Agent Kill Switch

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How It Works

1. You call POST /agents/{id}/block with a reason.
2. The API writes the block to the database and publishes it to Redis.
3. The proxy checks Redis on every incoming request - blocked agents get an immediate 403.
4. An agent.blocked audit event is emitted automatically.
5. To restore access, call POST /agents/{id}/unblock - an agent.unblocked event is emitted.

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Block an Agent

curl -X POST https://api.meshai.dev/api/v1/agents/01ARZ3NDEKTSV4RRFFQ69G5FAV/block \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer msh_YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "reason": "Anomalous behavior detected - cost spike 10x above baseline"
  }'

from meshai import MeshAI

client = MeshAI(api_key="msh_...")

client.block_agent(
    agent_id="01ARZ3NDEKTSV4RRFFQ69G5FAV",
    reason="Anomalous behavior detected - cost spike 10x above baseline",
)

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "agent_id": "01ARZ3NDEKTSV4RRFFQ69G5FAV",
    "blocked": true,
    "reason": "Anomalous behavior detected - cost spike 10x above baseline"
  }
}

​

Unblock an Agent

curl -X POST https://api.meshai.dev/api/v1/agents/01ARZ3NDEKTSV4RRFFQ69G5FAV/unblock \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer msh_YOUR_API_KEY"

client.unblock_agent(agent_id="01ARZ3NDEKTSV4RRFFQ69G5FAV")

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "agent_id": "01ARZ3NDEKTSV4RRFFQ69G5FAV",
    "blocked": false
  }
}

​

What the Agent Sees

{
  "error": "Agent is blocked: Anomalous behavior detected - cost spike 10x above baseline"
}

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Audit Trail

curl "https://api.meshai.dev/api/v1/audit-trail?event_type=agent.blocked" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer msh_YOUR_API_KEY"

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Enforcement Architecture

• Write path: API writes block to PostgreSQL and publishes to Redis.
• Read path: Proxy checks Redis on every request (before policy evaluation).
• Fail-open: If Redis is unavailable, the proxy falls back to allowing the request (same as policy cache behavior).
• Latency: Block takes effect within milliseconds of the API call.

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Use Cases

• Incident response - Immediately stop a compromised or malfunctioning agent.
• Cost containment - Block an agent that is burning through budget unexpectedly.
• Compliance - Emergency shutdown to satisfy regulatory requirements (EU AI Act Article 14).
• Anomaly response - Automated block triggered by anomaly detection (coming soon).