Talon

Dativo Talon

Evidence-grade AI governance gateway for European teams.

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[Docs](docs/README.md) · [Limitations](LIMITATIONS.md) · [Roadmap & focus](ROADMAP.md) · [Quickstart](docs/tutorials/proxy-quickstart.md) · [Docker demo](examples/docker-compose/README.md) · [Dashboard](docs/reference/gateway-dashboard.md) · [Limitations](LIMITATIONS.md) · Releases

Talon is a single Go binary that sits in front of OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, Azure OpenAI, and any OpenAI-compatible client. Change one URL and every request is policy-checked, PII-scanned, cost-tracked, and written to a tamper-evident, HMAC-signed evidence record — same SDK, same response shape, governed path. Built for EU teams that need real governance signals for GDPR, NIS2, DORA, and the EU AI Act. Apache 2.0.

Positioning: Portkey helps you operate AI. AGT helps you build governed agents. Talon helps you prove your AI traffic was governed — inside Europe, with signed evidence. See [Roadmap & focus](ROADMAP.md) for what we deliberately do not build.

$ talon audit list
ID          TIME                 CALLER        PII              COST(€)  MODEL         DECISION
evt_a1b2c3  2026-03-15T10:23:45  support-bot   email(1)         0.003    gpt-4o-mini   allowed
evt_d4e5f6  2026-03-15T10:24:12  hr-assistant  iban(2)          0.000    gpt-4o        blocked:pii
evt_x9y0z1  2026-03-15T10:24:45  eng-tools     none             0.000    —             blocked:tool
evt_g7h8i9  2026-03-15T10:25:01  eng-tools     none             0.012    claude-3.5    allowed
evt_j0k1l2  2026-03-15T10:25:30  support-bot   email(1),phone   0.004    gpt-4o-mini   allowed:redacted

---

Why Talon?

• PII is scanned before the provider call — email, IBAN, VAT, national IDs and more are detected up front, then redacted, blocked, or routed to EU-only models.
• Policy is enforced before spend happens — budgets and model allowlists are evaluated up front, not in a post-hoc alert after the money is gone.
• Dangerous tools are filtered before the model can call them — forbidden tools are stripped from the request before the LLM ever sees them.
• Every decision becomes signed evidence — each request produces an HMAC-SHA256 evidence record you can verify and export.
• Built for EU compliance signals — supporting controls mapped to GDPR, NIS2, DORA, and the EU AI Act.

---

60-second demo (no API key)

The bundled Docker Compose stack runs Talon plus a mock provider, so the full pipeline (policy, PII, cost, evidence) runs without any real LLM key.

git clone https://github.com/dativo-io/talon && cd talon
cd examples/docker-compose && docker compose up

In another terminal, send a request containing an email and an IBAN:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/v1/proxy/openai/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"gpt-4o-mini","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"My email is jan@example.com and my IBAN is DE89370400440532013000. Help me reset my password."}]}'

You get a standard OpenAI-compatible JSON response from the mock provider — and Talon still ran every governance check. Inspect the evidence:

docker compose exec talon /usr/local/bin/talon audit list
docker compose exec talon /usr/local/bin/talon audit show 

The record shows the PII detected (email, IBAN), the data tier, the policy decision, the cost, and a verifiable HMAC signature. Full walk-through: [60-second demo](docs/tutorials/quickstart-demo.md).

---

Drop-in OpenAI proxy

For an existing OpenAI SDK app, start the dev quickstart proxy and repoint the base URL:

talon serve --proxy-quickstart --port 8080
export OPENAI_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8080/v1
export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...

Use your normal OpenAI SDK — same request shape, same SDK, governed path:

import openai

client = openai.OpenAI(
    base_url="http://127.0.0.1:8080/v1",
    api_key="sk-...",
)

resp = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-4o-mini",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Summarize EU AI Act obligations for SMBs."}],
)
print(resp.choices[0].message.content)

Governance (policy, PII scan/redaction, evidence) stays active in quickstart mode. For production, use --gateway with talon.config.yaml. See [OpenAI proxy quickstart](docs/tutorials/proxy-quickstart.md).

---

What Talon does to every request

| # | Step | What happens | |---|------|--------------| | 1 | Identify caller | Look up caller from Authorization: Bearer ; load tenant, team, and policy overrides. | | 2 | Rate limit | Token-bucket check (global + per-caller). | | 3 | Extract model/text/tools | Provider-aware parse of the request body. | | 4 | PII scan (input) | Regex recognizers find email, phone, IBAN, VAT, national IDs, and more. | | 5 | Classify data tier | Highest-sensitivity finding sets the data tier. | | 6 | OPA policy decision | Embedded OPA evaluates model allowlist, cost, tier, and provider rules. | | 7 | Tool governance | Forbidden tools are filtered before forwarding. | | 8 | Redact / block | In enforce mode, PII is redacted or the request is blocked. | | 9 | Forward to provider | Request sent to the configured upstream (real key from the vault). | | 10 | Response scan | LLM output scanned for PII (allow/warn/redact/block). | | 11 | Evidence + cost | HMAC-signed evidence record written; cost attributed to the caller. |

sequenceDiagram
    participant Client
    participant Talon
    participant Provider
    Client->>Talon: OpenAICompatibleRequest
    Talon->>Talon: IdentityRateLimitPIIScanPolicyToolChecks
    Talon->>Provider: ForwardIfAllowed
    Provider-->>Talon: ProviderResponse
    Talon->>Talon: ResponseScanEvidenceCost
    Talon-->>Client: GovernedResponse

Pipeline overhead is typically under 15ms excluding upstream latency. Reproduce on your machine: make benchmarks. Full byte-level breakdown: [What Talon does to your request](docs/explanation/what-talon-does-to-your-request.md) · [Benchmarks](docs/reference/benchmarks.md).

