Claude Code 101
🆕 New page in this review
Everything on this page is new.
Claude Code is Anthropic's CLI coding agent. You give it a prompt, it plans, reads and edits files, runs shell commands, and calls MCP tools to get the job done, all inside your terminal, in your repository.
OpenBox does not change any of that. It observes and governs through Claude Code's own hooks system, the same extension point Claude Code exposes for any external tool.
Concepts That Matter
| Claude Code concept | OpenBox interpretation |
|---|---|
| Session | A governed dev-session agent run, tracked the same way a runtime agent session is |
| User prompt | The stated goal for the session, governed and used for downstream alignment the same way a runtime agent's goal signal is |
| Tool call (file read/write, shell command, MCP tool) | A governed activity, evaluated before it runs (PreToolUse) and after it completes (PostToolUse) |
| Hook | The extension point OpenBox uses to intercept events; you configure hooks once in .claude/settings.json, not per session |
| Commit | If the session's changes are committed, OpenBox tags the commit with an OpenBox-Session trailer for lineage |
What OpenBox Adds
- Prompt-time governance on
UserPromptSubmit: the stated goal is evaluated before the session starts acting on it - Pre-execution governance on
PreToolUse: a file write, shell command, or MCP call can be blocked, constrained, or require approval before it runs - Post-execution telemetry on
PostToolUse: what actually happened is recorded against the pre-execution decision - Dashboard replay and lineage, same as any other governed agent
Observe First, Enforce When Ready
Every hook can run in observe mode (record and score, but never block) before you turn on enforce mode. See Wrap an Existing Session for the switch.