npm package: @sisu-ai/mw-guardrails
Description: Enforce safety and policy constraints early to block unsafe or out-of-scope requests.
Latest version: 12.0.0

# @sisu-ai/mw-guardrails

Enforce safety and policy constraints early to block unsafe or out-of-scope requests.

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## Setup
```bash
npm i @sisu-ai/mw-guardrails
```

## Exports
- `withGuardrails(policy: (text: string) => Promise<string | null>)`
  - Called early in your stack; reads `ctx.input` only.
  - If violation: pushes `{ role: 'assistant', content: <string> }` and short-circuits.

## What It Does
- Runs a fast, user-defined policy over `ctx.input` before calling the model.
- If the policy flags a violation, it pushes a friendly assistant message and stops the pipeline.
- Keeps your app responsive and predictable without depending on provider moderation.

## How It Works
`withGuardrails(policy)` returns middleware that evaluates your policy.

The `policy` function should return:
- `null` when the input is allowed,
- a string with the assistant message to send when blocked (e.g., guidance or a refusal).

## Usage
```ts
import { withGuardrails } from '@sisu-ai/mw-guardrails';

const policy = async (text: string) =>
  /password|apikey|access\s*token/i.test(text)
    ? "I can’t help with that. Please remove secrets from your request."
    : null;

const app = new Agent()
  .use(withGuardrails(policy)) // place before inputToMessage
  // .use(inputToMessage)
  // ... other middleware
```

### Placement & Ordering
- Put guardrails before `inputToMessage` (or any message-appenders) so it evaluates the raw `ctx.input`.
- Combine with an error boundary for robustness; guardrails are for policy, not exception handling.

## When To Use
- You want deterministic, low-latency checks on user input (e.g., secrets, PII, profanity, prompt injection keywords).
- You need policy to run regardless of provider capabilities or outages.

## When Not To Use
- You must scan the entire `ctx.messages` history (this middleware only reads `ctx.input`).
- You need semantic classification or nuanced moderation — use a model-backed moderation step or a specialized middleware.
- Inputs are non-text (images/files) — you’ll need a different policy mechanism.

## Notes & Gotchas
- Internationalization: simple regex checks may miss non-English variants; consider locale-aware policies if needed.
- Empty input: `ctx.input ?? ''` is passed; decide whether empty input should be allowed or rejected in your policy.
- Streaming: this middleware does not stream; if it blocks, it sets a final assistant message immediately.
- Logging: Be careful not to log sensitive content; consider `createRedactingLogger` from `@sisu-ai/core`.

# Community & Support

Discover what you can do through examples or documentation. Check it out at https://github.com/finger-gun/sisu. Example projects live under [`examples/`](https://github.com/finger-gun/sisu/tree/main/examples) in the repo.

- [Code of Conduct](https://github.com/finger-gun/sisu/blob/main/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md)
- [Contributing Guide](https://github.com/finger-gun/sisu/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md)
- [License](https://github.com/finger-gun/sisu/blob/main/LICENSE)
- [Report a Bug](https://github.com/finger-gun/sisu/issues/new?template=bug_report.md)
- [Request a Feature](https://github.com/finger-gun/sisu/issues/new?template=feature_request.md)

---

## Documentation

**Core** — [Package docs](packages/core/README.md) · [Error types](packages/core/ERROR_TYPES.md)

**Adapters** — [OpenAI](packages/adapters/openai/README.md) · [Anthropic](packages/adapters/anthropic/README.md) · [Ollama](packages/adapters/ollama/README.md)

