Self-hosting

The Orivael Intent Firewall runs as a single FastAPI app. You can host it anywhere you can run Python 3.11+ or a Docker container.

This guide is the short version. For the prod-grade AWS deploy, see deploy/firewall/README.md.

Minimum runtime

Python 3.11+ (3.10 works but isn't tested)
256 MB RAM, 1 vCPU per replica
A persistent volume for tenant SQLite files
A way to terminate TLS (Caddy, nginx, Traefik, ALB, Cloudflare Tunnel — your choice)

Run with Docker

docker build -t orivael/axiom-firewall:local \
    -f deploy/firewall/Dockerfile .

docker run -d --name firewall \
    -p 8004:8004 \
    -e AXIOM_MASTER_KEY="$(openssl rand -hex 32)" \
    -e AXIOM_FIREWALL_SESSION_SECRET="$(openssl rand -hex 32)" \
    -v /var/lib/axiom-firewall:/data/tenants \
    --restart unless-stopped \
    orivael/axiom-firewall:local

Hit http://localhost:8004/healthz to verify.

Run with docker-compose + Caddy (auto TLS)

See deploy/firewall/docker-compose.yml and deploy/firewall/Caddyfile.

cd deploy/firewall
cp .env.example .env
# fill in AXIOM_ENV=production, AXIOM_MASTER_KEY,
# AXIOM_FIREWALL_SESSION_SECRET, FIREWALL_HOST. See the Production
# checklist below for what each one does and the rotation gotchas.
docker compose --profile tls up -d

Run from source

git clone https://github.com/Orivael-Dev/axiom
cd axiom
pip install fastapi uvicorn jinja2 python-multipart itsdangerous

export AXIOM_MASTER_KEY=$(openssl rand -hex 32)
export AXIOM_FIREWALL_SESSION_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32)

uvicorn axiom_firewall.dashboard:app \
    --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8004 \
    --workers 2 --proxy-headers --forwarded-allow-ips='*'

Required environment

Variable	Required	Purpose
`AXIOM_ENV`	prod	Set to `production` in any prod deploy. Turns the session-secret check into a hard error (boot fails instead of warning) and forces the `Secure` flag on session cookies. Defaults to `development`.
`AXIOM_MASTER_KEY`	yes	HMAC root for signing verdicts and the pepper for the API-key hash table. 64 hex chars. Must stay stable across restarts — see Production checklist below.
`AXIOM_FIREWALL_SESSION_SECRET`	yes	Cookie signing key. 32+ chars; with `AXIOM_ENV=production` the app refuses to boot if this is the dev default or shorter.
`AXIOM_FIREWALL_TENANT_DIR`	no	Where to keep tenant SQLite files. Default `tenants`. Mount this to a persistent volume.
`AXIOM_FIREWALL_PUBLIC_URL`	no	The URL the dashboard is served at. Used for Stripe redirects.
`AXIOM_FIREWALL_CORS_ORIGINS`	no	Comma-separated origins permitted to call `/v1/guard/check` from a browser. Empty = server-side only.
`AXIOM_GUARD_API_TOKEN`	compose	Bearer token callers must present on the guard-api's OpenAI-compatible `/v1/chat/completions` (drop-in path). Required by the compose `guard-api` service — on a public host every proxied call spends your provider key. Optional (off) when running the guard API alone for local development.
`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` / `NIM_API_KEY`	no	The model backend the guard-api proxies to (Anthropic, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint via `NIM_BASE_URL` + `NIM_MODEL`). Without one, `/guard/*` verdicts still work — only the proxy paths 503.

Production checklist

Three gotchas to wire into your prod compose file / k8s manifest before the first request lands:

Set AXIOM_ENV=production. Without it, a missing or weak AXIOM_FIREWALL_SESSION_SECRET is a runtime warning the team can miss in a busy log stream. With it, the app refuses to boot — the failure surfaces in docker compose up immediately and you fix it before traffic arrives.
Generate a real AXIOM_FIREWALL_SESSION_SECRET and put it in your secret store. 32 chars minimum (the boot check enforces this in prod):

python3 -c 'import secrets; print(secrets.token_hex(32))'

If this leaks, anyone can forge session cookies for any tenant. Rotate the value to force a global logout.

Keep AXIOM_MASTER_KEY stable across restarts. It's used in two places now: - HMAC signing of every verdict (changes invalidate prior receipts). - The peppered hash of API keys stored in the tenant SQLite files. The legacy plaintext-to-hash migration runs once at write time, not on every read — so rotating AXIOM_MASTER_KEY after keys are in the DB makes every existing API key fail authentication permanently.

Treat it like a database encryption key: generate once, store in AWS Secrets Manager / GCP Secret Manager / a sealed-secrets CRD, never rotate without a migration plan. If you must rotate, the safe sequence is: pause traffic → re-hash every row with the new pepper → swap the env var → resume.

A minimal prod .env snippet that satisfies all three:

AXIOM_ENV=production
AXIOM_MASTER_KEY=<64 hex chars, generated once and stored in your secret manager>
AXIOM_FIREWALL_SESSION_SECRET=<64 hex chars, rotatable>
AXIOM_FIREWALL_TENANT_DIR=/data/tenants

Optional: enable Stripe billing

Run scripts/stripe_setup.py with your test- or live-mode secret key. It prints the env vars to set:

STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_test_...
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=whsec_...   # from the webhook endpoint you create
STRIPE_PRICE_INDIE=price_...
STRIPE_PRICE_TEAM=price_...
STRIPE_METER_INDIE=axiom_firewall_indie
STRIPE_METER_TEAM=axiom_firewall_team

If you leave Stripe unset, the Firewall runs in free-tier-only mode: all paid-tier routes return 503, free tier signup + verdict path work.

Behind a reverse proxy

The Firewall trusts X-Forwarded-* headers when started with --proxy-headers --forwarded-allow-ips='*'. Pass through:

Header	What it's used for
`X-Forwarded-For`	Client IP (for per-IP signup rate limit).
`X-Forwarded-Proto`	Required so redirects use `https://`.
`X-Forwarded-Host`	Optional; only used for log output.

Restrict --forwarded-allow-ips to your proxy's CIDR when the upstream is on a known network.

Health endpoints

Path	Purpose	Code
`/healthz`	Liveness — process is up	200
`/readyz`	Readiness — DB writable	200 / 503

Backups

Tenant SQLite files are self-contained. Back up $AXIOM_FIREWALL_TENANT_DIR on the cadence your data-retention policy requires:

tar czf /backups/axiom-firewall-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz \
    -C $AXIOM_FIREWALL_TENANT_DIR .

Restoring is a tar xzf into a new mount on a fresh deploy.

Upgrades

The dashboard performs ALTER TABLE ... ADD COLUMN migrations on startup automatically. Forward-only — no destructive migrations are planned through Phase 3. Read the release notes before upgrading across a major release.