Knostic

What the company sells

Knostic discovers and secures agents, coding assistants, and their supply chain, from MCP to skills and Code to Cowork. Knostic enforces rules by checking every action against policy before it runs, so allowed actions proceed and risky ones are blocked or sent to a human. Knostic applies least privilege to what agents do, watches every action as it happens, and blocks the unsafe ones before they execute.

Kirin is the Knostic product that runs on the endpoint inside supported agents. Kirin sees the tools, extensions, servers, and skills actually installed and used. In one example, Kirin denies a destructive command before it executes, tells the developer why, and logs a Prevented alert for the SOC. AgentMesh rates every skill, server, and extension. Every paid AgentMesh plan includes Kirin IDE security.

Knostic discovers every agent, model, and AI tool running across endpoints, attributes each to people and teams, and brings them under one policy. Knostic finds agents, extensions, MCP servers, and skills where they run, on the endpoint, rather than inferring from network logs. Discovery is passive, and policy can run in Monitor mode before anything is enforced. Discovered components are rated using AgentMesh verdicts and policy posture. Knostic maps which teams and individuals use which tools and what they can reach.

Knostic describes one control plane for all agents, models, and AI tools. Knostic unifies and centrally governs agentic security policies and configurations. Teams can scope what agents may read, write, run, connect to, and install, per team. Knostic describes its guardrails for SaaS, in-house, coding, and Cowork agents.

For prompt injection, Kirin catches the injection and blocks the action it would have caused. Kirin inspects what an agent is about to do, not just what it was told. Knostic scans prompts, retrieved context, and tool responses for injection and malicious instructions. Knostic catches credentials in prompts and outputs and blocks or redacts them, in Monitor or Enforce. Teams choose block, downgrade, route to a human, or log per rule and per team. For code, Knostic states that agents model threats before they code, follow secure coding rules, and have every package checked.

Knostic keeps an up-to-date list of allowed MCP servers, with every connection validated in real time. Knostic flags deviations from policy or misconfigurations as they occur. AgentMesh continuously rescans the ecosystem, and Knostic research feeds new detections. Decision logs and runtime monitoring provide evidence for audits, incident response, and policy enforcement.

Kirin supports Claude Code CLI, Claude Desktop and Cowork, Cursor, Windsurf, and VS Code + GitHub Copilot, on macOS and Windows, and Linux is in beta. Managers provision the console, push the endpoint client to the endpoints, directly or via an existing MDM, and start in Monitor mode. For Cursor and VS Code, Kirin deploys as an extension and requires the client for shadow AI visibility.

Kirin has three tiers, from individual developers to enterprise-wide rollouts. Knostic provides a package with SOC 2, pen test reports, and a data flow diagram in its trust center. Knostic Inc. is a company incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware.^{[1][4][6][8][9][11]}

Categories

• AI model and agent security (primary category)
• AI governance
• Compare Knostic with companies in the same categoryside by side

Headquarters

Reston, United States^[3]

Founded

2023^[2][7]

Ownership

Privately held^[5]

CISO on record

Not yet on our record. Send a verified source

Website

knostic.ai

Products and services

Product names as the company writes them; what each does, in our words, from the company's own product pages. Never how well it does it.

• Kirin^{[4][5][6][7][11]}

  Runs on the endpoint inside supported agents. Denies or blocks unsafe agent actions.

  Kirin runs on the endpoint inside supported agents and sees the tools, extensions, servers, and skills actually installed and used. Kirin denies a destructive command before it executes, tells the developer why, and logs a Prevented alert for the SOC. Kirin blocks the connection to an MCP server before it is established, after AgentMesh scans and rates the server. Kirin deploys as an extension for Cursor and VS Code.

• AgentMesh^{[4][5][6][7][11]}

  Rates every skill, server, and extension.

  AgentMesh rates every skill, server, and extension. AgentMesh scans MCP servers for prompt injection, malicious behaviour, and supply-chain risk. AgentMesh detects prompt injection in skills, MCP servers, and extensions before install. Every paid AgentMesh plan includes Kirin IDE security.

Competitors and alternatives

The other companies on our record filed under the same categories, category by category: first those that lead with that category and share more of Knostic's categories, then alphabetical. A list from the record, never a ranking.

• On ai model and agent security, Knostic competes with AIShield, Asymptote Labs, Enkrypt AI, Fiddler AI, Neo, Noma Security, Onyx Security, Pillar Security, Reco, SplxAI and 54 more.

• On ai governance, Knostic competes with Cranium, Credo AI, Holistic AI, Singulr, Transcend, AIShield, Asymptote Labs, Enkrypt AI, Fiddler AI, Harmonic Security and 25 more.

Recent news

Dated company events from the last twelve months, each in one sentence of ours with its source. Newest first.

• June 12, 2026

  Knostic was recognized in the Cloud Security Alliance's first Agentic AI Security Innovator Market Map. Knostic^[10]

References

Every fact above cites one of these by number. Tier A is the company itself, a regulator or a filing; tier B is trade or business press.

1. [1]Knostic - The control plane for agentic AI on the endpointKnostic · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A: the company, a regulator or a filing
2. [2]Ending llm oversharing we raised 11 million to secure enterprise aiKnostic · knostic.ai · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A: the company, a regulator or a filing
3. [3]Rsac 2025 innovation sandbox knostic reshaping the access control paradigm for enterprise ai securitySecurity Boulevard · securityboulevard.com · published April 25, 2025 · Tier B: trade or business press
4. [4]Shadow AI Discovery & Governance - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A: the company, a regulator or a filing
5. [5]Pricing - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A: the company, a regulator or a filing
6. [6]AI Agent Security - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A: the company, a regulator or a filing
7. [7]MCP Security Posture Management - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A: the company, a regulator or a filing
8. [8]Terms of Service - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A: the company, a regulator or a filing
9. [9]Knostic Knostic Trust Center | Powered by SafeBaseKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A: the company, a regulator or a filing
10. [10]Knostic Featured Across Three Categories in CSA's Agentic AI Security Innovator Market MapKnostic · published June 12, 2026 · Tier A: the company, a regulator or a filing
11. [11]Prompt Injection Defense - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A: the company, a regulator or a filing

Last verified September 27, 2026. Our code found the quoted passage behind each fact on its source page when the fact was recorded, and re-checks every record against its sources each month.

Recorded September 27, 2026, expanded November 10, 2026 from the references above.

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