---
title: 'Panguard Guard'
description: '24/7 AI-driven real-time threat monitoring with the DARE pipeline, 10 monitor types, event correlation, and automated response.'
icon: 'shield'
---

Panguard Guard is the core runtime protection engine. It monitors your system 24/7 using 10 monitor types, processes every security event through a 4-agent DARE pipeline (Detect, Analyze, Respond, Report), and takes automated action against threats based on confidence scoring.

## Quick Start

```bash
# Start Guard
panguard guard start

# Check status (free)
panguard guard status

# Stop Guard
panguard guard stop
```

## Operating Modes

Guard operates in two modes and transitions automatically:

### Learning Mode (Day 1--7)

During the first 7 days, Guard observes your system to build a behavioral baseline:

```
Mode:       Learning (Day 3/7)
Monitoring: processes, network, files
Baseline:   42% complete
```

- No alerts are generated (prevents false positives)
- Records normal process patterns, network connections, file activity
- Sends daily learning progress summaries via Chat

### Protection Mode (Day 8+)

After the baseline is established, Guard switches to active protection:

```
Mode:       Protection
Score:      85/100 (Grade: A)
Threats:    0 active
Blocked:    12 IPs today
```

- Deviations from baseline trigger alerts
- Automated response based on confidence thresholds
- Real-time notifications via Chat

## The DARE Pipeline

Every security event flows through 4 agents in sequence:

```
Event ──> Detect ──> Analyze ──> Respond ──> Report
```

| Agent       | Responsibility                                                                            |
| ----------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Detect**  | Rule matching (ATR), threat intel lookup, deduplication, event correlation                |
| **Analyze** | Evidence collection, weighted confidence scoring, AI reasoning, baseline deviation checks |
| **Respond** | Action execution (block IP, kill process, quarantine file), safety checks, escalation     |
| **Report**  | JSONL logging with rotation, baseline updates, anonymized data for Threat Cloud           |

<Card
  title="Agent Pipeline Deep Dive"
  icon="arrow-right-arrow-left"
  href="/products/guard/agent-pipeline"
>
  Detailed breakdown of each agent's inputs, outputs, and decision logic.
</Card>

## Detection Layers

Guard uses a 3-layer AI detection funnel to minimize latency and cost:

| Layer       | Engine                                     | Cost         | Latency | Traffic        |
| ----------- | ------------------------------------------ | ------------ | ------- | -------------- |
| **Layer 1** | ATR rules, built-in patterns, threat intel | $0           | < 1 ms  | ~90% of events |
| **Layer 2** | Ollama (local AI)                          | $0           | ~100 ms | ~7% of events  |
| **Layer 3** | Claude / OpenAI (cloud AI)                 | ~$0.01/event | ~1 s    | ~3% of events  |

Only events that cannot be resolved at a lower layer are escalated to the next.

## Key Capabilities

| Capability               | Details                                                     |
| ------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Monitor types**        | 10 (4 built-in + 6 advanced)                                |
| **ATR rules**            | 419 built-in detection rules                                |
| **Threat intel feeds**   | 5 sources (ThreatFox, URLhaus, Feodo, GreyNoise, AbuseIPDB) |
| **Correlation patterns** | 7 attack patterns with MITRE ATT&CK mapping                 |
| **Response actions**     | IP block, process kill, file quarantine, notify, log        |
| **Cross-platform**       | macOS (pfctl), Linux (iptables), Windows (netsh)            |
| **Log retention**        | 50 MB per file, 10 rotated files, 90-day retention          |

## Status Dashboard

```bash
panguard guard status
```

```
Status:     Running
Mode:       Protection
PID:        12345
Uptime:     14d 6h 33m
Score:      85/100 (Grade: A)
Threats:    0 active
Events:     134,567 processed
Rules:      419 ATR
Feeds:      5 active
```

## CLI Options

```
panguard guard <command> [options]

Commands:
  start              Start Guard engine
  stop               Stop Guard engine
  status             Show current status
  install            Install as system service
  uninstall          Remove system service
  config             Show current configuration

Options:
  --data-dir <path>  Data directory (default: ~/.panguard-guard)
```

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Monitors" icon="eye" href="/products/guard/monitors">
    All 10 monitor types: built-in and advanced.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Event Correlation" icon="diagram-project" href="/products/guard/event-correlation">
    7 correlation patterns for multi-step attack detection.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Auto-Response" icon="bolt" href="/products/guard/auto-response">
    Response actions, safety rules, and escalation ladder.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Agent Pipeline" icon="arrow-right-arrow-left" href="/products/guard/agent-pipeline">
    Deep dive into the 4-agent DARE pipeline.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>
