Cytra Deployment & architecture
Run the auditing where your AI runs. Add the gateway when you want the whole record.
Cytra's compliance collector runs inside your environment — behind your firewall, outbound-only — and streams signed, hash-chained audit events to a tamper-evident ledger without requiring Cytra's managed MCP gateway. You can run the audit layer on its own. Add the gateway when you want every AI and agent action governed, brokered, and recorded as it runs — one family, one record, one control plane.
Standalone auditing
You can run the audit layer on its own. No gateway required.
The compliance collector (early access) is a lightweight process that runs entirely inside your environment. It watches the governed sources you configure — HTTP endpoints polled on a schedule (a model registry's JSON API, for example), configuration files on disk, and git-tracked configuration repositories — detects drift against your declared controls, evaluates your EU AI Act high-risk obligations, and keeps a signed local ledger that is anchored into your per-tenant, tamper-evident hash chain. Cloud log streams (CloudWatch) and SQL database sources are on the Phase 2 roadmap. Nothing travels inbound; the collector only makes outbound connections to the Cytra ingest endpoint.
- Network posture
Outbound-only trust model
The collector opens outbound connections to the ledger. No inbound ports. No VPN. No agent installed in your network perimeter by Cytra. Your firewall rules stay unchanged.
- Evidence integrity
Tamper-evident, hash-chained ledger
Every signed event is appended to a per-tenant SHA-256 hash chain. Reordering, deleting, or mutating one record breaks chain verification — an external party can verify the integrity of the record without trusting Cytra.
- Regulatory mapping
EU AI Act drift detection
The collector evaluates the high-risk obligations defined in the EU AI Act (Article 9 risk management, Article 12 logging, Annex IV documentation requirements) and records each finding as a structured, auditable event — aligned to NIST AI RMF and ISO/IEC 42001 control objectives.
- Evidence posture
Evidence as a record, not a quarterly binder
The collector is built to run as a long-lived process, so the evidence behind a control accumulates as dated, signed records — not a document assembled after the fact. When an auditor asks for the log, you read the chain.
The standalone compliance collector is in early access (Phase 1). It is not generally available. Cytra describes its posture as aligned and audit-ready, not certified. The collector maps evidence to NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001, and the EU AI Act; it does not assert that any certification has been granted.
Add the gateway for the full ecosystem
The managed MCP gateway is optional. Add it when you want the evidence to come from how your AI runs.
The standalone collector watches your governed sources from the outside. The managed MCP gateway puts a control plane directly in the path of every AI and agent action — so the ledger entries are not periodic observations but the actual record of every tool call, every policy decision, every credential issuance, and every denial. Compliance as a record of how your AI runs, not a reconstruction.
- Per-call policy
Deterministic policy evaluation on every invocation
Per-tenant rules — prod-write blocks, IP allowlists, budget ceilings, approval gates, PII redaction — run in document order with no external calls in the decision path. An operator kill-switch can deny everything on that control plane instantly. Every decision — allow or deny — is audited.
Private beta - Credential brokering
Short-lived, scoped tokens — raw keys stay vaulted
Downstream credentials are envelope-encrypted per tenant. The gateway issues a short-lived, tool-scoped token per call. The agent never receives a raw key. Every issuance is a ledger entry.
Private beta - Sandboxed execution
Tools run deny-by-default with a hard timeout
Each tool executes in an isolated runtime. Network and filesystem access are granted per tool, never assumed. A hard timeout caps execution. Capabilities cannot be escalated at runtime.
Private beta - One family, one record
Designed to land in the same hash chain
The platform is designed so gateway runtime events land in the same per-tenant, independently verifiable ledger the standalone collector anchors into. One control plane, one evidence record, one auditor view — across both the governed sources the collector watches and every AI action the gateway brokers.
Private beta
Deployment model
Private deployment vs managed control plane.
The collector always runs in your environment. The ledger and control-plane components have two deployment options: Cytra-hosted (the default for early access) or self-hosted in your own infrastructure with a bring-your-own-key configuration.
Runs entirely in your environment
The compliance collector, ledger, and (when added) the managed gateway all run on your infrastructure — behind your firewall, on your compute, with your key material. Cytra supplies the software; you operate it. Outbound-only; no inbound ports; BYO infra; no Cytra personnel access to your environment or data. Suitable for air-gapped, regulated, or high-sensitivity environments.
Cytra-hosted control plane and ledger
The compliance collector still runs in your environment (outbound-only). The ledger and control-plane components are hosted by Cytra — Cloudflare + AWS + Kong topology, with per-tenant isolation and WORM object storage for the hash chain. Reduces your operational overhead. Cytra does not use your event data for training. SOC 2 Type II and a HIPAA BAA are in process; not yet granted.
Both deployment models use the same outbound-only trust model for the collector: the collector makes outbound connections to the ledger endpoint; it does not open inbound ports or require Cytra to reach into your network. The self-hosted / bring-your-own-key option is available to early-access tenants on request.
Multi-tenant by design
Built for many tenants, not one. Each with its own isolated, verifiable record.
A Cytra account models an organization and its members, with roles. Every organization is its own tenant boundary, and each tenant writes to its own tamper-evident hash chain. A tenant's auditor verifies that tenant's chain; nothing is mixed across tenants.
- Organization model
Organization, members, roles
Each organization is its own governance, policy, and evidence boundary. Members hold roles scoped to their organization — admins manage policy and access; reviewers read the record.
- Fleet provisioning
Collector enrollment, provisioned with Cytra
Collectors are provisioned and enrolled with Cytra during early-access onboarding. There is no self-service enrollment console today — that is on the roadmap, and this page will say so only when it ships.
- Tenant isolation
One hash chain per tenant
Every tenant writes to its own SHA-256 hash-chained ledger, protected by write-once (WORM) database triggers. Reordering, deleting, or mutating a record breaks verification for that tenant alone — and an outside party can verify it without trusting Cytra.
- Outside-party verification
Verify without trusting Cytra
The chain ships with verification and export endpoints: an auditor exports the tenant chain and re-walks every hash link independently. The evidence stands or falls on the math, not on Cytra’s word.
And it all runs in your environment, not only in Cytra's cloud — the compliance collector is the early-access (v1) product. Deploy it on your own infrastructure, behind your firewall, outbound-only; the managed MCP gateway is optional and ships later. Cytra describes its posture as aligned and audit-ready, not certified.
Packaging
One collector, shipped as a Docker image.
The compliance collector ships as a Docker image, available to early-access tenants. Additional packaging formats are planned, and this page will list them only when they actually ship.
Docker
Available now (early access)A single container image. Pull it, configure two environment variables (your outbound ledger endpoint + a signing key), and run it wherever Docker runs — on a VM, a laptop, or inside your existing container platform.
Deployment posture
- Inbound ports required
- 0
- Outbound only
- Yes
- Your data stays
- On-prem
- SOC 2 Type II
- In process
- HIPAA BAA
- In process
- Gateway
- Private beta
Aligned and audit-ready, not certified. Gateway is in private beta.
Next step aligned & audit-ready
Start with the audit layer. Add the gateway when you're ready.
The compliance collector runs on its own, in your environment, today — for early-access tenants. SOC 2 Type II and a HIPAA BAA are in process. The managed MCP gateway is in private beta. Tell us about your AI deployment and we'll scope access.