Get started

Secure and monitor your AI traffic with Sentinel — in under 2 minutes. Pick your platform:

Windows macOS / Linux

Windows users get a one-click app — no Python or Docker. macOS / Linux use the Sentinel CLI.

Windows

On Windows, the one-click Sentinel app is the fastest path — no Python, no Docker, and no secret to copy.

1 - Prerequisites

You'll need:

• A SUPERWISE® account — sign up if you don't have one yet.

2 - Install and connect

1. Download the installer — get the Sentinel for Windows installer (installs just for you, no admin needed).
2. Install and open it — run the MSI, then open SUPERWISE® Sentinel from the Start menu.
3. Connect — click Connect, approve the device in your browser, and the Dashboard shows Protected. That's it — your AI tools now route through the local gateway.
4. Try it — open a terminal and run a tool like Claude Code. Its traffic is inspected and guardrails are applied before anything leaves your machine.

macOS and Linux

Set up with the Sentinel CLI.

1 - Prerequisites

You'll need:

• A SUPERWISE® account — sign up if you don't have one yet.
• Python 3.11+ and pip to install the Sentinel CLI.

Install the CLI via pip

Run the standard install command inside your terminal to download and install the latest release of the Sentinel CLI from PyPI:

pip install superwise-sentinel-cli

Verify the installation by checking the utility version:

sentinel --version

2 - Instrumenting your AI traffic to Sentinel

Your apps reach the model through a Sentinel gateway. There are two very different ways to get one — pick the path that matches your situation:

• Option A — Deploy a local Sentinel (needs Docker) — spin up your own Sentinel on this machine. Best for experimentation, anyone who wants their own dedicated Sentinel, or an admin bootstrapping a new Sentinel for the organization.
• Option B — Connect to an existing Sentinel (no Docker) — point this machine at a Sentinel your team already deployed. This is what most users want.

Option A: Deploy a local Sentinel

Spin up your own Sentinel on this machine — good for experimentation, a dedicated personal Sentinel, or an admin bootstrapping a new Sentinel for the org. This is the only path that needs Docker.

sentinel quickstart

The CLI will guide you through the setup process:

1. You will be asked whether you want to use an existing gateway — select N

2. Next step launches the local docker container, make sure its up and running!

3. Creating a local gateway requires authentication. If you haven't logged in before, the CLI opens your browser to authenticate with SUPERWISE® — approve the login to continue. (Prefer machine credentials? Run sentinel auth --client-credentials first and paste a Client ID and Client Secret — see how to generate credentials.)

4. Once the gateway launches, you will see all its information in the terminal: Hosted port, how to test it and a link to your newly created Sentinel in the SUPERWISE® SaaS UI

   

5. With the gateway up and running, we can activate the proxy. Proxy settings manage what traffic is routed through the gateway before continueing to the LLM providers.

6. You will be asked which providers you want the gateway to proxy for. To proxy for all of them, just press enter.

7. Once setup completes, proxy settings are applied to your machine.

8. All subsequent sessions will route traffic through this gateway by default.

Option B: Connect to an existing Sentinel

Most users land here: your team or IT has already deployed a Sentinel — for example inside your company's shared network or VPC — and you just point this machine at it. No Docker required. Run the quickstart and supply the gateway's address:

sentinel quickstart

The CLI will guide you through the setup process:

1. You will be asked whether you want to use an existing gateway — select y
2. You will be asked to supply the Sentinel gateway full path.
3. You will be asked which providers you want the gateway to proxy for. To proxy for all of them, just press enter.
4. Once the gateway is configured, proxy settings are applied to your machine.
5. All subsequent sessions will route traffic through this gateway by default.

3 - Try it out

See exactly what your gateway does to a prompt — no provider key required, and nothing is recorded in telemetry:

sentinel test --text "My email is [email protected] and my key is sk-proj-abc123"

Sentinel runs the prompt through your guardrails and prints whether it passed, was redacted, or was blocked — along with the redacted text, without ever calling the model.

Now, head directly over to your centralized SUPERWISE® SaaS Dashboard to see your interaction log graphs, validation metrics, and active guardrail latency tables updating live!