Rules of the Claw: Open Source Security Rule Set for OpenClaw Agents

Production Security Rule Set for OpenClaw Agents

Rules of the Claw is a JSON rule set that acts as a hard deny layer on top of agent tool calls in OpenClaw. It addresses the security risk of agents with broad tool access being vulnerable to bad skill installations or prompt injections that could cause real damage.

Key Security Features

• Blocks destructive executions including rm -rf on workspace/config directories, pipe-to-shell operations, and curl to unknown executables
• Protects credential files from reads and writes: openclaw.json, auth-profiles.json, and files in .secrets/ directory
• Guards instruction files (SOUL.md, AGENTS.md) from unauthorized agent edits
• Denylists network reconnaissance tools including nmap, masscan, and netcat
• Blocks agent reads of other agents' auth profiles

Technical Implementation

The rule set contains 139 total rules with three preset configurations: minimal, standard, and strict. It ships with a JSON schema, validation scripts, and a one-command install skill. The key design decision is zero LLM dependency - rules execute at the tool layer via regex patterns, providing microsecond latency. Unlike LLM-based guardrails, regex patterns cannot be socially engineered or prompt-injected.

Availability and Licensing

The project is available at github.com/Bahuleyandr/rules-of-the-claw and is MIT licensed. The creator welcomes pull requests for new rule patterns.