Reflex — Pre-Action Verification for AI Agents

What is Reflex?

Reflex is a new file format (.reflex) that defines verification rules that AI agents check BEFORE taking actions. Like human reflexes — automatic, protective, fast.

Why Reflex?

AI agents fire actions directly into production with zero pre-checks. They write files, delete data, run commands, and make API calls — all without verifying first. One bad action can break everything.

Reflex fixes this by giving AI agents a set of verification rules they check before every action. Like a bouncer at a club — every action goes through the bouncer first.

What Reflex is NOT

• NOT an MCP server (no external process, no connection needed)
• NOT a skill (not an MD file, not a procedure to follow)
• NOT a proxy (doesn’t intercept or modify tool calls)
• NOT memory (doesn’t store facts)
• NOT a prompt (doesn’t instruct the AI)

Reflex is a new file format that any AI tool can read and follow. No server, no plugin, no proxy. Just a file.

How It Works

1. Place a .reflex file in your project root (or ~/.reflex globally)
2. AI tool reads the file at startup (or when loading a project)
3. Before each action, AI checks if any reflex triggers
4. If triggered, AI runs the check and follows the action (allow/block/warn/ask)
5. If not triggered, AI proceeds normally

Quick Start

Create a .reflex file in your project root:

# Prevent overwriting existing files
reflex prevent_overwrite
  trigger: before_action
  check: file_exists
  condition: action is write_file
  on_fail: allow
  on_pass: ask_user
  message: "This file already exists. Overwrite?"

# Block dangerous commands
reflex block_dangerous
  trigger: before_action
  check: custom "echo $COMMAND | grep -E 'rm -rf|drop table|delete from'"
  on_pass: block
  on_fail: allow
  message: "Dangerous command detected. Blocked for safety."

# Require tests before commit
reflex require_tests
  trigger: before_commit
  check: tests_pass
  on_pass: allow
  on_fail: block
  message: "Tests are failing. Fix them before committing."

Cross-Platform

Reflex works on ANY AI tool that can read files:

File Format

See reflex-spec.md for the full specification.

Parser

• JavaScript/TypeScript: reflex-parser.js
• Python: reflex-parser.py

License

MIT