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