@shield-agent/kya

CLI and local MCP gate for Shield’s Know Your Agent path.

If an agent can change a real system, it has to ask Shield first. You register the agent, wrap the tool, and get Allow, Hold, or Deny. Hold waits for a person. This package does not scan your network. Agents that never call evaluate stay invisible on purpose.

Walkthrough: how you use it.

npx @shield-agent/kya@latest --help

Requires Node.js 24+ (engines.node: >=24).

It works with any host that speaks MCP or OpenAPI. Vertical packs are optional. Shield is the only policy decision point: this gate never auto-approves an irreversible side effect.

If KYA_API_KEY is empty against an authenticated plane, network commands exit non-zero. eval-tool, wrap, and invoke exit 0 on ALLOW, 4 on REQUIRE_APPROVE, and 1 on DENY or unknown, so a line like eval-tool && write cannot skip the gate.

--offline runs sample evaluate without a paid cloud (useful for DENY and REQUIRE_APPROVE demos). Creating an agent is itself a tool: offline, kya.agent.register comes back REQUIRE_APPROVE. Allow, break-glass, and approve mint modes live on the control plane.

One liner

# After: npm i -g @shield-agent/kya   (or ./scripts/install-local.sh from this repo)
cd your-project
kya start

That inits .kya/, wires local MCP (.mcp.json, mcp.json, .cursor/mcp.json → kya serve-mcp --stdio), and opens the live activity report. Restart your agent host once so MCP loads. Ctrl+C stops the report server.

kya start --no-open   # wire only
kya start --force     # rewrite MCP blocks
# Receipt change previews (clipped + redacted): on by default for writes
# KYA_DIFF_PREVIEW=0 to disable

Related MCP server: permitd MCP Server

Longer path (optional)

# Offline sample evaluate
kya eval-tool --offline --tool-id org.sample.never.event --irreversible
kya wrap --offline --tool-id Write --irreversible --args '{"path":"src/x.ts","content":"hi"}'
kya receipt --open
# Org Hold: KYA_HOLD=1 kya wrap …
kya dash --once --offline

Install hub: https://shield-agent.com/install

Dual plane

 host=ide (authoring)          host=runtime (production)
        │                              │
        └────────── same agent ────────┘
                    identity
                    policy evaluate  → ALLOW | DENY | REQUIRE_APPROVE
                    approval + trail

Tag sessions with KYA_HOST=ide or KYA_HOST=runtime. Same policy path either way.

Environment

MCP tools

MCP Registry entry: server.json plus package mcpName io.github.The-Pixel-Boys/shield-kya.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shield-kya": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["--no-install", "@shield-agent/kya@0.1.34", "serve-mcp", "--stdio"],
      "env": {
        "KYA_BASE_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:8090",
        "KYA_API_KEY": "${KYA_API_KEY}",
        "KYA_HOST": "ide"
      }
    }
  }
}

Wrap and decide

npx @shield-agent/kya wrap --offline --tool-id org.sample.data.write --irreversible
npx @shield-agent/kya approve --id <approval-id>
npx @shield-agent/kya reject --id <approval-id>

wrap evaluates and may open a pending ticket. It never executes the side effect. invoke asks the live plane to authorize after Allow or APPROVED. It does not run the write on this machine. The TUI (dash) can a/x decide only after y confirm with a JWT (sk_* refused).

Claude connector

Desktop / Claude Code (local stdio):

# Prefer a preinstalled package (no registry auto-install):
npx --no-install @shield-agent/kya@0.1.34 serve-mcp --stdio
# Or after npm i -g / local install:
kya serve-mcp --stdio

Copy claude/claude_desktop_config.example.json into Claude Desktop MCP settings, or use .mcp.json for Claude Code. Pack a Desktop extension with npx @anthropic-ai/mcpb pack (see manifest.json). That pack runs the packed dist/cli.js, not npx -y.

Claude.ai / Cowork (hosted): add a custom connector at https://shield-agent.com/mcp with request header Authorization: Bearer <KYA_API_KEY> (or X-API-Key). It is not Directory-listed yet (API-key auth, no OAuth DCR).

