A local gut check for coding agents. Before Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or Copilot runs rm -rf, force-pushes, deploys or sends something, it calls gut_check and gets back calibrated probabilities that the action is intended and safe, plus a recommendation: proceed, confirm (ask the user first) or block.

Runs on your CPU with gutsy (0.8B, 775 MB GGUF). No API calls, no per-call cost, deterministic, and your code never leaves the machine.

What it is and isn't

It's a fast second opinion that adds friction where it's warranted. It is not a security boundary: the agent decides whether to call it and writes the context it sees, and a 0.8B model is weak at ambiguity and multi-step rules (see the model card). Keep your normal permission settings on. Default thresholds aren't tuned for your workflow; log the probabilities and adjust them.

1. Start the gutsy runtime

git clone https://github.com/kouhxp/gutsy
pip install -e gutsy/gutsy-inference
hf download kouhxp/gutsy --include "gutsy-0.8b-v04*" --local-dir gutsy/gutsy-inference/models
cd gutsy/gutsy-inference && cp models.example.json models.json
gutsy-inference check && gutsy-inference serve     # http://127.0.0.1:8765

Or set GUTSY_INFERENCE_DIR=/path/to/gutsy/gutsy-inference and gutsy-mcp starts it on first use.

2. Add the MCP server

Claude Code:

claude mcp add gutsy -- uvx gutsy-mcp

Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json) / Claude Desktop:

{ "mcpServers": { "gutsy": { "command": "uvx", "args": ["gutsy-mcp"] } } }

VS Code (.vscode/mcp.json):

{ "servers": { "gutsy": { "type": "stdio", "command": "uvx", "args": ["gutsy-mcp"] } } }

Codex (~/.codex/config.toml):

[mcp_servers.gutsy]
command = "uvx"
args = ["gutsy-mcp"]

Then tell the agent when to use it (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, .cursor/rules):

Before deleting files, rewriting git history, force-pushing, touching databases, deploying, publishing or sending anything, call gut_check. If it doesn't return proceed, stop and ask me.

3. Optional: enforce it with a Claude Code hook

An MCP tool only runs if the agent remembers to call it. The hook runs on every risky-looking Bash command regardless. It can only ask or deny, never auto-approve.

uv tool install gutsy-mcp      # puts gutsy-hook on PATH

.claude/settings.json:

{
  "hooks": {
    "PreToolUse": [
      { "matcher": "Bash", "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "gutsy-hook", "timeout": 60 }] }
    ]
  }
}

block becomes a confirmation prompt by default; set GUTSY_HOOK_ALLOW_DENY=1 to deny outright.

Tool

gut_check(action, context="", user_request="") returns:

{
  "recommendation": "confirm",
  "reason": "Not confident enough to proceed without the user.",
  "p_intended": 0.41,
  "p_reversible": 0.08,
  "verdict_probabilities": {"proceed": 0.22, "confirm": 0.61, "block": 0.17},
  "reject": 0.04,
  "confidence": 0.42
}

env var	default
`GUTSY_URL`	`http://127.0.0.1:8765`	runtime URL
`GUTSY_INFERENCE_DIR`		lets gutsy-mcp start the runtime
`GUTSY_MODEL`	runtime default	model name from `models.json`
`GUTSY_PROCEED_MIN`	`0.85`
`GUTSY_BLOCK_MIN`	`0.50`
`GUTSY_API_KEY`		if you run `serve --api-key-env`