Package Manager Guard (PMG)

Why PMG?

Developers and AI coding agents install packages every day. Each npm install or pip install executes thousands of lines of code that nobody reviews.

Malicious packages ship constantly in popular ecosystems:

• litellm 1.82.8 - a popular AI proxy library compromised to exfiltrate credentials
• telnyx 4.87.2 - a legitimate telecom SDK hijacked on PyPI
• pino-sdk-v2 - a typosquat package disguised as the popular pino logger

PMG intercepts every package install and checks it for malware before code executes. Install it once, and every npm install, pip install, and poetry add is protected automatically.

Featured in tl;dr sec and used by engineering teams worldwide.

How PMG Works

• Transparent Protection - PMG wraps npm, pip, and other package managers to transparently apply protection. Developers and AI agents use their tools as usual with no workflow changes.
• Malicious Package Protection - Every intercepted package is analyzed against SafeDep's real-time threat intelligence before installation. Malicious packages are blocked before code executes on the system.
• Sandboxed Installation - Package installation runs inside OS-native sandboxes (macOS Seatbelt, Linux Bubblewrap), preventing install scripts from modifying the system even if a threat evades detection.
• Audit Logging - Every package installation event is logged, providing a verifiable trail of what was installed, when, and from where.

Quick Start

Get protected in seconds.

1. Install

MacOS / Linux (Install Script)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/safedep/pmg/main/install.sh | sh

MacOS / Linux (Homebrew)

brew install safedep/tap/pmg

NPM

npm install -g @safedep/pmg

Note: NPM-based installs can be fragile when Node.js is managed by version managers like mise or asdf, since the global npm bin path changes with the active Node version. Prefer the install script or Homebrew in those setups.

See Installation for additional methods.

2. Setup

Configure your shell to use PMG automatically.

pmg setup install
# Restart your terminal to apply changes

Tip: Re-run pmg setup install after upgrading PMG to pick up new configuration options.

3. Use

Use your package managers as usual or let your AI coding agent use them. PMG works silently in the background.

npm install express
# or
pip install requests

Verify PMG is working by installing a test package. This is a harmless package flagged as malicious in the SafeDep database, specifically meant for testing:

npm --prefer-online --no-cache i safedep-test-pkg@0.1.3

Expected output

✗ Malicious package blocked

  - safedep-test-pkg@0.1.3
    Reference: https://app.safedep.io/community/malysis/01KF5JYDND9XR94WNEJ2G74KY2

✗ PMG: 1 packages analyzed, 1 blocked

Features

Feature	Description
AI Agent Safety Net	Protects against malicious packages installed by AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, Windsurf).
Malicious Package Protection	Real-time protection against malicious packages using SafeDep.
Sandboxing	Enforces least privilege using OS native sandboxing to contain installation scripts.
Dependency Analysis	Deep scans of direct and transitive dependencies before they hit your disk.
Event Logging	Keeps a verifiable audit trail of all installed packages.
Dependency Cooldown	Blocks package versions published within a configurable time window, reducing exposure to supply chain attacks.
Zero Config	Works out of the box with sensible security defaults.
Cross-Shell	Seamlessly integrates with Zsh, Bash, Fish, and more.

Supported Package Managers

PMG supports the tools you already use:

Ecosystem	Tools	Status	Command Example
Node.js	npm	Yes	npm install <pkg>
	pnpm	Yes	pnpm add <pkg>
	yarn	Yes	yarn add <pkg>
	bun	Yes	bun add <pkg>
	npx	Yes	npx <pkg>
	pnpx	Yes	pnpx <pkg>
Python	pip	Yes	pip install <pkg>
	poetry	Yes	poetry add <pkg>
	uv	Yes	uv add <pkg>

Installation

Install Script (MacOS/Linux)

Downloads the latest release from GitHub, verifies its SHA-256 checksum, and installs to $HOME/.local/bin (if on PATH) or /usr/local/bin.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/safedep/pmg/main/install.sh | sh

Homebrew (MacOS/Linux)

brew tap safedep/tap
brew install safedep/tap/pmg

NPM (Cross-Platform)

npm install -g @safedep/pmg

Note: NPM-based installs can be fragile when Node.js is managed by version managers like mise or asdf. The global npm bin path changes with the active Node version, so switching versions can leave pmg unavailable on PATH (or pointing to an old install). For these setups, prefer the install script or Homebrew.

Go (Build from Source)

# Ensure $(go env GOPATH)/bin is in your $PATH
go install github.com/safedep/pmg@latest

Binary Download

Download the latest binary for your platform from the Releases Page.

GitHub Actions

Protect your CI workflows by adding a single step. Every npm install, pip install, etc. in the job is transparently analyzed by PMG.

- uses: actions/setup-node@v4
  with:
    node-version: 24
- uses: safedep/pmg@v1
- run: npm ci

Zero-config users get malware blocking and dependency cooldown out of the box. Power users tune behavior via inputs (paranoid, sandbox, cooldown-days, ...) or by pointing config-file at a YAML in the repo. See docs/github-action.md for the full reference.

Uninstallation

Remove shell integration:

pmg setup remove

To also remove the PMG configuration file:

pmg setup remove --config-file

Then uninstall PMG itself:

# Homebrew
brew uninstall safedep/tap/pmg

# NPM
npm uninstall -g @safedep/pmg

Trust and Security

Security is our first class requirement. PMG builds are reproducible and signed.

• Attestations: GitHub and npm attestations are used to guarantee artifact integrity.
• Verification: Users can cryptographically prove the binary matches the source code.
• See Trusting PMG for verification steps.

User Guide

• Trusted Packages Configuration
• Dependency Cooldown
• Proxy Mode Architecture
• Sandboxing Details

Support

If PMG saved you from a bad package, star this repo — it helps others find it.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on how to build and test PMG locally.

Telemetry

PMG collects anonymous usage data to improve project stability and reliability. To disable, either:

• Set disable_telemetry: true in your PMG config file, or
• Export PMG_DISABLE_TELEMETRY=true.