pkgguard is a security tool, so we hold its own behaviour to a high bar.

• pkgguard never executes the packages it inspects. Existence and metadata checks read public registry/GitHub APIs over HTTPS. The opt-in source scan (--scan) downloads a package archive and analyses it statically — Python is parsed with ast (parsing does not run code), other files are pattern-matched. Archives are extracted in-memory with hard caps on size, file count and path traversal.
• No API keys or secrets are required or transmitted. GITHUB_TOKEN, if set, is used only as a bearer token to raise GitHub's rate limit.

If you find a security issue in pkgguard itself, please open a GitHub Security Advisory or email the maintainer rather than filing a public issue. We aim to respond within a few days.

pkgguard reports signals and heuristics, not proof. A ✅ verdict means "no red flags found," not a guarantee of safety. Always pair automated checks with human judgement for anything sensitive.