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Garry Tan

Guard skill

Full safety mode: destructive command warnings + directory-scoped edits. (gstack)

$npx skills add garrytan/gstack --skill guard
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141,098
Pack installs
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Alyn Score
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Updated
6 h ago
License
MIT

Garry Tan

Guard

Install Guard

Pick your agent. Every command is ready to paste.

$npx skills add garrytan/gstack --skill guard

The open skills CLI detects your agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and 70+ more) and installs to the right folder. Add -g to install globally.

01

Install it

Run the command above, or upload the folder in Claude.

02

Ask naturally

Describe the task. Your agent loads guard when the request matches its description.

03

Name it if needed

If it does not trigger, say “use the guard skill”. In Codex, type $guard.

The skill itself

SKILL.md

GitHub

/guard — Full Safety Mode

Activates both destructive command warnings and directory-scoped edit restrictions. This is the combination of /careful + /freeze in a single command.

Dependency note: This skill references hook scripts from the sibling /careful and /freeze skill directories. Both must be installed (they are installed together by the gstack setup script).

GSTACK_STATE_ROOT=$(~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-paths --get GSTACK_STATE_ROOT); : "${GSTACK_STATE_ROOT:?gstack-paths failed; reinstall with ./setup or /gstack-upgrade}"
mkdir -p "$GSTACK_STATE_ROOT"/analytics
echo '{"skill":"guard","ts":"'$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)'","repo":"'$(basename "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null)" 2>/dev/null || echo "unknown")'"}'  >> "$GSTACK_STATE_ROOT"/analytics/skill-usage.jsonl 2>/dev/null || true

Setup

Ask the user which directory to restrict edits to. Use AskUserQuestion:

  • Question: "Guard mode: which directory should edits be restricted to? Destructive command warnings are always on. Files outside the chosen path will be blocked from editing."
  • Text input (not multiple choice) — the user types a path.

Once the user provides a directory path:

Set the user-selected boundary with the shared writer, which resolves a physical absolute path and serializes replacement with investigation cleanup:

bash "$HOME/.claude/skills/gstack/freeze/bin/freeze-state.sh" set "<user-provided-path>"

On helper failure, do not claim the boundary is active. Preserve the state and report recovery; never bypass the shared writer with a direct write or deletion.

Tell the user:

  • "Guard mode active. Two protections are now running:"
  • "1. Destructive command guard — rm -rf, DROP TABLE, force-push, etc. warn before executing (overridable); catastrophic shapes (recursive delete of / or ~, force-push to the default branch) are hard-denied"
  • "2. Edit boundary — file edits restricted to <path>/. Edits outside this directory are blocked."
  • "To remove the persistent edit boundary, run /unfreeze. Ending the session stops its hooks but does not delete that boundary."

What's protected

See /careful for the full list of destructive command patterns and safe exceptions. See /freeze for how edit boundary enforcement works.

Tips for Guard

  • • Start a fresh session after installing so your agent picks up the new skill.
  • • It is part of a pack with 40 skills. Install only the ones you need with --skill to keep triggers precise.
  • • If two skills overlap, mention the one you want by name.

Questions about Guard

What does the Guard skill do?

Full safety mode: destructive command warnings + directory-scoped edits. (gstack)

How do I install Guard?

Run "npx skills add garrytan/gstack --skill guard" in your project. The skills CLI installs it for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and 70+ other agents. In Claude on the web, upload the skill folder as a ZIP under Customize > Skills.

Does Guard work in Cursor and Codex?

Yes. Guard uses the open SKILL.md format, so it works in Claude Code, Claude, Cursor, OpenAI Codex, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and other agents that support agent skills.

Is Guard free?

Guard is open source on GitHub under the MIT license. It is free to install; check the license before commercial use.

Who made Guard?

Guard is published by Garry Tan in the garrytan/gstack repository, together with 39 other skills.

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