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name: setup description: Set up and verify AgentGuards in Codex. Use when the user asks to configure AgentGuards, set their API key, or check that the guardrails are wired up correctly.

AgentGuards setup

Guide the user through finishing AgentGuards setup after installing the plugin. The plugin already bundles the enforcing hooks — the only thing the user must supply is their API key.

Steps

1. Check for the API key. The hooks use the first of: the AGENTGUARDS_API_KEY environment variable, ~/.codex/agentguards_token, then ~/.agentguards/credentials.json. If none holds a key starting with ag_, the easiest fix is the AgentGuards CLI: agentguards login signs in through the browser and saves the key where the hooks read it (install the CLI from https://agentguards.co if it isn't there). Otherwise, tell the user to:

   • Get a key from the dashboard at https://agentguards.co/dashboard/keys

   • Export it so the hooks can read it. For the current shell and future sessions, add to their shell profile (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, etc.):

     export AGENTGUARDS_API_KEY=ag_your_token_here
     

   • Restart Codex (or start a new session) so the hooks pick up the key.

2. Confirm the URL (optional). AgentGuards defaults to https://prod.agentguards.co. Only set AGENTGUARDS_URL if the user runs a self-hosted instance.

3. Fail-open vs fail-closed. The hooks fail closed by default — if the AgentGuards service is unreachable, actions are blocked. A user who prefers availability over strict enforcement can set AGENTGUARDS_FAIL_OPEN=true. Mention this only if they ask or report unexpected blocks.

4. Verify. Run the checks in the status skill yourself: they prove the key is accepted (HTTP 200), not just present. If it fails, the most common cause is AGENTGUARDS_API_KEY not being exported in the environment Codex was launched from.

5. Summarize what is now active: prompt screening, shell-command authorization (with Codex's approval prompt for anything borderline), scanning of content fetched by shell commands, and security scanning of apply_patch edits.