vmware-policy

VMware Policy

Disclaimer: This is a community-maintained open-source project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by VMware, Inc. or Broadcom Inc. "VMware" and "vSphere" are trademarks of Broadcom. Source code is publicly auditable at github.com/vmware-skills/VMware-Policy under the MIT license.

Unified audit logging, policy enforcement, and input sanitization -- the infrastructure layer for the entire VMware MCP skill family.

Infrastructure dependency: All 8 VMware skills depend on vmware-policy. It is auto-installed and provides the @vmware_tool decorator, sanitize(), and the shared audit database. Family: vmware-aiops (VM lifecycle), vmware-monitor (read-only monitoring), vmware-storage (iSCSI/vSAN), vmware-vks (Tanzu Kubernetes), vmware-nsx (NSX networking), vmware-nsx-security (DFW/firewall), vmware-aria (metrics/alerts/capacity), vmware-avi (AVI/ALB/AKO). | vmware-pilot (workflow orchestration)

What This Skill Does

Quick Install

uv tool install vmware-policy
vmware-audit stats          # verify installation

vmware-policy is automatically installed as a dependency of all VMware skills. Manual install is only needed for standalone audit querying.

When to Use This Skill

• Query the unified audit trail across all VMware skills
• View denied operations and policy violations
• Check audit statistics (by skill, by status, by time range)
• Export audit logs as JSON for external analysis
• Configure deny rules or maintenance windows
• Integrate the @vmware_tool decorator into a new VMware skill

This skill is auto-loaded as a dependency -- you do not need to invoke it directly. It activates when:

• Any VMware skill tool function is called (via @vmware_tool decorator)
• User asks about audit logs, denied operations, or policy rules
• User runs vmware-audit CLI commands

Related Skills -- Skill Routing

Common Workflows

Query Recent Audit Activity

1. View last 20 audit entries: vmware-audit log --last 20
2. Filter by skill: vmware-audit log --skill vmware-nsx --last 50
3. Check denied operations: vmware-audit log --status denied --since 2026-03-28
4. View aggregate stats: vmware-audit stats --days 7

Set Up Policy Rules for Production

1. Copy default rules: cp $(python -c "import vmware_policy; print(vmware_policy.__file__.replace('__init__.py','rules_default.yaml'))") ~/.vmware/rules.yaml
2. Edit ~/.vmware/rules.yaml -- add deny rules for production:

   deny:
     - name: no-delete-in-prod
       operations: ["delete_*", "cluster_delete"]
       environments: ["production"]
       reason: "Destructive operations blocked in production"
   maintenance_window:
     start: "22:00"
     end: "06:00"
   

3. Rules hot-reload automatically -- no restart needed
4. Verify: vmware-audit log --status denied to see blocked operations

Export Audit Logs for Compliance

1. Export all logs as JSON: vmware-audit export --format json > audit-export.json
2. Filter by skill: vmware-audit export --skill vmware-aiops --since 2026-01-01
3. Import into your SIEM or compliance tool

Usage Mode

CLI Quick Reference

# View recent audit entries
vmware-audit log --last 20
vmware-audit log --skill vmware-nsx --status denied
vmware-audit log --since 2026-03-28 --tool delete_segment

# Export for compliance
vmware-audit export --format json > audit.json
vmware-audit export --skill vmware-aiops --since 2026-01-01

# Aggregate statistics
vmware-audit stats --days 7
vmware-audit stats --days 30

Full CLI reference: see references/cli-reference.md

Python API

from vmware_policy import vmware_tool, sanitize

# Wrap every MCP tool function
@vmware_tool(risk_level="high", sensitive_params=["password"])
def delete_segment(name: str, env: str = "") -> dict:
    ...

# Sanitize untrusted API responses before returning to LLM
clean_text = sanitize(api_response_text, max_len=500)

MCP Tools (0)

vmware-policy does not expose MCP tools. It is a Python library and CLI consumed by other VMware skills.

Agent Detection (Transparency Note)

The detect_agent() function in audit.py checks the following environment variables to identify which AI agent is calling the tools. This is read-only inspection for audit logging purposes — no credentials are extracted or stored:

The detected agent name is stored in the agent column of ~/.vmware/audit.db for audit trail purposes only. No API keys or tokens are logged.

Troubleshooting

"Cannot initialize audit DB" warning

The audit database directory ~/.vmware/ must be writable. Create it manually: mkdir -p ~/.vmware && chmod 700 ~/.vmware.

Policy rules not taking effect

Rules are loaded from ~/.vmware/rules.yaml. Verify the file exists and contains valid YAML. The PolicyEngine hot-reloads on file change -- no restart needed.

Audit log growing too large

The AuditEngine automatically rotates at 100MB, keeping the 5 most recent archives. For manual cleanup: ls ~/.vmware/audit.*.db to see archives.

"PolicyDenied" exception in skill

This means a deny rule in ~/.vmware/rules.yaml matched the operation. Check vmware-audit log --status denied to see the rule name and reason. To temporarily bypass: VMWARE_POLICY_DISABLED=1 (still logged as bypassed).

Decorator not detecting skill name

The @vmware_tool decorator infers the skill name from the module path (e.g., vmware_aiops.ops.vm_lifecycle -> aiops). If the module does not follow the vmware_ convention, the skill is logged as "unknown".

SQLite "database is locked" error

Multiple concurrent skill processes can write to the same audit.db via WAL mode. If locks persist beyond 5 seconds, check for zombie processes holding the database file.

Setup

uv tool install vmware-policy
mkdir -p ~/.vmware

vmware-policy is auto-installed as a dependency of all VMware skills. The ~/.vmware/ directory is created automatically on first audit write.

Full setup guide, security details, and integration instructions: see references/setup-guide.md

Security

• Source Code: github.com/vmware-skills/VMware-Policy
• Config File Contents: ~/.vmware/rules.yaml contains only rule definitions, no credentials
• Webhook Data Scope: N/A -- vmware-policy does not send data externally
• TLS Verification: N/A -- vmware-policy does not make network connections
• Prompt Injection Protection: sanitize() truncates to 500 chars and strips C0/C1 control characters
• Least Privilege: Audit database is local-only (~/.vmware/audit.db), no network exposure

License

MIT -- github.com/vmware-skills/VMware-Policy