StepSecurity Dev Machine Guard

Scan your dev machine for AI agents, MCP servers, IDE extensions, suspicious files, and risky package-manager configs — in seconds.

Why Dev Machine Guard?

Developer machines are the new attack surface. They hold high-value assets — GitHub tokens, cloud credentials, SSH keys — and routinely execute untrusted code through dependencies and AI-powered tools. Recent supply chain attacks have shown that malicious VS Code extensions can steal credentials, rogue MCP servers can access your codebase, and compromised npm packages can exfiltrate secrets.

EDR and traditional MDM solutions monitor device posture and compliance, but they have zero visibility into the developer tooling layer:

Dev Machine Guard is complementary to EDR/MDM — not a replacement. Deploy it alongside your existing tools via MDM (Jamf, Kandji, Intune) or run it standalone.

Quick Start

The steps below install the binary directly and are intended for community users evaluating Dev Machine Guard on a single machine.

Enterprise customers should not install the binary manually. Deploy Dev Machine Guard across your fleet using the loader script through your MDM or EDR tooling. See the Installation Script documentation for the supported, auto-updating deployment flow.

Install from release (community)

Release assets are named stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard-<version>-<os> (for example, stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard-1.12.0-darwin). Rather than hardcoding a version, discover the latest asset dynamically so the command keeps working across releases.

macOS:

# Discover and download the latest macOS (darwin) release asset
ASSET=$(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/step-security/dev-machine-guard/releases/latest \
  | jq -r '.assets[].name | select(test("^stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard-[0-9.]+-darwin$"))')

curl -fL "https://github.com/step-security/dev-machine-guard/releases/latest/download/$ASSET" \
  -o stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard
chmod +x stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard

# Run the scan
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard

To pin a specific version instead, download the matching asset directly:

curl -fL https://github.com/step-security/dev-machine-guard/releases/latest/download/stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard-1.12.0-darwin \
  -o stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard
chmod +x stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard

Windows:

# x64
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/step-security/dev-machine-guard/releases/latest/download/stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard_windows_amd64.exe" -OutFile "stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard.exe"

# ARM64
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/step-security/dev-machine-guard/releases/latest/download/stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard_windows_arm64.exe" -OutFile "stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard.exe"

# Run the scan
.\stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard.exe

Linux:

# x64
curl -sSL https://github.com/step-security/dev-machine-guard/releases/latest/download/stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard_linux_amd64 -o stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard
chmod +x stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard

# ARM64
curl -sSL https://github.com/step-security/dev-machine-guard/releases/latest/download/stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard_linux_arm64 -o stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard
chmod +x stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard

# Run the scan
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard

Pre-built .deb and .rpm packages are also available on the releases page.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/step-security/dev-machine-guard.git
cd dev-machine-guard
make build
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard

Requires Go 1.26+. The binary has zero external dependencies.

Usage

stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard [COMMAND] [OPTIONS]

Commands

Output Formats

Options

Examples

# Pretty terminal output (default)
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard

# JSON output
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard --json
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard --json | python3 -m json.tool   # formatted
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard --json > scan.json               # to file

# HTML report
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard --html report.html

# Verbose scan with npm packages — shows progress spinners and timing
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard --verbose --enable-npm-scan

# Scan specific directories instead of $HOME
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard --search-dirs /Volumes/code
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard --search-dirs /tmp /opt          # multiple dirs

# Pipe JSON through jq to extract just AI tools
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard --json | jq '.ai_agents_and_tools'

# Count IDE extensions
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard --json | jq '.summary.ide_extensions_count'

# Check for MCP configs (exit 1 if any found — useful in CI)
count=$(./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard --json | jq '.summary.mcp_configs_count')
[ "$count" -gt 0 ] && echo "MCP servers detected!" && exit 1

# Disable colors for piping or logging
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard --color=never 2>&1 | tee scan.log

# Enterprise: configure all settings interactively
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard configure

# Enterprise: view saved configuration (API key masked)
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard configure show

# Enterprise: install scheduled scanning (launchd / systemd / schtasks)
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard install

# Enterprise: one-time telemetry upload
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard send-telemetry

# Enterprise: scan even when the dashboard-managed scan cadence says "not due"
# (equivalent env var: STEPSEC_FORCE_SCAN=1; disable gating: STEPSEC_DISABLE_RUN_GATE=1)
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard send-telemetry --force-scan

# Enterprise: remove scheduled scanning
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard uninstall

Configuration

Run configure to set up enterprise credentials and default search directories:

./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard configure

This interactively prompts for all configurable settings:

View current settings:

./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard configure show

Configuration (~/.stepsecurity/config.json):

  Customer ID:             my-company
  API Endpoint:            https://api.stepsecurity.io
  API Key:                 ***a1b2
  Scan Frequency:          4 hours
  Search Directories:      $HOME, /Volumes/code
  Enable NPM Scan:         auto
  Enable Brew Scan:        auto
  Enable Python Scan:      auto
  Color Mode:              auto
  Output Format:           pretty
  Log Level:               error

Configuration is saved to ~/.stepsecurity/config.json with 0600 permissions (owner read/write only).