OpenAI (Codex / Responses)

Codex CLI / IDE: copy openai/codex.config.example.toml into ~/.codex/config.toml. Local stdio uses npx --no-install @shield-agent/kya@0.1.34 serve-mcp --stdio. Hosted Codex uses url = "https://shield-agent.com/mcp" with bearer_token_env_var = "KYA_API_KEY".

Responses API: see openai/responses-mcp.example.json (server_url + Authorization: Bearer <KYA_API_KEY>).

ChatGPT Apps (chatgpt.com): deferred. Developer Mode wants OAuth. Use Codex until then.

Gemini CLI

Merge gemini/settings.example.json (stdio) or gemini/settings.hosted.example.json (httpUrl + Bearer) into ~/.gemini/settings.json or .gemini/settings.json. Do not enable both at once.

Grok

Hosted custom connector: https://shield-agent.com/mcp (see grok/README.md). Grok rejects localhost. Prefer a Bearer machine key when the UI offers a request header. For a local agent host, use the same stdio launch as Claude/Codex/Gemini.

Cursor plugin

The package includes .cursor-plugin/plugin.json, mcp.json, and a wrap skill. Public listing repo: https://github.com/The-Pixel-Boys/shield-kya

ORR (reporting only)

npx @shield-agent/kya orr run --path . --out ./orr-report --skip-optional-producers
npx @shield-agent/kya orr run --path . --out ./orr-report --scorecard ./scorecard.json --producer openssf.scorecard
npx @shield-agent/kya orr run --path . --out ./orr-report --producer harness.agentshield --agentshield-json ./agentshield-report.json

ORR is a reporting board. Scanners, --scorecard, and harness.agentshield are evidence. They never ALLOW a high-stakes side effect, so they are not a second policy gate. AgentShield is optional and read-only: no --fix, no MiniClaw, no runtime hook. This package does not depend on ecc-agentshield. If you pass --producer harness.agentshield and have neither --agentshield-json nor an agentshield binary, ORR records a coverage gap and still exits 0. Explicit --producer always attempts; --skip-optional-producers only skips producers you did not ask for.

Optional sandbox wrap (Firecracker)

Beside the gate, not inside MCP. Opt-in only:

KYA_SANDBOX=mock kya sandbox spawn
KYA_SANDBOX=mock kya sandbox exec --sandbox-id <id> --cmd "true"
KYA_SANDBOX=mock kya sandbox kill --sandbox-id <id>

org.sample.sandbox.exec without --sandbox-id is DENY MISSING_SANDBOX_ID. Real Firecracker needs firecracker + jailer on PATH and kernel/rootfs env (KYA_SANDBOX_KERNEL, KYA_SANDBOX_ROOTFS). We do not ship those binaries. serve-mcp still exposes only evaluate / ingest / request_approval.

Cost showback (observe only)

kya orr run --usage ./usage.json (or .kya/usage.json) adds a showback section: tokens and estimated USD by agent and run. Subagents nest under parentRunId. That section is not a billing meter and not a policy gate. Hosted metrics show the same rollup when usage is ingested with a session.

Enterprise (separate tier)

Pin, private registry, multi-tenant density, ORR board ops, and support are not required for the day-1 npx path above.

Develop

pnpm install
pnpm test
pnpm build

Docs

• Install hub

• How KYA works

• OTLP metrics (OSS + hosted)

• OWASP MCP governance map

• Hosted operator SSO / SCIM (not in OSS CLI)

• See also LIMITATIONS.md in this repo

OTLP (optional)

Opt-in. Default off.

OSS CLI: set KYA_OTLP_ENDPOINT (or OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT) to export thin evaluate latency (kya.client.evaluate.latency) with tags verdict and host only. No tool args or API keys.

Hosted plane: richer Micrometer gauges and timers when KYA_OTLP_ENABLED=true.

Full env, Grafana/Datadog notes, forbid list, and a Collector sample: docs/otlp.md.