vestige

Overview of vestige

What it is

Vestige is a local, deterministic safety kernel for AI agents. It provides a memory system (Strata) that is an append-only log where every write passes a gate and leaves a receipt. Memory is found by exact id or tag, not by vector similarity. A guard runs outside the model on every tool call, stops destructive commands before they run, keeps a receipt of every decision, and lets a stopped command through only after the owner approves that exact command from their own terminal. The causal_walk function follows recorded history back to the real cause.

Key features

• Memory in Strata: append-only log, every write passes a gate and leaves a receipt.
• Guard runs outside the model, stops destructive commands (e.g., rm -rf, force-push, drop tables) before execution.
• Memory retrieval by exact id or tag, no vector similarity.
• causal_walk traces the recorded history to find the cause of an issue.
• 18 MCP tools, no embedding runtime; includes precedent and gather.
• Operator Lite: free gate with 30 deterministic rules (15 STOP, 15 SHADOW). Operator (paid) adds more rules and features.
• Supports multiple MCP clients: Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, OpenCode, Xcode, JetBrains, Windsurf.

Use cases

• Preventing AI agents from executing destructive commands like rm -rf, force-push, DROP TABLE, overwriting .env files.
• Auditing agent actions through the append-only log and receipts.
• Debugging agent failures by tracing back to the real cause with causal_walk.
• Enforcing safety policies in development environments where agents have tool access.

Getting started

Install the whole system with one command: bash npx @vestige/init To install Operator Lite alone on macOS/Linux: bash curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/samvallad33/vestige/main/operator-lite/operator-gate.py -o /tmp/operator-gate.py && python3 /tmp/operator-gate.py install On Windows (PowerShell): powershell curl.exe -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/samvallad33/vestige/main/operator-lite/operator-gate.py -o $env:TEMP/operator-gate.py; python $env:TEMP/operator-gate.py install

License and pricing

The project is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Operator Lite is free. Vestige Operator is a paid version at $149 once, which includes additional rules and features.

Based on the project's public README and repository metadata.