Preview. These maps are our reading of public sources and haven't been checked with the projects' maintainers yet.
Invariant Guardrails
Rule-based guardrail layer (Python-like rule language) deployed between an app and its LLM provider or MCP servers via the Invariant Gateway, to detect and block malicious or unsafe agent behaviour.
invariantlabs.ai/Acquired
Invariant Labs acquired by Snyk (announced on invariantlabs.ai); last substantive commit to invariantlabs-ai/invariant 2025-07-28, then a docs-move commit 2026-01-12; org quiet since 2026-02. (checked 2026-10-25)
In Agent guardrails
Where it stands apart
- Is it actively maintained? dormant, sunsetting, or archived (0% of 21 others)
- Do you need an account to use it? optional account (0% of 21 others)
- Which shared standard or format does it mainly build on? OpenAI- or Anthropic-compatible LLM API (base-URL proxy) (5% of 21 others)
- What is the main thing it protects? outside systems and data (APIs, databases, money, private records) (19% of 21 others)
What it shares with most of the community
- How is the main thing licensed? permissive open source (MIT/Apache/BSD) (67% of 21 others)
- How is it mainly sustained? company with a paid product, tier, or ads (50% of 20 others)
- Can it run entirely on your own device or infrastructure, without the maker's servers? yes (76% of 21 others)
- Who is it for? developers (90% of 21 others)
- What mainly decides whether an action is allowed? rules, policy, or boundaries written in advance (57% of 21 others)
- Which agents does it work with? any agent or process (not limited to a named list) (71% of 21 others)
- In the default setup, where does the agent's work actually execute? directly on the host machine, as usual (52% of 21 others)
- Does it control the agent's outbound network access? no (56% of 16 others)
- What is it mainly for? adding checkpoints, review, or evidence (52% of 21 others)
- Is enforcement kept out of the agent's reach? yes, enforced in code or infrastructure the agent cannot change (95% of 21 others)
Not documented
The public sources we read don't say:
- If the guard itself breaks, is missing, or cannot decide, what happens by default?
Nearest neighbors
- Conduct 81% of 16 shared answers match
- Noisegate 75% of 16 shared answers match
- Vultrino 75% of 16 shared answers match
Every answer
| Question | Answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Is it actively maintained? | stands apart dormant, sunsetting, or archived Acquired by Snyk; open repo essentially idle since mid-2025. | source 2026-10-25 |
| How is the main thing licensed? | permissive open source (MIT/Apache/BSD) Apache-2.0 | source 2026-10-25 |
| How is it mainly sustained? | company with a paid product, tier, or ads Now part of Snyk's commercial agent-security work. | source 2026-10-25 |
| Can it run entirely on your own device or infrastructure, without the maker's servers? | yes Library and gateway are self-hostable. | source 2026-10-25 |
| Do you need an account to use it? | stands apart optional account Guardrails library runs fully locally; the gateway defaults to the hosted Explorer with an API key but can run locally. | source 2026-10-26 |
| Who is it for? | developers | source 2026-10-25 |
| Which shared standard or format does it mainly build on? | stands apart OpenAI- or Anthropic-compatible LLM API (base-URL proxy) Gateway sits between the app and its LLM provider (also in front of MCP servers). | source 2026-10-26 |
| Where does it mainly step in? | at the tool-call, MCP, or API layer (proxy or gateway) | source 2026-10-25 |
| What mainly decides whether an action is allowed? | rules, policy, or boundaries written in advance Rules written in advance; some built-in checks call detectors/models. | source 2026-10-25 |
| If the guard itself breaks, is missing, or cannot decide, what happens by default? | Not documented | source 2026-10-25 |
| Which agents does it work with? | any agent or process (not limited to a named list) | source 2026-10-25 |
| In the default setup, where does the agent's work actually execute? | directly on the host machine, as usual | source 2026-10-25 |
| What is the main thing it protects? | stands apart outside systems and data (APIs, databases, money, private records) Aimed at tool misuse, data exfiltration and prompt injection across connected tools. | source 2026-10-25 |
| Does it keep a record of agent actions? | yes, ordinary logs or a timeline Traces viewable in Invariant Explorer. | source 2026-10-25 |
| Does it control the agent's outbound network access? | no | source 2026-10-25 |
| What is it mainly for? | adding checkpoints, review, or evidence | source 2026-10-25 |
| Is enforcement kept out of the agent's reach? | yes, enforced in code or infrastructure the agent cannot change | source 2026-10-25 |
Sources
This page was derived from:
- GitHub · github.com/invariantlabs-ai/invariant · read 2026-10-25
- Web page · invariantlabs.ai/ · read 2026-10-25
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