HOL Guard is for developers who let agents such as Claude Code, Codex or Cursor run commands on their machine. It evaluates supported tool calls before they run and can allow, ask for approval or block them, covering secret access, destructive commands, risky MCP configuration and malicious packages. Receipts record what happened.
A practical workflow
- Install Guard for one agent you already use
- Run its risk check on your current setup
- Work as usual and approve or block the prompts it raises
- Review the receipts and tighten the policy
Illustrative input
This example describes a task, not a tested output. Adjust the source material and settings to your own situation.
Block reads of .env files and unknown package installs, but ask before running shell commands in a new repository.
Result check: Check the coverage matrix for your agent, because enforcement depth varies by agent and event type, and test that a blocked action is really blocked.
Access and alternatives
Guard Local is free, open source under Apache-2.0 and runs on your machine without a cloud account. Optional Guard Cloud adds synced decision history and shared policy: Solo at $4.99, Pro at $15 and Team at $30, with Enterprise by quote, and the billing period is not stated on the page. The site does not list supported operating systems, so check its install page for yours.