---
title: Security Architecture
description: The defense-in-depth isolation and security posture of NIKI.
sidebar:
  order: 1
  label: Security Architecture
---

## Security Architecture & Posture

NIKI treats all repositories and agent-generated commands as untrusted input.

To protect developer machines and production codebases, NIKI enforces a strict multi-layer defense-in-depth security model:

```text
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                      Host Environment                       │
│  - OS Keyring for credentials (never bundled in repo)       │
│  - Spend Caps enforced mid-run ($USD ceiling)               │
│  - Clean Git branch separation (main branch untouched)      │
└──────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────┘
                               │ Bind-mount copy
┌──────────────────────────────▼──────────────────────────────┐
│            Rootless Podman / Docker Container               │
│  - Dropped Linux Capabilities (`CapDrop ALL`)               │
│  - PID Limit (512 max processes)                            │
│  - Memory & CPU quotas (2GB RAM, 2.0 Cores)                 │
│  - Blocked network egress by default                        │
│  - Global command deny-list (`curl | sh`, `rm -rf /`)       │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

---

## Security Invariants

1. **Zero Telemetry:** NIKI makes zero background tracking or telemetry requests. Network outbound calls are strictly limited to your designated LLM endpoints.
2. **Secret Redaction:** API keys, passwords, and sensitive environment variables are automatically masked and redacted from logs, JSON artifacts, and markdown reports.
3. **No Root Privileges:** All containerized operations run under an unprivileged, non-root user account inside rootless Podman/Docker.