Science & Tech · AI · 11 hrs ago
Wirken launches an open-source gateway for AI agents
Wirken is an open-source gateway between messaging apps and AI agents.
It connects services including Signal, WhatsApp, Slack and Teams, and runs each messaging channel in a separate process with its own credentials.
The project is designed for the risk that a hidden instruction could turn an agent against its owner and lead it to expose secrets or change files.
Credentials are kept in an encrypted vault, while commands run in a temporary container without network access when Docker is available.
Actions that change data require approval, and every action is recorded in a signed log that can be checked offline.
Some risks remain: suspicious input is flagged but still passed through, and some processes can make their own outbound connections.
Wirken is free on GitHub, and its sandbox is on by default; without Docker, shell commands are unavailable, while other features continue to work.
Wirken is an open-source gateway designed to limit what a compromised AI agent can access.
It connects messaging apps and a web chat to AI agents, with each channel running as a separate process that holds only its credentials.
Credentials are kept in an encrypted vault, and shell commands run in an ephemeral container without network access when the sandbox is enabled.
Actions are recorded in a signed, hash-chained log, while some actions require approval.
The gateway is available for free on GitHub, and its published sample verification output does not demonstrate any deployment.
- Who
- Wirken, an open-source gateway for AI agents.
- What
- It connects messaging apps and a web chat to AI agents and limits what a compromised agent can reach.
- When
- Help Net Security published the article on 2026-11-09.
- Where
- It is available on GitHub and connects to messaging services including Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram, Matrix, Discord, Slack, Teams, Google Chat and iMessage.
- Why
- It is designed to reduce the risks of agents being manipulated into leaking secrets or changing files.
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- Availability
- Free on GitHub
- Connected services
- Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram, Matrix, Discord, Slack, Teams, Google Chat and iMessage
- Sandbox
- Docker is required; shell commands are unavailable if Docker is not present
- Approval
- Deleting, installing or touching credentials requires approval every time
- Sample verification
- 1,234 rows across 7 sessions and 24 verified chain-head signatures