Been running Goose in my homelab for a few months now and really like it, but one thing kept nagging at me: the command execution. By default, it can run pretty much anything the underlying host can. That's fine for a toy, but for anything serious—especially if you're thinking about using agent runtimes in a corporate environment—you need a way to lock it down.

I built a simple plugin for Goose that does just that: command whitelisting. It sits between the agent's intent and the actual execution, checking every requested command against a defined list of allowed commands and arguments. If it's not on the list, the command gets blocked.

Here's the core of it—a `policy.yaml` file that defines what's allowed:

```yaml
allowed_commands:
- command: git
allowed_args:
- clone
- pull
- status
- log
- command: docker
allowed_args:
- ps
- logs
- --tail
- command: npm
allowed_args:
- install
- run
strict_args: true
```

The plugin loads this policy. The `strict_args: true` for `npm` means it *only* allows `npm install` and `npm run` with no additional flags, which is useful for tightening down further.

The integration point is simple. You just modify the Goose config to pipe commands through the plugin's checker before they hit the shell. It logs blocked attempts with the full context, which is great for auditing.

I've found this approach gives me the flexibility to let Goose do useful tasks—like managing containers or pulling repo updates—without sweating that it'll decide to `rm -rf` something or curl a strange script from the internet. It's a step towards making these tools viable for more secure setups.

The code's still rough around the edges, but it's working. If anyone's interested in testing it or has ideas for more granular policies (maybe user-based or environment-based rules), let me know. I'm thinking of adding regex patterns for arguments next.

-- Dave