{"slug": "show-hn-ctxgov-see-what-instructions-your-ai-agent-inherits-before-it-runs", "title": "Show HN: CtxGov – see what instructions your AI agent inherits before it runs", "summary": "CtxGov, a new open-source developer tool, launched v0.9.0 to diagnose and govern AI agent context and memory-state influence before execution. The tool provides local-first CLI commands for change-gate checks, continuity validation, and forensics, ensuring agents act on verified context without network calls or external writes.", "body_md": "CtxGov is a local-first research and developer tool for diagnosing and governing agent context and memory-state influence before an agent acts.\n\n- Public product/package version:\n`0.9.0`\n\n. - Public evidence artifact:\n`release/v0.9.0/`\n\n. - Real OSS semantic inventory:\n`release/v0.9.0/state-of-agent-context/`\n\n. - Historical release packs are archive material, not the current product narrative.\n\nThe v0.9.0 public package supports local governance evaluation CLI surfaces:\n\n```\n# Run on your own repository. This is read-only and writes no .ctxvault state.\nctxgov change-gate-check --root . --format summary\n\n# Diff two explicit local trees and print a semantic Change Gate report.\nctxgov change-gate-check --baseline-root examples/change-gate-public-preview/baseline --head-root examples/change-gate-public-preview/head --format summary\n```\n\nAdditional local checks:\n\n```\nctxgov continuity compile examples/session-continuity-public-preview/saved-goal-trace.synthetic.json\nctxgov continuity render examples/session-continuity-public-preview/saved-goal-trace.synthetic.json\nctxgov continuity apply --mode dry-run examples/session-continuity-public-preview/saved-goal-trace.synthetic.json\nctxgov memory-xray validate release/v0.7.0/memory-xray-l1-public-preview/memory-xray-l1-examples-pack.json\nctxgov change-gate-federate --base-path examples/federation-public-preview --no-git-required\nctxgov oss-case-study-preview --target-name mem0 --repo-url https://github.com/mem0ai/mem0 --pinned-ref 366945965df43aa7084be98d1b5073b62a20b431 --source-path examples/oss-case-study-public-preview/mem0-source.md\nctxgov oss-efficiency evaluate --manifest release/v0.8.0/oss-efficiency-raw-telemetry-manifest.json\nctxgov governance-replay --trace examples/governance-replay-public-preview/governance-replay-trace.synthetic.json\nctxgov forensics-timeline --fixture release/v0.8.0/forensics-public-preview-fixture.json\nctxgov forensics-trace --fixture release/v0.8.0/forensics-public-preview-fixture.json --finding-id finding-public-authority-001\nctxgov forensics-gaps --fixture release/v0.8.0/forensics-public-preview-fixture.json\n```\n\nOther development surfaces are outside this public package boundary and are not included in the source distribution.\n\nInput:\n\n- one explicit local saved trace file;\n- optional Memory X-Ray JSON report-shape examples.\n- explicit local repository paths for Change Gate and Federation;\n- an explicit saved local public-source excerpt for OSS Case Study Preview;\n- explicit saved raw telemetry for OSS Efficiency methodology receipts;\n- pathless State Of Agent Context receipts for selected public OSS repositories;\n- an explicit saved local Governance Replay trace;\n- explicit local fixture JSON for Forensics preview.\n\nOutput:\n\n- a\n`ctxvault.session-continuity-sidecar/v0`\n\nJSON object; - a human-readable next-session continuity packet;\n- a dry-run or sandbox-only apply result;\n- a Memory X-Ray validation receipt.\n- a read-only semantic Change Gate report;\n- a read-only Federation report;\n- an OSS case-study decision preview;\n- an OSS raw telemetry methodology receipt;\n- a pathless real-OSS semantic inventory report;\n- a Governance Replay result with bounded coverage counts;\n- a Forensics timeline, trace, or gap report.\n\nBefore: the next agent session may inherit a long transcript, stale summary, or ambiguous handoff with unclear source support.\n\nAfter: CtxGov turns the explicit saved trace into source-backed continuity evidence with blocked effects, side-effect boundaries, and rollback-by-discard semantics before the next session uses it.\n\nRun the local public package gate:\n\n```\npython3 scripts/run_public_package_checks.py\n```\n\nThe gate performs no network calls, provider/model calls, public writes, schedulers, daemons, or target repository writes. It may create a temporary local Evidence Core store to verify CAS/SQLite commit and replay behavior.\n\nThe inherited `ctxgov continuity apply --mode sandbox`\n\ncommand may write one\nlocal sandbox file. Evidence Core library calls write only explicit local\nevidence-store paths chosen by the caller.\n\nSupported public commands:\n\n`ctxgov continuity compile`\n\n`ctxgov continuity render`\n\n`ctxgov continuity apply --mode dry-run|sandbox`\n\n`ctxgov memory-xray validate`\n\n`ctxgov change-gate-check`\n\n`ctxgov change-gate-federate`\n\n`ctxgov oss-case-study-preview`\n\n`ctxgov oss-efficiency evaluate|validate`\n\n`ctxgov governance-replay`\n\n`ctxgov forensics-timeline`\n\n`ctxgov forensics-trace`\n\n`ctxgov forensics-gaps`\n\nNo other commands are included in the public package. Real target writes, network/API calls, publication automation, schedulers, daemons, runtime adapter execution, and provider/model execution are outside this release.\n\nNot claimed:\n\n- public benchmark result;\n- comparative runtime or workflow outcome;\n- external uptake or community traction;\n- certification or risk assurance;\n- model/vendor coverage;\n- hosted runtime;\n- automated publication pipeline;\n- stable protocol or stable MGP;\n- stable external Python API;\n- autonomous remediation.\n\nThe checked-in `ctxvault.*`\n\nschema identifiers are stable legacy contract\nstrings, not a current branding claim.\n\nApache-2.0. See `LICENSE`\n\n.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-ctxgov-see-what-instructions-your-ai-agent-inherits-before-it-runs", "canonical_source": "https://github.com/ctxgov/ctxgov", "published_at": "2026-06-25 20:47:38+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-25 21:14:05.977785+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-agents", "developer-tools", "ai-safety", "ai-research"], "entities": ["CtxGov", "mem0ai", "mem0"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-ctxgov-see-what-instructions-your-ai-agent-inherits-before-it-runs", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-ctxgov-see-what-instructions-your-ai-agent-inherits-before-it-runs.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-ctxgov-see-what-instructions-your-ai-agent-inherits-before-it-runs.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-ctxgov-see-what-instructions-your-ai-agent-inherits-before-it-runs.jsonld"}}