<details>
<summary>All middleware packages</summary>

- [@sisu-ai/mw-agent-run-api](packages/middleware/agent-run-api/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/mw-context-compressor](packages/middleware/context-compressor/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/mw-control-flow](packages/middleware/control-flow/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/mw-conversation-buffer](packages/middleware/conversation-buffer/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/mw-cors](packages/middleware/cors/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/mw-error-boundary](packages/middleware/error-boundary/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/mw-guardrails](packages/middleware/guardrails/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/mw-invariants](packages/middleware/invariants/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/mw-orchestration](packages/middleware/orchestration/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/mw-rag](packages/middleware/rag/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/mw-react-parser](packages/middleware/react-parser/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/mw-register-tools](packages/middleware/register-tools/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/mw-tool-calling](packages/middleware/tool-calling/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/mw-trace-viewer](packages/middleware/trace-viewer/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/mw-usage-tracker](packages/middleware/usage-tracker/README.md)
</details>

<details>
<summary>All tool packages</summary>

- [@sisu-ai/tool-aws-s3](packages/tools/aws-s3/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/tool-azure-blob](packages/tools/azure-blob/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/tool-extract-urls](packages/tools/extract-urls/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/tool-github-projects](packages/tools/github-projects/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/tool-rag](packages/tools/rag/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/tool-summarize-text](packages/tools/summarize-text/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/tool-terminal](packages/tools/terminal/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/tool-web-fetch](packages/tools/web-fetch/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/tool-web-search-duckduckgo](packages/tools/web-search-duckduckgo/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/tool-web-search-google](packages/tools/web-search-google/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/tool-web-search-openai](packages/tools/web-search-openai/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/tool-wikipedia](packages/tools/wikipedia/README.md)
</details>

<details>
<summary>All RAG packages</summary>

- [@sisu-ai/rag-core](packages/rag/core/README.md)
</details>

<details>
<summary>All vector packages</summary>

- [@sisu-ai/vector-core](packages/vector/core/README.md)
- [@sisu-ai/vector-chroma](packages/vector/chroma/README.md)
</details>

<details>
<summary>All examples</summary>

**Anthropic** — [hello](examples/anthropic-hello/README.md) · [control-flow](examples/anthropic-control-flow/README.md) · [stream](examples/anthropic-stream/README.md) · [weather](examples/anthropic-weather/README.md)

**Ollama** — [hello](examples/ollama-hello/README.md) · [stream](examples/ollama-stream/README.md) · [vision](examples/ollama-vision/README.md) · [weather](examples/ollama-weather/README.md) · [web-search](examples/ollama-web-search/README.md)

**OpenAI** — [hello](examples/openai-hello/README.md) · [weather](examples/openai-weather/README.md) · [stream](examples/openai-stream/README.md) · [vision](examples/openai-vision/README.md) · [reasoning](examples/openai-reasoning/README.md) · [react](examples/openai-react/README.md) · [control-flow](examples/openai-control-flow/README.md) · [branch](examples/openai-branch/README.md) · [parallel](examples/openai-parallel/README.md) · [graph](examples/openai-graph/README.md) · [orchestration](examples/openai-orchestration/README.md) · [orchestration-adaptive](examples/openai-orchestration-adaptive/README.md) · [guardrails](examples/openai-guardrails/README.md) · [error-handling](examples/openai-error-handling/README.md) · [rag-chroma](examples/openai-rag-chroma/README.md) · [web-search](examples/openai-web-search/README.md) · [web-fetch](examples/openai-web-fetch/README.md) · [wikipedia](examples/openai-wikipedia/README.md) · [terminal](examples/openai-terminal/README.md) · [github-projects](examples/openai-github-projects/README.md) · [server](examples/openai-server/README.md) · [aws-s3](examples/openai-aws-s3/README.md) · [azure-blob](examples/openai-azure-blob/README.md)
</details>

---

## Contributing

We build Sisu in the open. Contributions welcome.

[Contributing Guide](CONTRIBUTING.md) · [Report a Bug](https://github.com/finger-gun/sisu/issues/new?template=bug_report.md) · [Request a Feature](https://github.com/finger-gun/sisu/issues/new?template=feature_request.md) · [Code of Conduct](CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md)

---

<div align="center">

**[Star on GitHub](https://github.com/finger-gun/sisu)** if Sisu helps you build better agents.

*Quiet, determined, relentlessly useful.*

[Apache 2.0 License](LICENSE)

</div>