---

Core features

Evidence & compliance

• HMAC-SHA256 signed evidence record per request; verify with talon audit verify.
• Export to CSV, JSON, or signed JSON/NDJSON for auditors and offline verification.
• Supporting controls mapped to GDPR Article 30, NIS2, DORA, and EU AI Act traceability.
• Conformance: 317 passing tests across the evidence + policy paths — reproduce with make conformance. See [Conformance suite & count](docs/reference/conformance.md).

See [Evidence store](docs/explanation/evidence-store.md).

PII & data protection

• Input and output scanning with Presidio-compatible recognizers.
• EU identifiers: IBAN (MOD-97), VAT, national IDs across EU member states, plus email, phone, credit card, passport, IP.
• Redact, block, or warn modes; tier-based routing for sensitive data.

See [Policy cookbook: PII](docs/guides/policy-cookbook.md#redact-pii-in-requests).

Cost governance / FinOps

• Per-caller daily and monthly budget caps, evaluated before the call.
• Per-request cost estimation from an operator-editable pricing table.
• Cost attribution by tenant, agent, and caller via talon costs and the dashboard.

See [Cap AI spend per caller](docs/guides/cost-governance-by-caller.md).

Tool governance

• Allowed/forbidden tool lists, including glob patterns like admin_*.
• Forbidden tools are filtered out before the model sees them — prevention, not detection.
• Filtered tools are recorded in evidence for audit.

See [Tool governance](docs/guides/openclaw-integration.md).

EU data sovereignty

• Provider registry with per-provider jurisdiction and EU region metadata.
• Routing modes: eu_strict, eu_preferred, and global, enforced by OPA.
• EU-capable providers: Azure OpenAI, AWS Bedrock (EU regions), Mistral, Vertex (EU regions), and local Ollama.

See [Provider registry](docs/reference/provider-registry.md).

Dashboard & observability

• Embedded gateway dashboard with live request, PII, cost, and tool-governance metrics.
• Metrics API (/api/v1/metrics) plus an SSE stream for real-time updates.
• OpenTelemetry traces and metrics using GenAI semantic conventions.

See [Gateway dashboard](docs/reference/gateway-dashboard.md).

---

Supported providers

Provider IDs and EU metadata come from the built-in registry. See [Provider registry](docs/reference/provider-registry.md) for the authoritative list.

| Provider | Gateway support | EU routing metadata | Notes | |----------|-----------------|---------------------|-------| | OpenAI (openai) | Yes | US jurisdiction | OpenAI API; custom base URL supported. | | Azure OpenAI (azure-openai) | Yes | EU regions (westeurope, swedencentral, francecentral, uksouth) | EU-hosted OpenAI models. | | Anthropic (anthropic) | Yes | US jurisdiction | Anthropic Messages API. | | AWS Bedrock (bedrock) | Yes | EU regions (eu-central-1, eu-west-1, eu-west-3) | EU region locking. | | Mistral (mistral) | Yes | EU jurisdiction | Mistral AI. | | Ollama (ollama) | Yes | Local | Local models, no key needed. | | Vertex (vertex) | Yes | EU regions (europe-west1/west4/west9) | Google Vertex AI. | | Cohere (cohere) | Yes | CA jurisdiction | Cohere. | | Generic OpenAI-compatible (generic-openai) | Yes | User-declared jurisdiction | Any OpenAI-compatible API. |

Inspect live with talon provider list, talon provider info , and talon provider allowed.

---

Integration paths

| Path | When | How | |------|------|-----| | Existing app | You already call OpenAI/Anthropic | Change the base URL and use a Talon caller key. See [Add Talon to your existing app](docs/guides/add-talon-to-existing-app.md). | | Slack bot | A bot calls an LLM SDK | Route the OpenAI SDK through Talon. See [Slack bot integration](docs/guides/slack-bot-integration.md). | | OpenClaw | You run OpenClaw | Point its provider base URL at the gateway. See [OpenClaw integration](docs/guides/openclaw-integration.md). | | MCP / vendor proxy | Third-party AI vendors | Route MCP traffic through Talon for tool governance and evidence. See [Vendor integration guide](docs/VENDORINTEGRATIONGUIDE.md). | | Native Talon agent | Greenfield agent | Run governed agents directly with talon run. See [Your first governed agent](docs/tutorials/first-governed-agent.md). |

