs

Ship auditable logs and reproducible builds. Every action is signed and traceable.

Explicit Policies

Connect tools with explicit policies, not magic. You define exactly what an agent can access.

Minimal & Native

Single binary, no heavy dependencies. Native Unix design for clean CI/CD integration.

Quickstart (3 minutes)

Install AKIOS and run your first sandboxed AI workflow. You'll see kernel-level isolation, PII redaction, and audit logging — working out of the box.

# Install
pip install akios

# Initialize a project
akios init my-project
cd my-project

# Run the sample workflow
akios run templates/hello-workflow.yml

Expected output:

[akios] environment: native linux (kernel-hard)
[akios] sandbox: seccomp-bpf, cgroups v2
[akios] pii: redaction enabled (53 patterns)
[akios] audit: Merkle trail initialized
[akios] workflow: completed successfully in 1.2s

Architecture

Runtime layers: policy engine, kernel sandbox (seccomp + cgroups), PII redaction, budget/loop controls, tamper-proof audit — then agents access tools/APIs under your explicit policies.

Client or CLI flows into AKIOS policies, sandbox, audit, then agents, then policy-gated tools/APIs

Security guarantees (every run)

The cage enforces these controls for every agent:

  • Process IsolationKernel controls (cgroups v2 + seccomp‑bpf) enforce hard boundaries between every agent process.
  • Syscall FilteringDefault‑deny policy on network and filesystem. Only explicitly allowed calls pass.
  • PII Redaction53 patterns detect and redact sensitive data in real time — on all inputs and outputs.
  • Tamper-Proof AuditEvery action is cryptographically signed into a Merkle chain. Logs can't be altered after the fact.
  • Cost & Loop Kill-SwitchesHard budget limits per workflow. Runaway agents are terminated, not throttled.
  • Sandbox-First ExecutionThe sandbox is enforced before any tool call. No code runs outside the boundary.

Core agents

Four built-in agents cover typical workflows, all running inside the security cage:

Filesystem

Allowlisted reads, optional writes; path and mode constrained.

HTTP

Rate-limited requests with PII-redacted payloads and headers.

LLM

Token and cost tracking with budget kills; prompts/responses redacted.

Tool Executor

Whitelisted commands in a sandboxed subprocess with syscall filtering.

EnforceCore

The open-source enforcement framework we designed as the foundation of AKIOS. Runtime policy enforcement, PII redaction, Merkle audit, and resource guards — for any Python agent framework.

Policy Engine

Declarative YAML policies evaluated at every call boundary. Mandatory, not advisory.

PII Redactor

Real-time detection and redaction on inputs and outputs. Configurable strategies.

Merkle Auditor

SHA-256 Merkle tree audit trail. Tamper-proof, cryptographically chained.

Resource Guard

Cross-platform resource limits: time, memory, cost. Automatic kill-switch.

Frequently asked

What about performance?

25ms startup on t3.medium, 44+ workflows/sec throughput, ~21MB memory. <5ms policy enforcement, <50ms PII redaction. Full benchmarks in docs.

How much does it cost?

AKIOS is completely free and open source under GPL-3.0-only. No licensing fees. Download, deploy, and run on your infrastructure.

Will it work with my stack?

AKIOS works with OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, Grok, Mistral, and Gemini. Run on Linux (kernel-hard), macOS, or Docker. pip install or container — your choice.

How is security actually enforced?

seccomp-bpf on Linux + kernel namespaces. Docker container isolation on other platforms. Policies signed & verified before execution.

Ready to Cage Your AI Agents?

Get hands-on in minutes with our Quickstart, or explore the code on GitHub. AKIOS is free, open source, and ready for your first workflow.

ESC