FAQ

What is Truss?

Truss is an open-source CLI and API platform for governing AI agent actions. It provides signed mandates, verifiable evidence chains, and regulatory compliance tooling.

How is this different from guardrails?

Guardrails prevent certain outputs at generation time. Truss provides post-hoc verification and provenance — it records what was authorized, what actually happened, and whether it matches.

What's a mandate?

A mandate is a signed authorization that defines what an agent is permitted to do — including the action, resource, scope, and any constraints.

Can I use this without a Truss API server?

The CLI requires a Truss API server (either self-hosted or the Tensflare cloud offering). The CLI itself is a client that communicates with the API.

How are API keys managed?

API keys are tr_-prefixed, SHA-256 hashed at rest, and scoped to Developer (level 1) permissions in the RBAC hierarchy.