safer

Sleep better while AI agents have shell access.

$ safer bash -lc 'rm go.mod'
safer: command requires user attention (blocked)
capabilities: read-only
action: block
command: bash -lc 'rm go.mod'
findings:
- bash -c [data-delete]: file deletion command requires user attention (rm)
instruction: bring this to the user's attention. Do not retry, rephrase, or bypass this command without explicit user approval.
exit status 2

safer is a command wrapper for AI coding agents with full shell access to a workspace.

By default, safer allows only known read-only commands. Anything that writes data, deletes data, mutates a runtime environment, changes infrastructure, or is not understood by safer requires an explicit capability flag.

safer is not a sandbox, a permissions system, or a CI/CD policy engine. It is a pre-execution guardrail for local agent workspaces.

Why

AI agents are increasingly given broad access to real development workspaces. They can edit files, run package managers, operate Docker, call kubectl, query databases, and push git branches.

That is powerful, but it means an agent can accidentally run commands like:

• rm -rf
• psql -c 'DELETE FROM users'
• kubectl delete pod api-0
• terraform destroy
• git push --force-with-lease
• curl ... | sh

safer makes risky commands visible to a human by printing a clear alert and exiting with a dedicated status code. The point is to make an AI-operated workspace safer when the AI can run shell commands.

Install

go install github.com/crufter/safer@latest

From a checkout:

go install .

Quick Start

Known reads pass by default:

safer bash -lc 'cat go.mod'
safer kubectl get pods -A

Grant data write capability for ordinary workspace/data changes:

safer --data-write git commit -m change
safer --dw npm install

Grant ephemeral environment capability for temporary runtime/session operations:

safer --env-ephemeral kubectl port-forward svc/api 8080:80
safer --ee docker restart api

Grant persistent environment capability for infrastructure or remote state changes:

safer --env-persistent terraform apply
safer --ep helm upgrade api ./chart

Grant data delete capability only when deletion/removal is intentional:

safer --data-delete rm stale.log
safer --dd npm uninstall left-pad

Unknown commands are blocked unless explicitly allowed:

safer --allow-unknown custom-tool status

Inspect without executing:

safer --dry-run --dw git commit -m change

Warn but still execute:

safer --action=warn --ee docker restart api

Agent Integration

Tell your coding agent that safer starts read-only and extra capabilities must be explicit.

Recommended defaults:

export SAFER_ACTION=block

Codex

Add this to your Codex instructions:

Run shell commands through safer when they may change files, dependencies,
databases, containers, clusters, cloud resources, git state, or remote services.

By default, use:
  safer <command> [args...]

Grant only the needed capability:
  safer --dw <command> [args...]  for data/workspace writes
  safer --dd <command> [args...]  for data deletion/removal
  safer --ee <command> [args...]  for temporary runtime/session operations
  safer --ep <command> [args...]  for persistent infrastructure/environment changes

If safer blocks a command, stop and ask me before retrying, rephrasing, or
attempting a different command with the same effect.

If you maintain a repository-specific AGENTS.md, put the instruction there so Codex sees it every time it works in the repo:

## Command Safety

Use `safer` for shell commands.

Grant only the minimum capability needed:

- `--dw` for data/workspace writes
- `--dd` for data deletion/removal
- `--ee` for temporary runtime/session operations
- `--ep` for persistent environment/infrastructure changes

When `safer` exits with status 2, stop and ask for approval.

Claude Code

Add this to your Claude Code project instructions, for example in CLAUDE.md:

## Command Safety

Run potentially risky shell commands through `safer`.

Default read-only:

```sh
safer <command> [args...]
```

Grant capabilities only when needed:

```sh
safer --dw <command> [args...]
safer --ee <command> [args...]
safer --ep <command> [args...]
```

If `safer` blocks a command, do not retry or bypass it. Ask for explicit approval.

Examples Claude Code can follow:

safer --dw git commit -m change
safer --ee kubectl port-forward svc/api 8080:80
safer --ep terraform apply
safer --dd psql -c 'DELETE FROM users WHERE id = 1'

Shell Aliases

Aliases are useful for humans, but agent tools may not load your interactive shell profile. Prefer explicit safer ... commands in agent instructions.

For interactive use:

alias sdw='safer --dw'
alias sdd='safer --dd'
alias see='safer --ee'
alias sep='safer --ep'

CLI

safer [flags] <command> [args...]

Capability flags:

      --data-write       allow non-destructive data/workspace/database writes
      --data-delete      allow data deletion/removal and destructive data actions
      --env-ephemeral    allow temporary runtime/session/environment operations
      --env-persistent   allow persistent environment/infrastructure changes
      --allow-unknown    allow unknown commands/subcommands

Short aliases:

      --dw   alias for --data-write
      --dd   alias for --data-delete
      --ee   alias for --env-ephemeral
      --ep   alias for --env-persistent

Other flags:

      --action string   alert action: block or warn
      --dry-run         inspect only; do not execute the command
  -h, --help            help for safer

Defaults:

• no capabilities: known read-only commands only
• --action=block

Capabilities

Default: read-only

No flag is needed. Known read-only commands pass. Data writes, data deletes, environment mutations, and unknown commands block.

