The Problem
AI agents are getting access to real money. On Solana alone, frameworks like ai16z, ELIZA, and Griffain let AI agents hold wallet keys and execute transactions based on LLM output. The problem? A single prompt injection can redirect funds, drain wallets, or exfiltrate private keys.
When I started researching the AI security space, every solution I found was a cloud SaaS API — Lakera Guard, Prompt Security, and others. They all work the same way: send your AI traffic to their cloud, they scan it, then forward it. That means your prompts, your users' data, and your API keys transit through someone else's infrastructure.
For agents managing wallets, that's not just a privacy issue — it's a security liability. The firewall shouldn't introduce another attack surface.
The Builder
My name is Chris Rijos. I'm a senior AI engineer at Frequency.media by day, and for the last three months I've been building Aegis from my parents' garage in Milton, Florida — nights and weekends.
I chose Rust because this is infrastructure that sits in the critical path of every AI request. It needs to be fast (2ms, not 200ms), it needs to be reliable (no garbage collection pauses), and it needs to be a single static binary that runs anywhere without dependencies.
The local LLM classifier runs in-process via direct FFI — no HTTP calls, no sidecar containers, no cloud round-trips. Fine-tuned and optimized specifically for detecting prompt injections, jailbreaks, and wallet drainer patterns.
The Mission
Aegis exists because I believe the best AI security tool is the one that doesn't require trusting another cloud provider. Your AI traffic should be analyzed on your machine, at your speed, under your control.
The Shield tier is free forever — not a trial, not a freemium bait. The full LLM classifier, 50+ injection patterns, PII detection, and gateway proxy. Free. Because every developer building with AI deserves protection, not just the ones with enterprise budgets.
What's Next
v0.1 Shield Preview is shipping now with the rules engine and gateway proxy. Sentinel (the paid tier) adds transparent proxy mode, custom patterns, live threat intel feeds, and Prometheus metrics — designed for lean startups running AI agents in production.
Aegis is part of the broader Realm OS ecosystem — sovereign AI infrastructure built for developers who want to own their stack.