soul-guardian 👻#

Protects your agent's core files (SOUL.md, AGENTS.md, etc.) from unauthorized changes with automatic detection, restoration, and user alerting.

Vercel Skills Installation#

Install with the Vercel Skills CLI for this harness:

bash

npx skills add prompt-security/clawsec --skill soul-guardian -a openclaw -y

Operational Notes#

• Required runtime: python3
• Optional runtime: openclaw for cron integration, launchctl for macOS scheduling, bash for the demo helper
• Side effects: can auto-restore protected files to their approved baseline and writes audit/quarantine state locally
• Network behavior: none by default
• Trust model: any scheduling is opt-in, but restore mode intentionally overwrites drifted files

Release Artifact Verification#

For standalone installs, verify the signed release manifest before trusting SKILL.md, skill.json, or the archive. The skill.json file is the package metadata/SBOM source, and the release pipeline signs checksums.json with the ClawSec release key.

bash

set -euo pipefail

SKILL_NAME="soul-guardian"
VERSION="0.0.9"
REPO="prompt-security/clawsec"
TAG="${SKILL_NAME}-v${VERSION}"
BASE="https://github.com/${REPO}/releases/download/${TAG}"
ZIP_NAME="${SKILL_NAME}-v${VERSION}.zip"
TMP_DIR="$(mktemp -d)"
trap 'rm -rf "$TMP_DIR"' EXIT

RELEASE_PUBKEY_SHA256="711424e4535f84093fefb024cd1ca4ec87439e53907b305b79a631d5befba9c8"

curl -fsSL "$BASE/checksums.json" -o "$TMP_DIR/checksums.json"
curl -fsSL "$BASE/checksums.sig" -o "$TMP_DIR/checksums.sig"
curl -fsSL "$BASE/signing-public.pem" -o "$TMP_DIR/signing-public.pem"
curl -fsSL "$BASE/$ZIP_NAME" -o "$TMP_DIR/$ZIP_NAME"
curl -fsSL "$BASE/SKILL.md" -o "$TMP_DIR/SKILL.md"
curl -fsSL "$BASE/skill.json" -o "$TMP_DIR/skill.json"

ACTUAL_PUBKEY_SHA256="$(openssl pkey -pubin -in "$TMP_DIR/signing-public.pem" -outform DER | shasum -a 256 | awk '{print $1}')"
if [ "$ACTUAL_PUBKEY_SHA256" != "$RELEASE_PUBKEY_SHA256" ]; then
  echo "ERROR: signing-public.pem fingerprint mismatch" >&2
  exit 1
fi

openssl base64 -d -A -in "$TMP_DIR/checksums.sig" -out "$TMP_DIR/checksums.sig.bin"
openssl pkeyutl -verify -rawin -pubin \
  -inkey "$TMP_DIR/signing-public.pem" \
  -sigfile "$TMP_DIR/checksums.sig.bin" \
  -in "$TMP_DIR/checksums.json" >/dev/null

hash_file() {
  if command -v shasum >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    shasum -a 256 "$1" | awk '{print $1}'
  else
    sha256sum "$1" | awk '{print $1}'
  fi
}

verify_manifest_file() {
  asset="$1"
  path="$2"
  expected="$(jq -r --arg asset "$asset" '.files[$asset].sha256 // empty' "$TMP_DIR/checksums.json")"
  if [ -z "$expected" ]; then
    echo "ERROR: checksums.json missing $asset" >&2
    exit 1
  fi
  actual="$(hash_file "$path")"
  if [ "$actual" != "$expected" ]; then
    echo "ERROR: checksum mismatch for $asset" >&2
    exit 1
  fi
}

expected_archive="$(jq -r '.archive.sha256 // empty' "$TMP_DIR/checksums.json")"
if [ -z "$expected_archive" ]; then
  echo "ERROR: checksums.json missing archive.sha256" >&2
  exit 1
fi
actual_archive="$(hash_file "$TMP_DIR/$ZIP_NAME")"
if [ "$actual_archive" != "$expected_archive" ]; then
  echo "ERROR: archive checksum mismatch" >&2
  exit 1
fi

verify_manifest_file "SKILL.md" "$TMP_DIR/SKILL.md"
verify_manifest_file "skill.json" "$TMP_DIR/skill.json"

echo "Signed release manifest, archive, SKILL.md, and skill.json verified."

