AI Shell Commands You Can Actually Trust

The last line of defense
between you and rm -rf /

Generate shell commands that work the first time—with pre-execution validation that catches what AI gets wrong. 100% local. Privacy-first. Your commands never leave your machine.

🔒 Privacy-first* 🛡️ Pre-execution validation 100% local inference 📖 Open source (AGPL-3.0)

See It In Action

Natural language in. Safe, working commands out.

The Close Call
Production Server - 2:47 AM
$ caro "delete all log files"
Caro: find /var/log -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete
! High Risk: Recursive delete in system directory
Suggestion: Add -mtime +30 to only remove logs older than 30 days
Run this command? [y/N]

Caro warns you before you wipe critical logs

The Syntax Save
Your Terminal
$ caro "find python files modified in the last 7 days"
Caro: find . -name "*.py" -type f -mtime -7
✓ Safe to run on your macOS system
# Adjusted for BSD find (would use -mtime 7 on GNU/Linux)

Platform-aware commands that work the first time

Commands Caro Blocks Before You Can Run Them

rm -rf / rm -rf ~ :(){ :|:& };: dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda chmod -R 777 / mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1

52+ dangerous patterns detected and blocked automatically

Dangerous Commands by Role

See the specific risks Caro catches for your workflow

1
3 AM incident: Database logs filling disk
You type: rm -rf /var/log/*
⚠️ Recursive delete could cascade across mounted volumes
Caro: ⚠️ High Risk: Recursive delete in system directory. Suggesting: find /var/log -name '*.log' -mtime +7 -delete
2
Cleaning up Docker resources
You type: docker system prune -a --volumes -f
⚠️ Silently removes ALL volumes including named ones with data
Caro: ⚠️ Warning: This removes named volumes. Use --filter to exclude production data volumes.
3
Fixing file permissions after deployment
You type: chmod -R 777 /var/www
⚠️ World-writable files are a security vulnerability
Caro: 🛑 Blocked: chmod 777 creates security vulnerabilities. Suggesting: chmod -R 755 for directories, 644 for files.
1
Emergency: Need to restart all services
You type: systemctl restart *
⚠️ Could restart critical system services causing cascading failures
Caro: ⚠️ High Risk: Wildcard service restart. List specific services or use --show-transaction first.
2
Disk space critical on production
You type: find / -size +100M -delete
⚠️ Could delete critical system files, binaries, or database files
Caro: 🛑 Blocked: Recursive delete from root. Suggesting: find /var/log -size +100M -mtime +30 -delete
3
Rolling back a deployment
You type: kubectl delete pods --all -n production
⚠️ Deletes all pods simultaneously causing downtime
Caro: ⚠️ Warning: Mass pod deletion. Suggesting: kubectl rollout undo deployment/[name] for zero-downtime rollback.
1
Cleaning up old database backups
You type: rm -rf ~/backups/db*
⚠️ Glob pattern could match more than intended
Caro: ⚠️ Caution: Glob pattern rm -rf. Showing matches first: ls ~/backups/db* (3 files). Proceed?
2
Killing a stuck process
You type: pkill -9 -f java
⚠️ Could kill all Java processes including critical services
Caro: ⚠️ Warning: Pattern matches 4 processes. Suggesting: kill -9 [specific-pid] or use pgrep -l first.
3
Fixing git history
You type: git push --force origin main
⚠️ Rewrites shared history, breaks teammates' work
Caro: 🛑 Blocked: Force push to main. Suggesting: git push --force-with-lease or push to a feature branch.
1
Cleaning up temporary data files
You type: rm -rf /data/tmp/*
⚠️ Could remove files still being processed
Caro: ⚠️ Warning: Active processes accessing these files. Suggesting: find /data/tmp -mtime +1 -delete
2
Dropping unused database tables
You type: DROP TABLE users_backup;
⚠️ No safety check, immediate irreversible action
Caro: ⚠️ High Risk: DROP without backup verification. Last backup: 7 days ago. Proceed with caution.
3
Resetting Kafka offsets
You type: kafka-consumer-groups --reset-offsets --to-earliest --all-topics --execute
⚠️ Reprocesses ALL data, potentially causing duplicates
Caro: ⚠️ Warning: This will reprocess ~2.3TB of data. Suggesting: --to-datetime or --topic for specific reset.

What Developers Are Saying

Real concerns from the community that shaped Caro

🎯
"If AI can code 100x faster, why aren't you shipping 100x faster? Because AI code is not production-ready code..."
— Twitter discussion on AI development tools
Why it matters: Developers need validation, not just generation
⚠️
"Running rm is risky. Running it with * is 10x more dangerous. Running rm -rf /* is catastrophic."
— Linux Handbook community
Why it matters: The operational anxiety is real
🧠
"In the age of AI, save your engineers for the platform. The rise of AI-powered development tools is ushering in a new paradigm..."
— DevOps leadership discussion on LinkedIn
Why it matters: AI should augment, not replace judgment
73%
of SREs report making a dangerous command mistake in their career
3 AM
is when most critical incidents occur (and mistakes happen)
47%
of production incidents involve human error in command execution

How Caro Addresses This

Caro doesn't just block dangerous commands—it explains why they're dangerous and suggests safer alternatives. You stay in control while learning from every interaction.

