How It Works

AgentGuard is built on a small set of architectural principles. Understanding them helps explain what AgentGuard does, what it does not do, and why it behaves the way it does.

The Deterministic Seatbelt

AgentGuard acts as a permission layer between you and the services you share documents with. Like a seatbelt, it does not prevent you from driving — it provides a moment of structured awareness before you proceed.

When you share a file, AgentGuard examines its structure and surfaces relevant context. The same file always produces the same result. There is no learning, no adaptation, no probabilistic variation. This determinism means you can audit, verify, and trust the behavior.

Local-First Processing

All analysis happens entirely in your browser. Document contents never leave your device through AgentGuard. There are no external servers processing your files, no cloud pipelines, and no content logging.

This constraint is architectural, not a policy choice. AgentGuard is built so that transmitting content is not possible — the code path does not exist.

Structural Anchors

AgentGuard does not guess what a document "means." Instead, it looks for structural anchors: specific patterns, headings, field labels, and formatting conventions that indicate a document's category.

For example, a document with fields labeled "Account Number," "Routing Number," and "Balance" structurally resembles a financial statement. AgentGuard identifies these anchors and reports them. It does not infer intent or context beyond what the structure shows.

Baseline Interpretation

AgentGuard maintains a baseline of structural patterns for common document categories: financial records, medical documents, legal agreements, credentials, and personal identifiers.

When a document matches a baseline pattern, AgentGuard reports the structural similarity. The interpretation is mechanical: pattern A in the document matches pattern B in the baseline. No probability scores, no confidence intervals, no guessing.

Epistemic Humility

AgentGuard does not claim to "understand" your documents. It does not know why you are sharing a file, whether the content is actually sensitive in your context, or what decision you should make.

What AgentGuard provides is observation: "This document structurally resembles [category]." What you do with that information is your decision. AgentGuard informs; it does not prescribe.

This is a deliberate design choice. Awareness tools that overreach — blocking, shaming, or deciding for users — erode trust and encourage workarounds. AgentGuard respects your authority over your own documents.

Progressive Disclosure

By default, AgentGuard shows a calm summary: the document category and a brief note. If you want more detail, an evidence drawer is available with the specific anchors and patterns that were matched.

This layered approach keeps the interface quiet for routine use while preserving full transparency for those who want it.