Skip to content

Per-tool execution boundary question: HELM AI Kernel + container-mcp #7

Description

@peycheff-com

container-mcp exposes a broad MCP toolbox inside a Podman container: bash shell, file operations, code execution, knowledgebase, and more. That multi-tool surface is exactly where per-tool execution policy matters — the risk level for a file read is different from a bash command that chains into code execution.

We're building HELM AI Kernel, a small OSS fail-closed execution boundary that can sit at that boundary: different policy per MCP tool type, signed receipts for every ALLOW/DENY/ESCALATE decision, and offline-verifiable EvidencePacks per session. Unknown MCP tools enter quarantine until schema and policy are approved.

The gap in a multi-tool MCP server: there's currently no independent signed record of which tools were called, what policy was in effect, and what was allowed vs. blocked. A single agent misdirection can chain shell + file write + code exec without any deterministic boundary between steps.

Would you be open to testing a local HELM policy against one multi-tool container-mcp scenario — e.g. shell + file writes + code execution in sequence — and filing feedback on what per-tool metadata HELM should understand?

Local demo (~5 min):

brew install mindburnlabs/tap/helm-ai-kernel
helm-ai-kernel serve --policy ./release.high_risk.v3.toml
helm-ai-kernel boundary status --json
helm-ai-kernel receipts tail --agent agent.demo.exec --server http://127.0.0.1:7714

One feedback question: Should policies in a multi-tool MCP server reference MCP tool names, underlying commands, declared capability tags, or all three?

Repo: https://github.com/Mindburn-Labs/helm-ai-kernel

Activity

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    No labels
    No labels

    Projects

    No projects

      Milestone

      No milestone

      Relationships

      None yet

      Development

      No branches or pull requests

      Issue actions