AI Developer Tools

Termaxa

A cooperative gate for shell commands that AI agents run, providing previews, backups, policy enforcement, and audit for tools like Claude Code and Cursor.

What is Termaxa?

Termaxa is an open-source CLI tool and agent hook that gates shell commands executed by AI coding agents. It evaluates commands against a policy, shows blast radius previews, creates automatic backups before destructive operations, and maintains a full audit log. It works cooperatively with Claude Code and Cursor, acting as a windshield rather than a sandbox.

Termaxa vs Similar AI Tools

Pricing ModelFreeFreeCustom PricingFree, Paid
Free Credits
Key Features
  • Policy-based command gating (allow/ask/deny) with first-match-wins rules
  • Blast radius preview for git, PostgreSQL, Terraform, and file operations
  • Automatic backups before destructive operations (git ref pinning, pg_dump, rm insurance)
  • GitHub Pages hosting
  • Jekyll integration
  • Markdown content support
  • Workload monitoring and anomaly detection
  • Slow query identification and optimization
  • Natural language querying to SQL translation
  • Scans skills and MCP servers against ATR rules before loading
  • Real-time runtime protection against prompt injection and hijacks
  • Signed audit-ready evidence for compliance (EU AI Act, NYDFS, DORA)
Pros
  • Provides command previews before execution
  • Automatic backups for destructive operations
  • Free hosting with custom domain support
  • Easy setup via Git
  • Quick one-line installation and setup in 15 minutes
  • Self-hosted ensures data stays within your infrastructure
  • Open source with MIT license
  • Real-time detection and prevention
Cons
  • Hooks are cooperative, not enforced (agent can bypass)
  • Native agent tools (e.g., file editing) are not gated
  • Limited to static content
  • No server-side processing
  • Requires self-hosting and VPC setup
  • No free tier or trial mentioned
  • Enterprise features require paid tiers
  • Setup may require technical expertise
Best For
  • Developers using AI coding agents like Claude Code or Cursor
  • Teams needing visibility and control over agent-issued shell commands
  • Developers
  • Open source projects
  • Database administrators
  • Data engineers
  • Developers building and deploying AI agents
  • Enterprises needing audit-ready AI security

How to use Termaxa?

  1. 1Install the binary (prebuilt release or cargo install termaxa).
  2. 2Run 'termaxa init --claude-code' in your project to scaffold policy and install the hook.
  3. 3Define rules in .termaxa/policy.yaml.
  4. 4Use 'termaxa check "command"' to dry-run and see verdict.
  5. 5Run 'termaxa run -- command' for gated execution with preview and backup.
  6. 6Review session audit with 'termaxa report'.

Termaxa Key Features

  • Policy-based command gating (allow/ask/deny) with first-match-wins rules
  • Blast radius preview for git, PostgreSQL, Terraform, and file operations
  • Automatic backups before destructive operations (git ref pinning, pg_dump, rm insurance)
  • Circuit breaker that auto-denies repeated destructive intent across different commands
  • Full audit log stored in JSONL format outside the repo
  • Session execution reports with command summary and risk score
  • Webhook notification on deny or ask events
  • Works as a standalone CLI or integrated hook for Claude Code and Cursor

Termaxa Use Cases

  • Safely run AI coding agents on production repositories with automatic rollback
  • Prevent accidental destructive database operations like DROP TABLE
  • Review and approve force pushes with commit loss preview
  • Block malicious or unintended rm -rf commands with circuit breaker
  • Audit all shell commands executed by AI agents for compliance

Termaxa Pricing & Free Credits

Termaxa currently operates on a Free model.

This tool is completely free to use

Open Source

Free

MIT or Apache 2.0 licensed, prebuilt binaries available for free.

Termaxa Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Provides command previews before execution
  • Automatic backups for destructive operations
  • Circuit breaker prevents repeated dangerous commands
  • Customizable policy via YAML
  • Works with Claude Code and Cursor out of the box
  • Audit logs are stored safely outside the repository

Cons

  • Hooks are cooperative, not enforced (agent can bypass)
  • Native agent tools (e.g., file editing) are not gated
  • Shell parsing is not perfect for complex commands
  • Backups have no retention or pruning yet
  • Pre-1.0, schema and CLI may change between minor versions

What is Termaxa best for?

  • Developers using AI coding agents like Claude Code or Cursor
  • Teams needing visibility and control over agent-issued shell commands
  • Users managing critical git repositories, databases, or infrastructure via AI agents

Termaxa FAQ

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