Rules that are recorded, and checked where it counts.
Governance records who ran which agent in which repository, what it changed, and whether your rules held. It works with any coding tool and any git host, and it never records file contents or what people type.
Names, counts and results. Not contents.
Recorded
- Agent, machine, person, repository and time
- Branch, commit ids and subjects
- Changed file names and line counts
- Findings such as “a secret appears in this diff”, with the kind and the place
- Pass or fail of your checks
- MCP server names and commands with secrets removed
- Cost and token counts
Never recorded
- The contents of files or diffs
- What people type
- The secret itself
- The output of tests or linters
- Environment variables, headers and tokens in MCP configuration
Two features outside governance handle short pieces of agent output: the waiting alert (up to 200 characters of the question, kept up to six hours) and Continue elsewhere (passed along during the move, not stored). Both are described in the privacy policy, and neither runs on machines that use end-to-end encryption.
What it can catch.
Each rule is off, flag, or block. Block only does something in enforce mode.
| Rule | What it watches | Setting |
|---|---|---|
| Secrets in commits | Keys, tokens and private keys in added lines. | Flag or block |
| Source changed without tests | Changes to source with no matching test changes, per session and across a pull request. | Flag or block |
| Review of AI-assisted pull requests | A pull request with agent work that has no approval from someone other than its author. | Flag or block |
| Force pushes | Rewriting shared history. | Flag or block |
| Commits or pushes on protected branches | Work landing directly on main, master or release branches. | Flag or block |
| CI or deploy files edited | Changes to pipeline and deployment files. | Flag |
| Agents without permission prompts | Agent sessions started with the safety prompts turned off. | Flag |
| Hooks skipped | Commits made with --no-verify. | Flag |
| MCP servers and instruction files | New or changed servers and instruction files, and hidden text in them. | Flag |
| Checks when a session ends | Runs the repository’s tests or lint on the developer’s machine and records pass or fail. | Flag or block |
| Commits not traced to a session | Commits that came from neither a recorded session nor a paired machine. | Flag or block |
| Large deletions | A very large number of lines removed in one commit. | Flag |
Two modes, one switch.
Observe records and shows findings and blocks nothing. It is the right place to start, to see what your team actually does and tune the rules. Enforce blocks what you set to block, on the developer’s machine and in your pipeline.
- Findings appear in the web app, with one click to acknowledge or dismiss
- You choose which rules block, and can change your mind
- Turning governance off removes the hooks it installed
--no-verify or outside a Patchkin session. The part that cannot be skipped is a required check in your pipeline. Make the patchkin/governance check required on your protected branch, and the rules hold no matter how the code was written.AI attribution
AI-assisted commits are recognised from the marks tools leave, such as co-author trailers, and from sessions started in Patchkin. The product tells you what share of added lines it can attribute, and that a tool with no mark is only counted when it runs through Patchkin.
Review of AI-assisted pull requests
Connect GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket or Azure DevOps. A pull request with agent work needs an approval from someone other than its author, and merged pull requests feed cost per merged PR.
Proof of work
When an agent session ends with commits or changes, Patchkin can run the repository’s tests or lint on that machine and record pass or fail. Define the checks in the repository or for the whole organization.
MCP and instruction files
See which MCP servers and instruction files each machine uses, set an approved list, and get findings for changes and for hidden text that could steer an agent.
Usage and cost
Tokens and cost by tool, person and repository, as counts only. Claude Code sessions started in Patchkin report on their own. Other tools are not supported yet.
Privacy controls
A notice developers can see, totals-only views by default, a retention period you choose, and encrypted machines left out unless your organization opts in.
See what your agents are connected to.
MCP servers and instruction files are read from each tool’s own configuration across all your machines. Set an approved list and the rest are flagged.
- Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Windsurf, Amp and VS Code
- Environment variables, headers and tokens are never read into the list
- Changes and hidden text in instruction files raise findings
One command in your pipeline.
It checks that every commit in a pull request traces back to a recorded session or an enrolled machine and that your rules hold. In enforce mode it fails the build when a rule set to block is broken.
- Works with GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Bitbucket Pipelines, Azure Pipelines, Jenkins or anything that can run a command
- A token that can ask this one question and nothing else
- Make it a required check on your protected branch
Governance questions.
Does it slow developers down?
Hooks add a trailer to commits and report them. In observe mode nothing is blocked. In enforce mode only the rules you set to block can stop a commit or push.
Which git hosts and pipelines work?
The merge check is a single command, so it runs in GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Bitbucket Pipelines, Azure Pipelines, Jenkins or anything else that can run a command. Pull request review rules need a connected git host.
What if someone commits outside Patchkin?
The merge check still looks at every commit in the pull request and flags commits that trace to neither a recorded session nor a paired machine.
Can we turn it off?
Yes. Turning governance off removes the hooks it installed.
Start in observe mode.
Nothing is blocked, and you will see what your team does within the first day.