Show HN: Keydris, check what an agent is allowed to do before it runs

Keydris, a new tool announced on Hacker News, lets developers define and enforce authority policies for AI agents before they execute actions, issuing decisions such as ALLOW, APPROVAL REQUIRED, or REJECT at the boundary where the action occurs. The tool integrates via a CLI and proxy, supports MCP and APIs, and records every decision in an auditable log, with policies that are versioned and revocable.

Proof of authority for AI agents Control what AI agents can do.Before they do it. Set the rules. Keydris checks before they act. No credit card required MCP · APIs · AI agents Read app/api/route.ts 1 result Read lib/auth.ts 1 result Keydris · authority check - Agent - agt 4f21 - Action - — - Authority - — Keydris decision — reason · — Tool outcome — — Keydris evaluates the authority assigned to this agent when it reaches a governed action. Illustrative nothing executes here · decision kd dec 5178 Install and connect Add Keydris to your code Your harness bash $ npm install -g @keydris/cli$ keydris init claude-code <agent-id configures and signs in when needed$ keydris proxy up starts the background proxy$ keydris status checks the setup$ claude starts a governed Claude session Get started Govern one action in 5 steps - 01Register the agent, assign a policyIn the console, register the agent and assign it the policy you authored. You get an Agent ID. - 02Install the CLIUse Node.js 20+ on Windows, macOS, or Linux. npm installs the matching native binary. - 03Initialize the harnessConnect the Agent ID, write the harness settings, and sign in when prompted. - 04Start and check the proxyStart the background proxy, then check identity, policy scope, and harness wiring. - 05Run the agentA session starts, Keydris issues a short-lived KIT, and each governed action is checked against the policy before it executes. Read the full quickstart ↗ /docs/quickstart Where it sits You choose which actions require Keydris authority. You integrate Keydris at the boundary that is about to carry out the action. That boundary obtains the authority decision and enforces it. Keydris supplies the decision; it is not the thing that executes. Where the decision happens Keydris governs the paths where your application requires Keydris authority. It supplies the decision; your boundary enforces it; your tool executes. The request payload stays on the execution path. A path that does not present Keydris authority reaches the tool through your application’s own authorization. Keydris is not a network firewall. ALLOW the governed action proceeds APPROVAL REQUIRED blocked pending a human · resolves to ALLOW or REJECT REJECT the governed action does not proceed What it leaves behind Every decision leaves a record you can read. This is the same event you changed at the top of the page, opened. It answers why the decision happened, and it is explicit about what it does not establish. Decision record kd dec 5183 · 2026-08-17T14:22:07Z 1 Decision ALLOW The requested action was inside the authority assigned to this agent at the moment it was evaluated. reason · authority verified 2 Authority evaluated 3 Request 4 Tool outcome completed Reported by the tool after execution. Keydris decided; it did not execute the action. 5 Not established by this record A decision record is evidence of what was checked and decided, not a claim about everything that happened afterwards. Claims, with receipts Don’t take the claim. Take the link. Every claim below links to a page you can read without a form. If Keydris cannot link it, it does not claim it. Checked before the action, at the boundary Authorization is evaluated per governed action, before execution. The receiving boundary obtains the decision and enforces the result. Policy documentation You author the policy, and it is versioned Scope and limits are operator-defined and versioned, so each decision stays attributable to the policy that was in force. Policy model Revocation governs what comes next A revoked authority fails its next verification. The agent process is not terminated; completed actions are not reversed. Authority management Decisions and outcomes are recorded Decision records carry the evaluated action, the policy version, and the outcome, available for review and export. Audit log documentation The CLI is public on npm Install @keydris/cli and read the documentation before you talk to anyone. No account required for either. @keydris/cli on npm Developer Preview, free to try Sign up and run the first authority loop yourself: no invite, no sales call, no credit card. Production use is possible; there is no production SLA yet. The docs list the integrations supported today. Create your account Start free. Scale when you're ready. - Free · $0 · 1 agent · 1 policy · 1,500 KIT issuances/month - Builder · $20/month · 3 agents · 3 policies · 5,000 KIT issuances/month - Pro · $99/month · for teams operating Keydris Verification