Transient Trace

Trace

The OS-layer enforcement engine. Intercepts, evaluates, and receipts every agent action.

Governance modes

Set with --mode:

audit

default

Intercepts and records all actions. Nothing is blocked. Use this to understand agent behaviour before enforcing.

strict

Blocks any action that violates policy. The agent receives a denial at the process level.

permissive

Logs actions but never blocks. Useful for noisy environments where you want visibility without interference.

Pre-built policy sets aligned to OWASP agent security categories. Pass with --packages:

Package	Covers
`filesystem`	File reads, writes, deletes outside working directory
`shell`	Arbitrary shell execution, script runners
`code-deployment`	git push, CI triggers, registry publish
`privilege`	sudo, su, chmod, chown
`network`	curl, wget, DNS, outbound HTTP
`messaging`	Email, Slack, webhook calls

Combine packages: --packages filesystem,shell,network

Every intercepted action is classified before policy evaluation:

read

File reads, directory listings

write_low

Low-risk writes (temp files, logs)

write_high

Writes to sensitive paths, config files

delete

File or directory deletion

network

Any outbound network call

Trace protects its own governance layer. Agents cannot uninstall shims or modify the receipt store during an active session.