Getting Started

What is Guardian?

Guardian helps small engineering teams control AI-generated code before it ships. It is a desktop + CLI governance layer focused on risky AI-assisted changes and release decisions.

Guardian is not:

• A generic AI coding assistant
• A generic code review tool
• A generic security scanner

Guardian is the release control layer for AI-heavy code change workflows.

Core Product Workflow

• AI-Generated Code Intake: Detect and isolate AI-assisted or unusually large/refactor changes for stricter handling.
• Policy Enforcement: Apply team architecture, security, and quality policies automatically.
• Human Approval Workflow: Require accountable approval, override owner, and reason when risk is high.
• Release Decision Surface: Answer the final release question with evidence: can this code ship now, and why?

Who is it for?

Guardian is designed for teams that need release confidence on AI-assisted code:

How it works

Guardian follows a four-step release governance cycle:

┌─────────────┐     ┌──────────────┐     ┌──────────────┐     ┌─────────────┐
│   INTAKE    │────▶│   ENFORCE    │────▶│   APPROVE    │────▶│   DECIDE    │
│ AI-heavy PR │     │ Team Policy  │     │ Human Gate   │     │ Ship/Block  │
└─────────────┘     └──────────────┘     └──────────────┘     └─────────────┘

1. Intake: Guardian identifies risky AI-assisted or unusually large changes.
2. Enforce: Team policies are evaluated across architecture, security, and quality rules.
3. Approve: Human reviewers validate fixes and document approval or override reasons.
4. Decide: A release readiness signal is generated with explainable evidence.

First 10 Minutes

Here's what you should do in your first session:

1. Install the Application

Download the installer from the Download page. macOS builds are available now; Windows and Linux appear when published.

2. Configure Provider Settings

Navigate to Settings > Provider and configure your AI provider credentials. Guardian supports both cloud and local models.

3. Start Monitoring Your Workspace

Click the Scope field (or drag and drop a folder onto the app) to select your workspace, then choose Launch Guardian to start monitoring.

4. Review Findings as a Release Decision

Once the scan completes:

• Focus first on AI-heavy and architecture-sensitive changes
• Use Guru to understand why each risky change matters
• Apply policy-aligned fixes and record decision context for your release flow

Application Layout

The Guardian interface consists of four main areas:

Next Steps

• Installation Guide - Detailed setup instructions
• Guru - Explain risky findings and generate fix proposals
• Reviews & Fix Proposals - Manage approvals and controlled apply flow
• Configuration - Configure policies, scan scope, and guardian.lock
• Security - Understand the local-first security model