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Cytra Deployment & architecture

Early access · Phase 1

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 is a lightweight process that runs entirely inside your environment. It watches the governed sources you configure — AI model registries, data pipelines, configuration stores, access logs — detects drift against your declared controls, evaluates your EU AI Act high-risk obligations, and streams cryptographically signed events to a tamper-evident, hash-chained ledger. Nothing travels inbound; the collector only makes outbound connections to the Cytra ledger 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

    Continuous evidence, not a quarterly binder

    Because the collector runs continuously, the evidence behind any control is a stream of 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, including every denial, 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

    Collector + gateway events land in the same hash chain

    When you add the gateway, its runtime events join the same per-tenant, independently verifiable ledger that the standalone collector writes to. 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.

Private / self-hosted

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.

Managed / Cytra-hosted

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 companies, not one. Each with its own isolated, verifiable record.

One Cytra account models a whole organization: a client at the top, the companies it governs beneath it — subsidiaries, portfolio companies, business units — and the people in each, with roles. Every company runs one or more collectors, and each company writes to its own tamper-evident ledger. A company's auditor verifies that company's chain; nothing is mixed across companies. The client sees a rollup across all of them without ever breaking that isolation.

  • Organization model

    Client, company, user

    One contract spans many companies. Each company is its own governance, policy, and evidence boundary. Users hold roles scoped to a single company or across the whole client — a parent overseeing every subsidiary, or one company seeing only its own.

  • Fleet provisioning

    Self-service collector enrollment

    A company admin registers a collector from the console and gets a single-use, company-scoped enrollment token. On first boot the collector generates its own signing key — the private key never leaves your environment — exchanges the one-time token, and registers only its public key. From then on it signs every check-in. Rotate or revoke any collector from the console.

  • Tenant isolation

    One hash chain per company

    Every company writes to its own SHA-256 hash-chained ledger. A collector authenticates to its company; its signed events can only append to that company’s chain. Reordering, deleting, or mutating a record breaks verification for that company alone — and an outside party can verify it without trusting Cytra.

  • Data residency

    You choose what leaves

    Per company, choose what the collectors send home: the full signed evidence, or digest-only — cryptographic roots and aggregate statistics — with the underlying evidence staying entirely in your environment and shipped only on request for an audit. Outbound-only either way; no inbound ports.

  • Register & mint a token

    01

    A company admin adds a collector in the console and mints a single-use, company-scoped enrollment token — no Cytra-side step.

  • Deploy the collector

    02

    Drop the token into the collector config and start it. It generates its own Ed25519 identity locally, exchanges the token once, and registers its public key.

  • Continuous check-in

    03

    The collector makes outbound-only, signed check-ins into its company’s ledger — full evidence or digests, your choice — and you can revoke it anytime.

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, and run it locally today; the managed MCP gateway is optional and ships later. Cytra describes its posture as aligned and audit-ready, not certified.

Packaging

One collector, three ways to run it.

The compliance collector ships in the format that fits your environment. Docker is available today for early-access tenants. The Kubernetes Helm chart is available for teams already on a cluster. The Go single binary — for air-gapped and locked-down environments — is in development and is planned for Phase 2.

  • 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.

  • Kubernetes / Helm

    Available now (early access)

    A Helm chart for teams already running a cluster. One-command install, automatic restarts on failure, and standard Kubernetes RBAC for access control. No cluster-level privileges required.

  • Go single binary

    In development

    A self-contained executable with no runtime dependencies — intended for air-gapped or locked-down on-premises environments where container runtimes are unavailable or restricted. Currently in development.

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.