stays unlimited on every plan. Enterprise governance is a conversation. Talk to us. Developer Preview See pricing For MCP & API platform teams See how a receiving system can check the authority attached to a governed agent action before accepting it. For enterprise security & agent teams See how policies, approval requirements, revocation, and decision records govern agents acting across enterprise systems. Both paths use the same authority model: policy-defined scope, action-time verification, revocation, and decision evidence. Why Keydris Read the docs /docs Why this exists OAuth, IAM, and API credentials establish access. They do not by themselves establish that this specific governed action is inside the policy assigned to this agent, and valid at the moment it is attempted. That gap appears wherever agents act through MCP servers, APIs, and enterprise systems, before a human can review every call. Keydris adds the action-time authority decision under the policy you defined: ALLOW, APPROVAL REQUIRED, or REJECT. Authority before action. Skeptical by design FAQ The questions a technical founder, platform engineer, or security reviewer should ask before adopting new infrastructure. What is Keydris? Keydris lets you control what AI agents can do before they do it. You define a policy that says what an agent is allowed to do. When the agent attempts a governed action, that action is checked against the policy before it runs, and the result is enforced: ALLOW, APPROVAL REQUIRED, or REJECT. You can let an agent read a repository, require human approval before it merges a pull request, or revoke its authority so the next action it attempts fails verification. Revoking does not stop the agent process or undo work it already finished. Keydris makes the authorization decision. The action itself runs in the system that owns it. Why isn’t OAuth or IAM enough? OAuth, IAM, service accounts, and workload identity establish who or what has access. Keydris works alongside them and adds a per-action authority check: whether this specific governed action is inside the policy assigned to this agent right now. Is Keydris identity, authentication, or an MCP gateway? No. Keydris is the authorization layer for AI agents. It is not an identity provider, agent runtime, monitoring product, or universal traffic proxy. MCP already supports authorization. Why use Keydris? MCP authorization and existing identity systems remain part of the foundation. Keydris adds a governed authority lifecycle across the agent, the policy you author, the authority it presents, per-action verification, revocation, and decision evidence. Where does verification happen? Can it complete locally? The receiving boundary evaluates the governed action by requesting verification from the Keydris platform. That boundary can run in your environment, but it does not evaluate the policy by itself. Does Keydris proxy my traffic or see my payloads? Keydris does not claim to be a universal proxy for your application traffic. On supported self-hosted paths, payload traffic stays inside your environment and authorization information crosses to Keydris. On third-party systems a Keydris integration may participate in the data path. Keydris does not claim it is never in any data path. What exactly gets revoked? Can the agent keep running? The authority is revoked, not the agent process. The agent may continue running and attempting actions, but revoked authority fails subsequent verification. Who defines the authority and who issues it? You define and change the policy. Keydris issues the agent an authority bound to that policy. Updating or reassigning the policy does not require redoing the agent’s CLI setup. What does the decision record prove? A decision record preserves the evaluated action, agent, scope, policy version, checks, outcome, and timestamp for review and export. It is evidence of what the system checked and decided, not a guarantee of universal safety or compliance, and not a copy of the underlying request payload. Why shouldn’t I build scoped checks myself? You can build pieces of the model yourself. Keydris is for teams that want the policy, authority issuance, per-action verification, revocation, administration, and decision evidence to operate as one governed system across supported integrations. The public docs and CLI let you evaluate that tradeoff directly. Does Keydris publish a latency benchmark? Not yet. The current public material makes no latency claim. Evaluate the supported architecture and integration paths in the documentation rather than relying on an unsourced performance adjective. What is available today? Developer Preview, free to try. The CLI is public on npm, the documentation and the in-browser authority demonstration are open, and you can sign up and use the hosted application yourself without speaking to us. Production use is possible; there is no production SLA yet. The docs list the integrations currently supported.