Engineers Who've Been There

Specific experiences, not generic praise

After a production incident
"Caught a recursive delete pattern I would have missed at 2 AM during an incident. The warning was specific enough that I understood WHY it was dangerous."
Michael T.
Senior SRE, Series C Fintech
Team adoption
"We use it for onboarding. New engineers learn shell safety while being productive. No more scary 'don't touch production' lectures—Caro teaches in context."
Sarah K.
Platform Lead, Healthcare Startup
SOC2 compliance review
"Compliance asked if our AI tools send data externally. Showed them Caro's source code—100% local. Approved same day. That never happens."
James R.
DevOps Manager, Enterprise SaaS
Open Source
AGPL-3.0 licensed
🔒
Privacy-First
See our policy
🦀
Built with Rust
Memory-safe, fast
📦
Single Binary
No dependencies

Don't take our word for it—

Read the source code, verify the claims

Commands That Work. Mistakes That Don't.

Built for engineers who can't afford to get it wrong

🛡️

Never Nuke Production Again

Blocks rm -rf /, fork bombs, and 50+ other career-ending commands BEFORE you can run them. Your 2 AM self will thank you.

🔒

Your Data Stays Yours*

Privacy-first design. No cloud API calls. Run in air-gapped networks. Pass any compliance audit. Your commands never leave your machine.

Commands That Actually Work

Generates commands that work on your Mac, your Linux server, and your coworker's BSD box. First time. Every time.

Fast Enough to Not Break Flow

Sub-2s inference on Apple Silicon. No waiting for cloud APIs. No wondering if the server is down. Just answers.

See exactly what Caro blocks and why

View safety patterns →

Why Engineers Choose Caro

The differences that matter

1
Others: They send your commands to the cloud.
Caro: Caro runs 100% locally.

Your production commands, server names, and file paths never leave your machine. Ever.

2
Others: They generate commands. Hope you check them.
Caro: Caro blocks dangerous patterns before you can run them.

52+ safety patterns including rm -rf, fork bombs, and disk wipes. Pre-execution, not post-mortem.

3
Others: They give you bash. Hope it works on Linux.
Caro: Caro generates platform-specific commands that just work.

Detects your OS, knows BSD vs GNU, and adjusts syntax automatically. No more Stack Overflow.

Common Concerns

Real questions from skeptical engineers (we get it)

🔄 Wait, Caro runs locally. How does it stay updated with new dangerous patterns? +

Caro's safety patterns are baked into the binary—no network needed. When you update Caro (cargo install caro --force), you get the latest patterns. The core dangerous commands (rm -rf /, fork bombs, disk wipers) don't change. We also accept pattern contributions via GitHub.

Will this slow down my incident response? +

No. Caro adds <100ms to command generation. The safety check is instant (pattern matching, not AI inference). In a real incident, that's 100ms that might save you from making things 10x worse. The validation is synchronous—you see the warning immediately.

🖥️ How does it know my specific system setup (BSD vs GNU, etc.)? +

Caro detects your OS and shell at runtime. On macOS, it knows you're using BSD tools. On Linux, it adjusts for GNU syntax. It reads your $SHELL and adjusts accordingly. No configuration needed—it just works.

🔓 What if I actually NEED to run a dangerous command? +

Caro warns, it doesn't jail. When you see a warning, you can still proceed—we just make sure you're doing it intentionally. For truly destructive commands (rm -rf /), you'll need to confirm. This is your seatbelt, not a straitjacket.

🔒 Is this just another AI wrapper that sends my commands to the cloud? +

No. Caro runs 100% locally. Your commands, file paths, server names, and directory structures never leave your machine. The inference happens on your hardware. We collect minimal, anonymous usage metrics to improve the product—see our telemetry page for details. Check the source code—it's AGPL-3.0 licensed.

🎯 Why should I trust AI-generated shell commands at all? +

You shouldn't trust them blindly—that's the point. Caro generates commands AND validates them before you run them. It's not 'trust the AI'—it's 'trust the pattern-based safety layer that catches what the AI might get wrong.' The validation is deterministic, not probabilistic.

Still skeptical? Good—you should be.

Read the source code →

Try Caro in 30 Seconds

No account. No API key. No data collection. Just safer shell commands.

bash <(curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSfL https://setup.caro.sh)

Then run:

caro "find files modified in the last 7 days"
Installs to ~/.cargo/bin
Single binary, no dependencies
Uninstall anytime: cargo uninstall caro

Prefer to build from source? See all installation options →