--data-write

Allows non-destructive data/workspace/database writes.

Examples:

• SQL: INSERT, UPDATE, CREATE, MERGE, COPY
• Shell: cp, mv, mkdir, touch, tee
• Git: git add, git commit, non-destructive ref changes
• Packages: npm install, go mod tidy, cargo add
• Local files: terraform init, terraform fmt, terraform plan -out

--data-delete

Allows destructive data deletion/removal.

Examples:

• SQL: DELETE, DROP, TRUNCATE, ALTER, GRANT, REVOKE
• Shell: rm, rmdir, unlink, truncate, dd, mkfs
• Git: git reset --hard, git clean -f, git push --force
• Package removals: npm uninstall, apt remove, brew uninstall
• Shell patterns: curl | sh, find -delete, xargs rm

--env-ephemeral

Allows temporary runtime/session/environment operations.

Examples:

• Kubernetes: kubectl exec, kubectl debug, kubectl port-forward, kubectl proxy, kubectl rollout restart
• Containers: docker restart, docker compose up
• Services: systemctl restart, service restart

--env-persistent

Allows persistent environment/infrastructure changes.

Examples:

• Kubernetes: kubectl apply, kubectl patch, kubectl scale
• Helm: helm install, helm upgrade, helm rollback
• Infrastructure: terraform apply, pulumi up
• Cloud CLIs: create/update/start/stop style operations
• Remote repository state: git push, GitHub CLI mutations

--allow-unknown

Allows commands or subcommands that safer does not understand. Keep this off unless the command is project-specific and you know its behavior.

Configuration

safer can read defaults from the nearest .saferrc, walking from the current directory up to the filesystem root. CLI flags override environment variables, and environment variables override .saferrc.

Example .saferrc:

data_write=false
data_delete=false
env_ephemeral=false
env_persistent=false
allow_unknown=false
action=block

Supported keys:

• data_write
• data_delete
• env_ephemeral
• env_persistent
• allow_unknown
• action: block or warn

Environment variables:

SAFER_DATA_WRITE=true
SAFER_DATA_DELETE=true
SAFER_ENV_EPHEMERAL=true
SAFER_ENV_PERSISTENT=true
SAFER_ALLOW_UNKNOWN=true
SAFER_ACTION=block

Compatibility aliases:

• --readonly and --careful mean no capabilities.
• --nondestructive means --data-write --env-ephemeral --env-persistent.
• --care, --level, --mode, SAFER_CARE, SAFER_LEVEL, SAFER_MODE, and old .saferrc mode values are still accepted for compatibility.

Output

When a command is blocked, safer prints an alert and exits with status 2:

safer: command requires user attention (blocked)
capabilities: read-only
action: block
command: kubectl rollout restart deployment/api
findings:
- command [env-ephemeral]: kubectl rollout changes workload state (kubectl rollout restart)
instruction: bring this to the user's attention. Do not retry, rephrase, or bypass this command without explicit user approval.

With --action=warn, safer prints the same alert and then executes the command.

Supported Tools

safer has first-pass policies for:

• SQL clients: psql, mysql, mariadb, sqlite3
• Shells: bash, sh, zsh, fish
• Kubernetes and releases: kubectl, k, helm
• Containers: docker, docker-compose
• Version control and GitHub: git, gh
• Infrastructure: terraform, tofu, pulumi
• Package managers: npm, pnpm, yarn, bun, pip, pip3, uv, poetry, cargo, go, apt, apt-get, dnf, yum, brew
• Services and cloud CLIs: systemctl, service, aws, gcloud, az

It also inspects:

• Inline SQL flags such as psql -c, psql -f, and mysql -e
• SQLite SQL arguments and .read files
• Shell payloads passed to bash -c, bash -lc, sh -c, zsh -c, and script files
• Nested commands such as bash -lc "psql -c 'DELETE FROM users'"

Exit Codes

• 0: command passed inspection and completed successfully, or --dry-run passed
• 1: safer usage or validation error
• 2: command was blocked
• Any other code: exit code from the wrapped command

Development

Run tests:

go test ./...

Run the CLI locally:

go run . --help
go run . --dry-run --ee kubectl rollout restart deployment/api

Limitations

safer uses conservative heuristics. It cannot understand every shell construct, every tool-specific plugin, or every domain-specific command.

It also cannot help if the agent simply does not use it. Integrate it through agent instructions, repo instructions, wrapper scripts, or a shell environment that makes safer the normal path for environment-changing commands.

For strict isolation, use an actual sandbox, container, VM, restricted credentials, or read-only infrastructure permissions. safer is meant to make full-access AI workspaces safer by catching common risky commands early and making them explicit.