---

Talon vs alternatives

Fair, factual positioning. Talon's differentiation is evidence-grade compliance and policy enforcement for EU teams.

| | Talon | Portkey | LiteLLM | Helicone | PII-only proxy | |---|-------|---------|---------|----------|----------------| | Primary focus | EU AI governance + signed evidence | AI gateway / routing | LLM proxy / routing | LLM observability | PII redaction | | EU governance | Yes (sovereignty routing) | Partial | No | No | Partial | | Signed evidence | Yes (HMAC) | No | No | No | No | | Tool governance | Yes (pre-execution filter) | Partial | No | No | No | | Cost controls | Yes (pre-spend caps) | Yes | Yes (alerts) | Yes (tracking) | No |

---

Install

Talon requires CGO (SQLite). Go 1.22+ recommended (CI uses 1.25.x).

| Method | Platforms | Artifact / command | |--------|-----------|------------------| | From source (recommended on macOS) | linux, darwin (amd64, arm64) | git clone … && make install → $(go env GOPATH)/bin/talon | | go install | linux, darwin (amd64, arm64) | go install github.com/dativo-io/talon/cmd/talon@latest | | Release tarball | linux/amd64 only | talon__linux_amd64.tar.gz + checksums.txt on Releases | | Install script | linux/amd64 prebuilt; darwin/arm64 falls back to go install | curl -sSL https://install.gettalon.dev \| sh | | Docker / GHCR | linux/amd64 images | docker pull ghcr.io/dativo-io/talon:latest (also :vX.Y.Z, :X.Y) |

On macOS, if go install fails with unsupported tapi file type '!tapi-tbd', use system Clang:

CC=/usr/bin/clang CGO_ENABLED=1 go install github.com/dativo-io/talon/cmd/talon@latest

Or clone the repo and run make install (Makefile sets CC=/usr/bin/clang on Darwin).

First run (talon init → talon run)

export TALON_SECRETS_KEY="$(openssl rand -hex 32)"   # vault encryption key
talon init --scaffold --name my-agent                # agent.talon.yaml + talon.config.yaml
talon run --dry-run "hello"                          # no LLM API key required

For a governed live call, set a provider key: talon secrets set openai-api-key --value "$OPENAI_API_KEY" (see [Your first governed agent](docs/tutorials/first-governed-agent.md)).

Verify release assets (linux/amd64):

gh release view --repo dativo-io/talon --json tagName,assets -q '.assets[].name'
# e.g. checksums.txt, talon_1.6.5_linux_amd64.tar.gz

---

Configuration quick examples

Short snippets; see the [Policy cookbook](docs/guides/policy-cookbook.md) and [Configuration reference](docs/reference/configuration.md) for full schemas.

Block on PII (agent.talon.yaml):

policies:
  data_classification:
    input_scan: true
    block_on_pii: true

Cap daily spend (agent.talon.yaml):

policies:
  cost_limits:
    daily: 10.00
    monthly: 200.00

Forbid dangerous tools (gateway talon.config.yaml):

gateway:
  default_policy:
    forbidden_tools: ["delete_*", "admin_*", "bulk_*"]

EU strict routing (talon.config.yaml):

llm:
  routing:
    data_sovereignty_mode: eu_strict

---

Proof Pack (trust & verification)

Artifacts a skeptical reviewer can grep in one session:

• [Limitations](LIMITATIONS.md) — what Talon does and does not prove
• [Threat model](docs/reference/threat-model.md) — attack surface and trust boundaries
• [Evidence integrity specification](docs/reference/evidence-integrity-spec.md) — byte-exact signing and verification
• [Conformance suite](docs/reference/conformance.md) — make conformance (evidence + policy paths)
• [Benchmarks](docs/reference/benchmarks.md) — make benchmarks on your hardware
• [Sample auditor pack](examples/auditor-pack/README.md) — signed export + compliance report + GDPR Art. 30 RoPA + EU AI Act Annex IV pack (make auditor-pack)
• [Roadmap & focus](ROADMAP.md) — public anti-goals and EMEA SMB direction

---

Docs

• [Documentation index](docs/README.md)
• [60-second demo](docs/tutorials/quickstart-demo.md)
• [Your first governed agent](docs/tutorials/first-governed-agent.md)
• [Talon Security Boundaries & Limitations](LIMITATIONS.md)
• [What Talon does to your request](docs/explanation/what-talon-does-to-your-request.md)
• [Policy cookbook](docs/guides/policy-cookbook.md)
• [Provider registry](docs/reference/provider-registry.md)
• [Evidence store](docs/explanation/evidence-store.md)
• [Conformance suite & count](docs/reference/conformance.md)
• [Roadmap & focus](ROADMAP.md)
• [Gateway dashboard](docs/reference/gateway-dashboard.md)
• [OpenClaw integration](docs/guides/openclaw-integration.md)
• [Slack bot integration](docs/guides/slack-bot-integration.md)

---

License

Apache 2.0 — see [LICENSE](LICENSE).

Source & license

This open-source MCP server is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: dativo-io
• Source: dativo-io/talon
• License: Apache-2.0
• Homepage: https://dativo.io

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.