Claude Warden

This is a vibe-engineered plugin. Built with Claude Code, tested by using it on real projects. If you find a bug, that's the vibe working as intended — open an issue.

AI governance framework for Claude Code. Prevents drift, enforces project structure, and keeps humans in control of governance files.

What It Does

Layer	How	What
Native deny	settings.json permissions	Blocks edits to governance files at the Claude Code level
PreToolUse hooks	Shell scripts on every tool call	Catches file writes and bash commands targeting protected paths
Skills	Auto-loaded markdown rules	Claude reads governance rules every session, survives context compaction

Prevents: editing its own instructions, creating junk directories, exceeding depth limits, writing unregistered root files, path traversal, hook tampering, dangerous bash constructs (eval, base64 pipes).

Allows: normal development work unimpeded.

Install

Inside a Claude Code session, run:

/plugin marketplace add HawkannG/Claude-Warden
/plugin install claude-warden@HawkannG-Claude-Warden

Then in your project:

/warden-setup

This creates .claude/CLAUDE.md, .claude/rules/, docs/SESSION-LOG.md, and seeds deny entries in settings.json. Safe to run multiple times.

Windows

Requires Git for Windows and jq (winget install jqlang.jq). Set the bash path:

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("CLAUDE_CODE_GIT_BASH_PATH", "C:\Program Files\Git\bin\bash.exe", [EnvironmentVariableTarget]::User)

Update / Uninstall

Inside a Claude Code session:

/plugin update claude-warden@HawkannG-Claude-Warden
/plugin remove claude-warden@HawkannG-Claude-Warden

Your files (.claude/CLAUDE.md, .claude/warden.config.sh, docs/SESSION-LOG.md) are never touched by updates.

Skills

All skills are auto-loaded. User-invokable skills:

Skill	What it does
/warden-setup	Initialize Warden in a project, migrate from old curl-install
/warden-architecture	Project directory structure template
/warden-workflow	PROPOSE > PLAN > BUILD > VERIFY > CLOSE phases
/warden-feedback	Track governance gaps and friction
/warden-security	Security and privacy by design rules
/warden-second-opinion	Spawn fresh subagents when stuck

/warden-policy loads automatically (not user-invokable) — defines the governance constitution.

Customization

Create .claude/warden.config.sh in your project:

PROTECTED_FILES=(".claude/CLAUDE.md" ".claude/rules/*.md" "contracts/**/*.sol")
FORBIDDEN_DIRS=("temp" "tmp" "misc" "drafts" "wip")
MAX_DIRECTORY_DEPTH=5

To allow extra root files, add EXTRA_ROOT_FILES to your config:

EXTRA_ROOT_FILES=("Procfile" "fly.toml" "Gemfile" "Rakefile")

Commands

Command	What
/warden-setup	Run setup / migration
"run warden audit"	Drift audit (0-100 score)
"run warden version check"	Version and component check
"warden check"	Claude re-reads governance rules
"wrap up"	Clean session exit + handoff

The audit and version scripts run automatically via hooks. Ask Claude in natural language to run them manually.

Security Model

Warden prevents unintentional governance violations, not deliberate adversarial bypass. It's workflow enforcement, not a sandbox. See SECURITY.md for details.

Requirements

• bash 4.0+, jq 1.5+
• macOS: brew install jq | Ubuntu: sudo apt install jq | Windows: winget install jqlang.jq

Structure

Claude-Warden/
├── .claude-plugin/plugin.json        # Plugin manifest
├── hooks/hooks.json                  # Hook configuration
├── skills/
│   ├── warden-policy/SKILL.md        # Governance constitution (auto-loaded)
│   ├── warden-workflow/SKILL.md      # Dev workflow protocol
│   ├── warden-architecture/SKILL.md  # Directory structure template
│   ├── warden-setup/SKILL.md         # Project setup / migration
│   ├── warden-feedback/SKILL.md      # Feedback tracking
│   ├── warden-security/SKILL.md      # Security & privacy rules
│   └── warden-second-opinion/SKILL.md # Diagnostic protocol
├── scripts/                          # Hook scripts (7 scripts)
└── tests/                            # Test suite (8 test files)

Files Warden Creates

During normal operation, Warden creates these files in your project's .claude/ directory:

File	Purpose
.claude/audit.log	Timestamped log of all hook actions (auto-rotates at 500 lines)
.claude/governance-proposals.log	Captured details of blocked governance changes for human review
.claude/warden-edit-tracker	Tracks files modified during a session (used by post-check hook)

These are safe to delete at any time. They'll be recreated as needed.

Acknowledgements

• Anthropic Claude Code hooks
• disler/claude-code-hooks-mastery
• affaan-m/everything-claude-code

License

MIT — see LICENSE file.