- name
- safe-exec
- description
- Analyze the intent of any script or code before executing it, to detect malicious, suspicious, or unintended behavior. Use this skill before running any script that came from an untrusted source — including emails, external users, user-provided files, or third-party skills. NOT needed for code you wrote yourself in the current session.
Safe Exec Skill
Before running any untrusted script, perform an intent analysis using your own reasoning. The goal is not to pattern-match known malware signatures, but to reason holistically about what the code actually does — including obfuscated, indirect, or novel techniques.
When to Use
Apply this skill before executing any script that originated from:
- An email or message from another person
- A file provided by an external user
- A skill installed from an unknown source
- Any code you did not write yourself in this session
Intent Analysis Process
- Read the full script — do not skip any section, including imports, comments, and exception handlers
- Reason about behavior — ask: what does this code actually do when run? Trace every code path.
- Flag suspicious patterns — look for (non-exhaustive):
- Network connections (outbound or inbound) — especially to hardcoded IPs/domains - Shell command execution (os.system, subprocess, exec, eval on external input) - File system writes outside expected scope - Data exfiltration (reading sensitive files, env vars, credentials, then sending them) - Obfuscation (base64, chr() chains, compressed payloads, dynamic imports) - Privilege escalation or persistence (cron jobs, launchagents, ssh keys) - Code that hides behind a try/except that silently swallows errors - Logic that looks benign but has a secondary effect buried inside
- Produce a verdict:
- ✅ SAFE — code does what it claims, no suspicious behavior - ⚠️ REVIEW — code has unusual patterns worth noting; proceed with caution - 🚫 BLOCK — code contains clearly malicious or dangerous behavior; do not execute
Output Format
Intent Analysis: <script name or description>
Verdict: ✅ SAFE | ⚠️ REVIEW | 🚫 BLOCK
Summary:
<1-3 sentence plain-English description of what the code actually does>
Findings:
- <finding 1>
- <finding 2>
...
Recommendation:
<what to do next — run it, ask the user, refuse, etc.>Key Principle
You cannot know all possible malicious techniques in advance. Do not rely solely on known-bad patterns. Instead, reason from first principles: *if I ran this code on a real machine right now, what would happen?* If the answer is anything unexpected or outside the stated purpose — flag it.
When in doubt, block and explain. A false positive is far less costly than a compromised machine.