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Emu

Emu is the on-device guardian. It watches every AI interaction from your desktop, running the same governance as the Trinitite platform, beside you instead of in a data center. Think of it as a sidekick that guards the AI you already use.

Status: Stable · GA Companion docs: What Emu does · Modes · Privacy · The Aviary · Plans · Get started Siblings: the Warden commands Emu across a fleet. The SDK wraps the same governance in two lines of code.

A sidekick that guards the AI you already use

Today's AI apps do not just answer questions. They can read your files, run commands, push code, and talk to other services. Most of the time that is great. An AI that can act can also act wrongly: delete the wrong file, push over a teammate's branch, run a command that leaks a secret, or send a password to a third-party server.

Emu is a desktop app you install once. After that, it sits between your AI apps and the internet and watches what they do. It runs on your computer, not in a data center. Your prompts stay on your machine. The only thing that leaves is a tiny "I'm still alive" ping every 60 seconds that carries no prompt content.

The five jobs

Emu does five things for you, all on this device:

Watches and scores
Every AI action, read and scored
A chat turn in ChatGPT, a tool call in Cursor, a command in Claude Code, a request to an MCP server. Emu reads it, scores it 0 to 100 for risk, and records a short reason.
Holds destructive actions
The risky move waits for your yes
Delete files, force-push over a branch, run a shell command, drop a database. Emu pauses it and shows you a small prompt: allow or block. If you are not around, the destructive action does not happen.
Stops secrets from leaving
Passwords and keys stay home
If a request is about to send a password, API key, or credit card to an AI service, Emu stops it and asks: send anyway, remove the secret and send, or cancel.
Masks personal information
Your details never reach the AI provider
Phone numbers, email addresses, credit cards, Social Security numbers, API keys, IBANs, and more get replaced with placeholders before they reach the AI service. You pick how aggressive the masking is.
Keeps a private log and weekly recap
A notebook that never leaves the house
Every AI interaction is recorded locally so you can search it, get a weekly "your week in AI" summary, and ask Ask Emu questions about your own history. The notebook never leaves your computer.

See What Emu does for the full walkthrough of each job, and Modes for the three ways Emu can treat an app (off, observe, guardian).

The shock moment

When an AI tries something risky, Emu does not beep or flash a red banner. A small card slides in from the top-right of your screen, even when you are in another app, with a painterly diorama, a short headline, and Emu's calm read of the risk. The dangerous move waits for your call.

You are always the one who decides. Emu never allows or blocks a risky action on its own. It just makes sure the dangerous ones stop and wait for you. See What Emu does for the full partnership promise.

Read the section

Where Emu fits

Emu is the on-device guardian. The Warden is the boss-class agent that commands a fleet of Emus across an organization, presiding over governance from a chat shell. The SDK wraps the same governance in two lines of code for the AI you build yourself. All three run the same deterministic kernel, so a verdict on the desktop, a verdict from the Warden, and a verdict from the SDK all read the same way.

Go build it: pick Get started for the five-beat install, or read What Emu does first if you want the full picture before you install.