ControlKeel

Agent output is cheap. Reviewability, security, release safety, and cost control are not.

ControlKeel is the cerebellum for agent-generated software delivery. ControlKeel sits between your coding agents and production, comparing intended delivery against actual delivery, catching governance drift before it ships and turning intent into governed tasks through validation and review gates.

It does not replace the coding model underneath. It governs the delivery layer around that model: routing, review, findings, proofs, policy, budgets, deployment readiness, and the governed context agents need to keep work grounded in the repo and session state.

CK also treats decomposition as a first-class governed surface. It does not just store tasks. It records how work is being split, where review gates sit, how context should be partitioned, and which parts of a session are effectively recursive, delegated, or release-gated.

Quick start

Install ControlKeel

# Homebrew (macOS and Linux x86_64)
brew tap aryaminus/controlkeel && brew install controlkeel

# npm bootstrap (macOS x86_64/arm64, Linux x86_64, Windows x86_64)
npm i -g @aryaminus/controlkeel
# or: pnpm add -g @aryaminus/controlkeel
# or: yarn global add @aryaminus/controlkeel

# one-off run
npx @aryaminus/controlkeel@latest

# release installers
curl -fsSL https://github.com/aryaminus/controlkeel/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sh

irm https://github.com/aryaminus/controlkeel/releases/latest/download/install.ps1 | iex

First governed run

# 1. Start ControlKeel
controlkeel

# 2. In the target repo, bootstrap and inspect the environment
controlkeel setup

# 3. Attach a supported host
controlkeel attach opencode

# 4. Inspect governance state
controlkeel status
controlkeel findings

# 5. Use guided CLI help whenever you need it
controlkeel help
controlkeel help codex
controlkeel help "how do i attach opencode"

For a full first-run walkthrough, see docs/getting-started.md.

Published surfaces

ControlKeel has one primary CLI and a smaller set of published companion packages. Everything else ships as release bundles or attach-time generated assets.

Surface	Version	Install / use
ControlKeel CLI bootstrap		npm i -g @aryaminus/controlkeel
Skills.sh / AgentSkills install	Skills docs	npx skills add https://github.com/aryaminus/controlkeel --skill controlkeel-governance
OpenCode companion package		Add "plugin": ["@aryaminus/controlkeel-opencode"] to opencode.json; MCP uses mcp.controlkeel local command-array config; attach installs .opencode/* plus .agents/skills compatibility skills
Pi companion package		pi install npm:@aryaminus/controlkeel-pi-extension
Release bundles and VSIX		Tagged releases include platform binaries, plugin tarballs, exported native bundles, and controlkeel-vscode-companion.vsix

Release-only bundles currently cover the unpublished host artifacts such as Claude, Copilot, Codex, Augment, Gemini CLI, Amp, OpenClaw, and other exported native companions. Those surfaces follow the repository release version rather than separate package registries.

Supported hosts

ControlKeel supports hosts through a few real mechanisms:

• Native attach: controlkeel attach <host> installs MCP config plus the strongest repo-native companion CK can truthfully ship.
• Direct host install: some hosts also support a package, plugin, VSIX, or extension-link path.
• Hosted protocol access: remote clients can use hosted MCP and minimal A2A.
• Runtime export: headless systems such as Devin and Open SWE get runtime bundles instead of fake attach commands.
• Provider-only and fallback governance: unsupported generators can still be governed through bootstrap, findings, proofs, and validation flows.

Common attach targets today:

• Hook-native: claude-code, copilot, windsurf, cline, kiro, augment
• Plugin-native: opencode, amp
• File-plan-mode: pi
• Prompt or command-native: continue, gemini-cli, goose, roo-code
• Hook, skill, and MCP-native with headless/remote support: letta-code
• Browser or embed companion: vscode
• Review-only, command-driven, or local-plugin-capable: codex-cli, aider

Use the docs below for the precise truth per host:

• docs/direct-host-installs.md
• docs/support-matrix.md
• docs/agent-integrations.md

What ControlKeel exposes

Web app:

• /start for onboarding and execution brief creation
• /missions/:id for mission control and approvals
• /findings for cross-session findings
• /proofs for immutable proof bundles
• /skills for install/export compatibility and bundle inventory
• /ship for deploy readiness and session metrics

CLI:

controlkeel attach <agent>
controlkeel status
controlkeel findings
controlkeel proofs
controlkeel update
controlkeel skills list
controlkeel plugin install codex
controlkeel run task <id>
controlkeel help

For Codex there are two different CK install paths:

• controlkeel attach codex-cli installs the native .codex/ companion files, skills, commands, agents, and local MCP wiring.
• controlkeel plugin install codex installs a local plugin bundle plus a local marketplace manifest for repo-local or home-local discovery.

That local marketplace path is not the same thing as being listed in OpenAI's curated Codex plugin catalog.

Full command coverage is available in the CLI itself through controlkeel help.

For MCP tool details, hosted protocol access, and the exact ck_context contract, use docs/agent-integrations.md and docs/support-matrix.md.

Docs

Start here:

• docs/README.md
• docs/getting-started.md
• docs/direct-host-installs.md

Reference:

• docs/qa-validation-guide.md
• docs/support-matrix.md
• docs/agent-integrations.md
• docs/autonomy-and-findings.md
• docs/benchmarks.md

Architecture and release operations:

• docs/control-plane-architecture.md
• docs/host-surface-parity.md
• docs/integration-validation-checklist.md
• docs/release-verification.md

Development

mix setup
mix phx.server
mix test
mix precommit

Phoenix + Ecto on SQLite. Uses Req for HTTP. Single-binary builds ship through Burrito and GitHub Releases.