Only install or extract the archive after this verification succeeds.

Quick Start (3 Steps)#

Step 1: Initialize baselines#

bash

cd ~/.openclaw/workspace
python3 skills/soul-guardian/scripts/soul_guardian.py init --actor setup --note "initial baseline"

Step 2: Enable monitoring#

bash

python3 skills/soul-guardian/scripts/soul_guardian.py enable-monitoring

This shows you how to add monitoring to your workflow.

Step 3: Add to HEARTBEAT.md (Recommended)#

Add this to your HEARTBEAT.md for automatic monitoring:

markdown

## Soul Guardian Check
- Run `python3 skills/soul-guardian/scripts/soul_guardian.py check --actor heartbeat --output-format alert`
- If any output is produced, relay it to the user immediately as a security alert

That's it! Soul Guardian will now:

• ✅ Detect unauthorized changes to protected files
• ✅ Auto-restore SOUL.md and AGENTS.md to approved baseline
• ✅ Alert you when drift is detected and handled

---

What it protects (default policy)#

FileModeAction on driftSOUL.mdrestoreAuto-restore + alertAGENTS.mdrestoreAuto-restore + alertUSER.mdalertAlert onlyTOOLS.mdalertAlert onlyIDENTITY.mdalertAlert onlyHEARTBEAT.mdalertAlert onlyMEMORY.mdalertAlert onlymemory/*.mdignoreIgnored

Commands#

Check for drift (with alert output)#

bash

python3 skills/soul-guardian/scripts/soul_guardian.py check --output-format alert

• Silent if no drift
• Outputs human-readable alert if drift detected
• Perfect for heartbeat integration

Watch mode (continuous monitoring)#

bash

python3 skills/soul-guardian/scripts/soul_guardian.py watch --interval 30

Runs continuously, checking every 30 seconds.

Approve intentional changes#

bash

python3 skills/soul-guardian/scripts/soul_guardian.py approve --file SOUL.md --actor user --note "intentional update"

View status#

bash

python3 skills/soul-guardian/scripts/soul_guardian.py status

Verify audit log integrity#

bash

python3 skills/soul-guardian/scripts/soul_guardian.py verify-audit

---

Alert Format#

When drift is detected, the --output-format alert produces output like:

text

==================================================
🚨 SOUL GUARDIAN SECURITY ALERT
==================================================

📄 FILE: SOUL.md
   Mode: restore
   Status: ✅ RESTORED to approved baseline
   Expected hash: abc123def456...
   Found hash:    789xyz000111...
   Diff saved: /path/to/patches/drift.patch

==================================================
Review changes and investigate the source of drift.
If intentional, run: soul_guardian.py approve --file <path>
==================================================

This output is designed to be relayed directly to the user in TUI/chat.

---

Security Model#

What it does:

• Detects filesystem drift vs approved baseline (sha256)
• Produces unified diffs for review
• Maintains tamper-evident audit log with hash chaining
• Refuses to operate on symlinks
• Uses atomic writes for restores

What it doesn't do:

• Cannot prove WHO made a change (actor is best-effort metadata)
• Cannot protect if attacker controls both workspace AND state directory
• Is not a substitute for backups

Recommendation: Store state directory outside workspace for better resilience.

---

Demo#

Run the full demo flow to see soul-guardian in action:

bash

bash skills/soul-guardian/scripts/demo.sh

This will:

1. Verify clean state (silent check)
2. Inject malicious content into SOUL.md
3. Run heartbeat check (produces alert)
4. Show SOUL.md was restored

---

Troubleshooting#

"Not initialized" error: Run init first to set up baselines.

Drift keeps happening: Check what's modifying your files. Review the audit log and patches.

Want to approve a change: Run approve --file <path> after reviewing the change.