CLI flags always override config file values — this matches the shell script behavior. For example, if your config has output_format: json, running ./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard --pretty uses pretty output. To clear a value during configuration, enter a single dash (-).

Logging and Verbose Mode

By default in community mode, progress messages (spinners, step details) are suppressed — you only see the final output. This keeps stdout clean for piping.

# Default: quiet — clean output, no progress spinners
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard --json > scan.json

# Verbose: show progress spinners and step timing
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard --verbose

# Fine-grained control: set log level
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard --log-level=info

# Save log level in config so it persists across runs
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard configure

In enterprise mode (send-telemetry, install), progress is always shown regardless of the log level — the output is captured as execution logs and sent to the backend for debugging.

What It Detects

See SCAN_COVERAGE.md for the full catalog of supported detections.

Package Configs & Suspicious Files

Beyond inventorying what is installed, Dev Machine Guard inspects how each machine is configured to pull packages, and whether any files associated with known attacks are present.

Package-manager config auditing

Compromised packages most often reach a machine because that machine resolves directly from a public registry with no cooldown window against freshly published versions. Dev Machine Guard audits the package-manager configuration on each machine across every scope (project, user, and global) and resolves three things per package manager:

• Effective registry — the registry packages actually resolve from, accounting for configuration precedence, so you can confirm machines route through StepSecurity Secure Registry or an internal artifact manager rather than straight to the public registry.
• Cooldown policy — whether a cooldown window against newly published packages is in effect.
• Authentication surface — what credentials are configured against the registry.

Configuration is read from .npmrc (npm), pnpm config, bunfig.toml (bun), .yarnrc / .yarnrc.yml (yarn classic and berry), and pip.conf (pip). In enterprise mode this rolls up into the Package Configs view in the dashboard, where you can spot machines that are unprotected or pointed at the wrong registry.

Suspicious file detection

Some supply chain attacks plant files that trigger code execution outside the package lifecycle scripts most tools watch — for example a malicious binding.gyp that runs during npm install, or an editor configuration file that runs when a project is opened. Dev Machine Guard ships a rules-engine scanner that flags these files as IOCs and wires the results into scan telemetry. The detector streams one file at a time, so scan memory stays bounded regardless of repository size.

The detection rules are authored and maintained by StepSecurity, so the feature works out of the box with nothing to configure. As new attack techniques are identified, the rule set is updated centrally and your machines are evaluated against the new rules automatically. In enterprise mode, flagged files surface in the Suspicious Files view with a confidence level and attribution to the associated attack campaign.

Output Formats

Pretty Terminal Output (default)

./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard

JSON Output

./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard --json

See examples/sample-output.json for the full schema, or Reading Scan Results for the schema reference. Recent scans also emit package-manager configuration inventory and pnpm_audit / bun_audit / yarn_audit results on the wire payload.

HTML Report

./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard --html report.html

Community vs Enterprise

Enterprise mode requires a StepSecurity subscription. Start a 14-day free trial by installing the StepSecurity GitHub App.

Enterprise Setup

# 1. Configure credentials (interactive)
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard configure

# 2. Install scheduled scanning (launchd on macOS, systemd on Linux, schtasks on Windows)
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard install

# 3. Or run a one-time telemetry upload
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard send-telemetry

# 4. Uninstall scheduled scanning
./stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard uninstall

Open-source commitment: StepSecurity enterprise customers use the exact same binary from this repository. There is no separate closed-source version — all scanning capabilities are developed and maintained here in the open. Enterprise mode adds centralized infrastructure (dashboard, policy engine, alerting) on top of the same open-source scanning engine.

