Questions to ask any AI agent vendor about credentials
Before an AI agent touches your accounts, ask the vendor eight questions: where your cookies and passwords live, who can see results, what leaves your computer, what gets logged, how writes are approved, what the agent may contact, how recipes are verified, and what an admin can restrict. Clear answers are specific and checkable. Vague answers, or answers that depend on trusting the vendor's word, are a warning. Below are the questions with Wield's answers, so you can compare them with any other vendor.
The eight questions with Wield's answers
| # | Question | Wield's answer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Where do my cookies and passwords live? | In your browser. Wield never copies or sends your cookies or passwords. |
| 2 | Who sees the results? | They go from the browser extension to wield-mcp to your AI app, on your computer. They never pass through wield.run. |
| 3 | What does the vendor's server receive? | Downloads of public recipes. With an API key, requests for your organization's private recipes and policy. Site requests and recordings you choose to send. Telemetry, only if you turn it on. |
| 4 | Is telemetry on by default? | No. When on, each run reports only recipe_id, version, ok, duration_ms and error_code. No parameters, results or URLs. |
| 5 | What is logged, and where? | Requests are logged on your computer in ~/.wield/logs: method, host, path, status and timing. Never bodies, header values or query values. |
| 6 | How are writes approved? | Any write stops before its first request and shows an Allow window with every request and body. Deny is the default. Two minutes without an answer means deny. One Allow covers one run. |
| 7 | What can a recipe contact? | Only the https origins the recipe lists. Redirects to other hosts are not followed. Recipes are data, not code, and run no JavaScript in the page. |
| 8 | How do I know the recipe is the one that was reviewed? | Every index and recipe is signed with Ed25519. Wield refuses unsigned or changed recipes with recipe_unsigned, and nothing is sent to the site. |
Organization admins can also restrict use. A policy can set allowed sites, deny writes entirely and force telemetry off. A policy can only restrict. It cannot widen what the extension allows or skip the Allow window.
Red flags
- The vendor cannot say where your session or password is stored.
- Writes run without a separate approval step, or the approval can be turned off.
- You cannot find a log of the hosts the agent contacted.
- Telemetry is on by default and sends request content.
- Recipes or tools are updated without a signature or a version you can pin.
- The answer depends on a certification or a sales claim, not a mechanism you can inspect.
How to verify claims yourself
- Watch the requests. Open your browser's developer tools, go to the Network tab, and run the task. Compare what you see with what the vendor says it sends.
- Read the log. Check
~/.wield/logsafter a run. It should list hosts and paths, with no bodies. - Run the health check.
npx -y wield-mcp doctorshows whether signatures are enforced on your install, which keys are trusted, and whether the extension is connected. - Test an approval. Try a write in a test account, and deny it. Confirm that nothing was sent.
- Ask for the policy. If you manage a team, check which sites are allowed and whether writes are denied for members.
Keep notes on each answer. A vendor that answers with specifics will also tell you where the answer is documented.
FAQ
Are these questions a compliance checklist?
No. They are questions about how the product works. They do not replace legal review, a security audit or your own data protection assessment. Wield does not claim a certification.
Why ask about logs if the vendor says nothing is stored?
Logs on your computer show what actually happened. A vendor's statement about its servers does not show what your agent sent from your browser. Check the log yourself.
Where can I read Wield's full answers?
See the security model for the details, teams and policies for admin controls, and the FAQ for short answers.