guardrails

Show the current guardrails status and provide mode controls.

Mode config file

Modes are persisted to guardrails-mode.json in the project root (CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR). Read this file at the start of any command to determine the current mode. Write to it when mode changes. This file survives context resets and new sessions.

Schema:

{
  "mode": "full-gate",
  "audit_only": false,
  "token_cap": null,
  "set_at": "<ISO 8601 timestamp>",
  "set_by": "user"
}

Valid mode values: "full-gate" (default), "strict", "relaxed". audit_only: true overrides tier controls — T2/T3 auto-proceed with logging, T4 halts without executing. token_cap: integer or null. When set to an integer, actions whose estimated payload exceeds this token count pause for approval (T3 gate). When null or absent, the token cap is inactive.

Commands

If the user typed /guardrails with no argument or /guardrails status:

• Read guardrails-mode.json (if it exists) to get persisted mode; otherwise assume full-gate
• Show the current guardrails mode (full-gate, strict, relaxed, audit-only)
• Show tier distribution for this session (how many T2, T3, T4 actions gated)
• Show approval/denial counts
• Show whether any pre-approved patterns are active
• Show token cap setting: if token_cap is set in the config, show "Token cap: tokens"; otherwise "Token cap: not set"

If the user typed /guardrails log:

• Read and display the last 20 entries from guardrails_log.md in the project root
• If no log exists, say "No guardrails log found. The log is created on the first gated action."

If the user typed /guardrails strict:

• Write {"mode": "strict", "audit_only": false, "set_at": "<now ISO 8601>", "set_by": "user"} to guardrails-mode.json in the project root
• Confirm: "🛡️ Strict mode saved. All tiers escalated by +1. Persists across sessions until changed."

If the user typed /guardrails relaxed:

• Write {"mode": "relaxed", "audit_only": false, "set_at": "<now ISO 8601>", "set_by": "user"} to guardrails-mode.json in the project root
• Confirm: "🛡️ Relaxed mode saved. Tier 2 actions will skip the gate. Persists across sessions until changed."