Question 1

What is SharkRouter?

Accepted Answer

SharkRouter is the deterministic data plane for agentic AI. It sits between AI agents and tool execution, providing a 14-step governance pipeline that includes ToolGuard (function-call firewall), Agent Passport (cryptographic identity), Dry-Run Preview (impact preview before execution), Output Assurance (post-execution verification), Kill Switch (immediate halt), and an immutable WORM audit chain.

Question 2

How is SharkRouter different from prompt filters or monitoring tools?

Accepted Answer

SharkRouter is not a prompt filter, not an output scanner, and not a monitoring tool. It is a stateful gateway that intercepts every function call an AI agent makes and enforces deterministic business rules before execution. Prompt filters (Pangea, Lakera) only inspect input. Out-of-band monitors (Zenity, Protect AI) observe but cannot enforce. JIT access tools (Oasis Security) manage permissions but do not audit execution. SharkRouter is the only product that intercepts, governs, and audits at the function-call layer with cryptographic proof.

Question 3

Is SharkRouter OpenAI-compatible?

Accepted Answer

Yes. SharkRouter is a drop-in replacement for the OpenAI API. Change your base_url to https://api.sharkrouter.ai/v1 and your existing code works unchanged. One line. Full governance. Zero lock-in.

Question 4

What is ToolGuard?

Accepted Answer

ToolGuard is the function-call firewall at the heart of SharkRouter. It is a deny-by-default policy engine that evaluates every tool call through a 7-guard chain (Regex, Keyword, Schema, Policy, Semantic, LLM, MoralCompass) cost-ordered so the first block wins. Typical added latency is under 150ms. ToolGuard enforces business rules at the execution layer — the only layer where AI agents actually do something.

Question 5

What is Agent Passport?

Accepted Answer

Agent Passport assigns cryptographic identity (ECDSA-signed) to every AI agent in your environment. Each passport carries a scoped tool universe, a 9-state lifecycle FSM, and delegation chains with scope narrowing. Trust stages progress STRANGER → KNOWN → TRUSTED → EXTENSION based on observed behavior.

Question 6

What is Dry-Run Preview?

Accepted Answer

Dry-Run Preview shows the impact of a destructive tool call before it executes — affected rows, blast radius, estimated cost. Zero of 19 competitors in our State of AI Governance benchmark offer this capability. It is what enables CISOs to approve agentic AI for production systems.

Question 7

Can SharkRouter be deployed air-gapped?

Accepted Answer

Yes. SharkRouter offers three deployment tiers: Cloud Gateway (5 minutes), Private VPC (1 day), and Air-Gapped On-Premise (1 week). The air-gapped tier uses offline licensing and runs with zero outbound connectivity — designed for banking, defense, and government environments that cannot use cloud AI services.

Question 8

What compliance frameworks does SharkRouter support?

Accepted Answer

SharkRouter is designed compliant by architecture: SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA, ISO 27001, BOI 364, and EU AI Act Article 14 (human oversight of high-risk AI). The WORM audit chain provides cryptographic chain-of-custody that satisfies banking and regulated-industry audit requirements.

Question 9

What is Warden?

Accepted Answer

Warden is SharkRouter's open-source governance scanner. Run it against any AI framework or environment and it produces a 17-dimension governance score out of 100. Across 19 AI frameworks and competing gateways, the market average is 28/100. SharkRouter scores 91/100. Warden is free, runs in 60 seconds, and is the first tool a CISO uses in our evaluation funnel.

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