How It Works

Dev Machine Guard is a single compiled binary that scans your developer environment. Here's what it does and — importantly — what it does not do:

What it collects:

• Installed IDEs, AI tools, and their versions
• IDE extension/plugin names, publishers, and versions (VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Antigravity, JetBrains, Eclipse, Xcode, Android Studio)
• Browser extension records read from the browsers' own state files (Chrome, Edge, Firefox): identity, enabled state, install source, and the permissions the browser currently honours. Browsing history, cookies, saved passwords, and page content are never opened
• MCP server configuration (server names and commands only)
• Node.js, Homebrew, Python, and system package listings (opt-in)
• Package-manager configuration: effective registry, cooldown policy, and authentication surface across every scope (.npmrc, pnpm config, bunfig.toml, .yarnrc/.yarnrc.yml, pip.conf)
• Suspicious files flagged by StepSecurity-maintained malicious-file rules (path and matched rule only — file contents are not collected)

Detection uses platform-specific methods: /Applications/ and Info.plist on macOS, %LOCALAPPDATA%/%PROGRAMFILES% and Windows Registry on Windows, /opt//usr/share/.desktop files on Linux, and $PATH lookups on all platforms.

What it does NOT collect:

• Source code, file contents, or project data
• Secrets, credentials, API keys, or tokens
• Browsing history or personal files
• Any data from your IDE workspaces

In community mode, all data stays on your machine. Nothing is sent anywhere.

In enterprise mode, scan data is sent to the StepSecurity backend for centralized visibility. The source code is fully open — you can audit exactly what is collected and transmitted.

Building from Source

# Build
make build

# Run unit tests (with race detector)
make test

# Run integration smoke tests
make smoke

# Run linter
make lint

# Clean build artifacts
make clean

Project Structure

cmd/stepsecurity-dev-machine-guard/   # Binary entry point
internal/
├── buildinfo/     # Version and build metadata
├── cli/           # Argument parser
├── config/        # Configuration file management and configure command
├── detector/      # All scanners (IDE, AI CLI, agents, frameworks, MCP, extensions, Node.js) — cross-platform
├── device/        # Device info (hostname, serial, OS version)
├── executor/      # OS abstraction interface (enables mocked unit tests)
├── launchd/       # macOS launchd install/uninstall
├── lock/          # PID-file instance locking
├── model/         # JSON struct types
├── output/        # Formatters (JSON, pretty, HTML)
├── progress/      # Progress spinner and logging
├── scan/          # Community mode orchestrator
├── schtasks/      # Windows Task Scheduler install/uninstall
├── systemd/       # Linux systemd user timer install/uninstall
└── telemetry/     # Enterprise mode orchestrator and S3 upload

How It Compares

Dev Machine Guard is not a replacement for dependency scanners, vulnerability databases, or endpoint security tools. It covers a different layer — the developer tooling surface — that these tools were never designed to inspect.

Dev Machine Guard fills the gap by inventorying what is actually running in your developer environment. Deploy it alongside your existing security stack for complete coverage.

Known Limitations

• Package scanning (Node.js, Homebrew, Python) is opt-in in community mode and results are basic (package manager detection and package/project lists). Full dependency tree analysis is available in enterprise mode.
• MCP config auditing shows which tools have MCP configs (source, vendor, and config path) but does not display config file contents in community mode. Enterprise mode sends filtered config data (server names and commands only, no secrets) to the dashboard.
• System package scanning (rpm, dpkg, pacman, apk, snap, flatpak) is Linux-only.
• Package-manager config auditing reports the effective registry, cooldown status, and authentication surface from configuration files; it reflects configuration as written and does not intercept package installs at runtime.
• Suspicious file detection flags files that match StepSecurity-maintained rules and records the path and matched rule. It does not collect or transmit file contents. Confidence levels and attack-campaign attribution surface in the enterprise dashboard.

Roadmap

Check out the GitHub Issues for planned features and improvements. Feedback and suggestions are welcome — open an issue to start a conversation.

JSON Schema

See examples/sample-output.json for a complete sample of the JSON output, or Reading Scan Results for the full schema reference.

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Whether it's adding detection for a new AI tool, improving documentation, or reporting bugs.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Quick contribution ideas:

• Add a new AI tool or IDE to the detection list
• Improve documentation
• Report bugs or request features via issues

Resources

• Changelog
• Scan Coverage — full catalog of detections
• Release Process — how releases are signed and verified
• Deploying via SCCM — Windows fleet rollout via Microsoft Configuration Manager (signed MSI, no PowerShell)
• macOS TCC Permissions — how the agent handles Documents/Downloads/Mail TCC dirs, PPPC profile for MDM-pushed Full Disk Access, and the include_tcc_protected config field
• Versioning — why the version starts at 1.8.1
• Security Policy — reporting vulnerabilities
• Code of Conduct

License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

If you find Dev Machine Guard useful, please consider giving it a star. It helps others discover the project.