Trust Layer
MACAW creates a distributed trust mesh where AI agents, tools, and LLMs register as endpoints and communicate with cryptographic guarantees. Policy enforcement happens at every endpoint, not a central chokepoint.
Architecture
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ AI Workloads │
│ ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌─────┐ │
│ │ Tool │ │OpenAI│ │LangChain│ │Claude│ │ MCP │ │
│ │ DB │ │Agent │ │ Agent │ │ LLM │ │Agent│ │
│ └──┬───┘ └──┬───┘ └────┬────┘ └──┬───┘ └──┬──┘ │
└─────┼─────────┼───────────┼──────────┼─────────┼────────────────┘
│ │ │ │ │
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ MACAW TRUST LAYER │
│ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Adapters: SecureOpenAI | SecureAnthropic | SecureMCP │ │
│ │ SecureLangChain | MACAWClient │ │
│ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Control Plane │ │
│ │ ┌──────────┬───────────┬───────────┬─────────────────┐ │ │
│ │ │ Agent │ Policy │ Audit │ Identity │ │ │
│ │ │ Registry │ Store │ Logs │ Bridge │ │ │
│ │ └──────────┴───────────┴───────────┴─────────────────┘ │ │
│ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Every participant in the mesh—apps, agents, tools, LLMs—becomes a verified endpoint with a cryptographic identity. Endpoints can dynamically register and deregister as workloads scale.
Control Plane Services
The control plane provides four core services that enable secure communication across the mesh:
Agent Registry
Maintains a live inventory of all registered endpoints. Each agent receives a unique cryptographic identity used for signing and verification.
- • Dynamic registration/deregistration
- • Public key distribution
- • Capability advertisement
- • Health monitoring
Policy Store
Central repository for MAPL policies. Policies are distributed to endpoints for local evaluation—no round-trip to the control plane for each decision.
- • Hierarchical policy composition
- • Runtime policy updates
- • Version management
- • Conflict resolution
Audit Logs
Tamper-evident record of all operations. Every invocation, policy decision, and context change is logged with cryptographic proof.
- • Signed audit entries
- • Configurable signing modes
- • SIEM integration
- • Compliance reporting
Identity Bridge
Connects enterprise identity providers to the trust mesh. JWT claims from Keycloak, Okta, Auth0, or Azure AD are mapped to policy attributes.
- • Multi-IDP support
- • Claims mapping
- • Token validation
- • Session management
Distributed Trust Mesh
Unlike hub-and-spoke architectures, MACAW creates a true mesh where any endpoint can communicate with any other endpoint. The control plane facilitates discovery and policy distribution, but doesn't sit in the data path.
Endpoints come and go dynamically. When an agent registers, it receives a keypair and joins the mesh. When it deregisters, its keys are revoked and pending invocations are rejected.
Agent A ◄────────► Agent B
│ │
│ │
▼ ▼
Tool X ◄────────► Tool Y
│ │
│ │
▼ ▼
LLM 1 ◄────────► LLM 2
Each connection is:
• Signed by sender
• Verified by receiver
• Policy-enforced at endpointZero Trust Principles
MACAW implements zero trust from first principles. Every request is verified regardless of source, and policy is enforced at the endpoint—not a central gateway.
| Principle | Implementation |
|---|---|
| Never trust, always verify | Every invocation is cryptographically signed and verified at the receiver |
| Least privilege | Policies default to deny; explicit grants required for each resource |
| Assume breach | Each endpoint enforces policy independently; compromised nodes can't escalate |
| Minimize blast radius | Policies scoped to tools and prompts limit damage from any single compromise |
Deployment
The control plane runs as a managed service in the cloud. For enterprises with specific requirements, hybrid deployments are supported.
Client workloads connect via MACAWClient or framework adapters. Configuration is managed through the Console—no YAML files in client code.
Cloud (Default)
Fully managed control plane. Connect via API key from Console.
Hybrid
Control plane in your VPC with cloud management. For regulated industries.
Multi-Tenant
Each tenant isolated with unique API keys and separate audit logs.