runtime-sentinel#

A runtime security skill for OpenClaw. Defends against the threat landscape exposed by ClawHavoc: backdoored skills, prompt injection via external data, credential exfiltration, and process-level abuse.

Free tier: skill integrity checks, basic injection scanning.

Premium (x402/USDC/Base): continuous daemon monitoring, network egress monitoring, process anomaly detection, full audit log.

---

Quick start#

text

# One-shot audit of all installed skills (free)
sentinel audit

# Continuous guardian daemon (premium — will prompt for x402 payment)
sentinel daemon start

# Scan a single skill before installing
sentinel check <skill-path-or-clawhub-id>

---

What runtime-sentinel defends against#

See references/threat-model.md for the full threat matrix. In brief:

ThreatFeatureTierTampered skill files post-installIntegrity hashingFreePrompt injection via email/web/skill outputInjection scannerFreePlaintext secrets in skill dirs / SOUL.mdCredential auditorFreeUnexpected outbound connectionsEgress monitorPremiumShell commands outside declared behaviorProcess anomalyPremiumContinuous real-time protectionDaemon modePremium

---

Workflow#

1 — First-time setup#

bash

# Install the binary (built from scripts/src/)
cargo install --path scripts/ --bin sentinel

# Verify installation and print wallet address
sentinel setup

sentinel setup will:

• Generate or import a Base wallet (BIP-39, stored in ~/.sentinel/wallet)
• Print the wallet address so the user can fund it with USDC for premium
• Run a free baseline audit and print results

2 — On-demand audit (free)#

When the user says anything like "scan my skills", "audit", "check for threats":

bash

sentinel audit [--path ~/.openclaw/skills]

Output: a structured report of hash mismatches, injection patterns, and exposed credentials. No payment required.

3 — Single skill check before install (free)#

When the user wants to vet a skill before running clawhub install:

bash

sentinel check <skill-directory-or-clawhub-id>

Prints a risk score (LOW / MEDIUM / HIGH / CRITICAL) with findings.

4 — Premium features via x402#

When the user asks for daemon mode, egress monitoring, or process anomaly detection, sentinel will automatically:

1. Hit the sentinel API endpoint
2. Receive a 402 Payment Required with price in the X-Payment-Request header (typically $0.01–$0.05/day for daemon mode)
3. Sign the USDC transfer from ~/.sentinel/wallet
4. Retry the request — access granted for the paid period

The user will see the price before their wallet signs anything. All non-custodial. See references/x402-payment.md for the full payment flow.

5 — Daemon mode (premium)#

bash

sentinel daemon start    # runs in foreground, writes to ~/.sentinel/daemon.log
# Run in background from your shell if needed:
#   sentinel daemon start > ~/.sentinel/daemon.log 2>&1 &
#   disown
sentinel daemon status
sentinel daemon stop
sentinel daemon logs     # tail the audit log

The daemon watches:

• ~/.openclaw/skills/** for file mutations (inotify / FSEvents)
• ~/.openclaw/SOUL.md and MEMORY.md for unauthorized writes
• Network connections made by skill subprocesses
• Child process trees for undeclared shell commands

Alerts are delivered via OpenClaw's notification system and written to the audit log.

---

Interpreting results#

Risk levels#

• LOW: No findings, or informational only (e.g. skill requests network but declares it)
• MEDIUM: Undeclared permission, suspicious pattern, or stale hash
• HIGH: Known malicious pattern, credential exposure, or undeclared egress
• CRITICAL: Active exfiltration attempt, reverse shell indicator, or SOUL.md mutation

What to do on HIGH / CRITICAL#

1. sentinel isolate <skill-name> — quarantines the skill (moves it out of the active skills directory)
2. Review the finding in ~/.sentinel/audit.log
3. Check the skill's ClawHub VirusTotal report
4. If confirmed malicious, clawhub uninstall <skill> and report via sentinel report <skill-name>

---

Reference files#

Read these when you need deeper detail:

• references/threat-model.md — Full threat matrix and attack descriptions from ClawHavoc and similar campaigns
• references/x402-payment.md — x402 payment flow, wallet setup, and troubleshooting
• references/binary-build.md — How to build sentinel from source, cross- compilation targets, CI/CD

---

Wallet setup for premium features#

bash

sentinel wallet show      # print address and USDC balance
sentinel wallet fund      # print QR code and address to send USDC
sentinel wallet export    # export mnemonic for backup (handle carefully)
sentinel wallet recover   # restore from mnemonic on a new machine

Minimum recommended balance for uninterrupted daemon mode: $1 USDC (roughly 20–100 days of coverage depending on scan frequency).

---

Privacy#

sentinel is fully local. No skill content, file paths, or scan results are sent to any server. The only outbound calls are:

1. x402 payment verification to the Base facilitator (amount + wallet address only)
2. Optional: VirusTotal hash lookups (hash only, no file content)

Both can be disabled with --offline for air-gapped environments (free tier only in offline mode).