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The Guard Editor

Selecting Edit on a guard row, or opening a guard from the guard list, opens the guard editor: a dedicated page for one guard. The header shows the guard's name, its status (Active or Draft), its category (Runtime or Build-time), a Playground button, and a Publish / Unpublish control.

The editor has four tabs: Overview, Checks, Filters, and Settings.

Overview​

The Overview tab summarizes the guard: its checks, filters, and recent activity.

Guard editor Overview tab for Secret & Credential Detection, showing a summary card with threshold and action, a Checks card, a Filters card, and a Recent Activity card
  • The summary card repeats the guard's name, description, Threshold, and Action.
  • Checks shows the total count and a breakdown by type (for example, LLM 1, Regex 57).
  • Filters shows the current scope, or Applied to all — no specific filters configured when the guard is unscoped.
  • Recent Activity lists recent times the guard fired, or No recent activity for this guard if it has not triggered.

Use Overview as a read-only snapshot; make changes on the other three tabs.

Checks​

The Checks tab lists the checks that make up the guard and lets you add, edit, and enable them. The header shows how many are active (for example, Checks (58 of 58 enabled)).

Guard editor Checks tab showing the LLM Secret Analysis check expanded with Name, Type, Certainty, and LLM Prompt fields, and further checks collapsed below

Each check appears as a row showing its name, its type and certainty (for example, Regex · certainty 10/10), and an enable toggle. Expanding a check reveals its Name, Type, Certainty slider, and the type-specific configuration (such as an LLM Prompt). Add checks with + Add Check or Add with AI, then select Save Changes. Add with AI appears only when Bring Your Own AI is configured.

For the full reference on each check type and how certainty combines into the guard score, see Guard check types.

Filters​

The Filters tab controls which groups and entities the guard applies to.

Guard editor Filters tab showing the Level dropdown set to Organization Level and Entity Types checkboxes for MCPs, Toolkits, Skills, and Commands
ControlOptionsEffect
LevelOrganization Level or User LevelOrganization level checks all entities in the organization. User level checks only user-created entities.
Entity TypesMCPs (Integrations), Toolkits, Skills, CommandsThe guard evaluates only the entity types you check.

Select Save Filters to apply. With no filters set, the guard applies to everything, which the Overview tab reports as Applied to all.

Settings​

The Settings tab holds guard-level configuration in four collapsible sections. Each section has its own Save Changes button, so save the section you edited.

General​

The guard's identity: Name, Slug, and Description. The description is what admins see in the guard list, so state plainly what the guard detects.

Behavior​

How the guard fires and what it does:

  • Threshold slider. The guard triggers when any check scores at or above this value.
  • Action: Redact, Warning, Require Approval, or Block. A short line beneath the dropdown describes the selected action (for example, Prevent the operation entirely for Block). See Actions for what each one does.
  • Message (optional). Text shown to the user as part of the result when the action is Block or Require Approval. Use it to explain why a call was stopped or what the user should do next. It has no effect for Redact or Warning.
Guard editor Settings tab Behavior section showing a Threshold slider at 7/10, an Action dropdown set to Block, and an optional Message field

Check Sync​

Auto-sync new checks keeps a built-in guard current as Willow adds detectors. When enabled, new default checks are automatically added to this guard; checks you have modified are never overwritten. Turn it off if you want the guard's check set to stay exactly as you left it.

Danger Zone​

Two irreversible or disruptive actions:

Guard editor Danger Zone showing Unpublish Guard and Delete Guard actions
  • Unpublish Guard changes the status from active to draft. The guard stops being enforced but is not deleted, so you can republish it later.
  • Delete Guard permanently deletes the guard and all its attachments. This cannot be undone.
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