From fe495183836c1835e2115ac407ffd1f0ed936f9f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Hound Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:32:10 -0500 Subject: [PATCH] site: houndav.com is live, and the install commands on it work MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Phase 7's first half. A single self-contained page — no build step, no framework, no dependencies — deployed to /srv/houndav/www and serving. Downloads published to dl.houndav.com, and both install commands on the page were run end to end from those public URLs before this commit. The positioning is the one the product actually earns. It does not lead with "antivirus", because at $89.95 that reads expensive next to ESET at $40 and cheap next to JetBrains at $169 — and because the claim would be wrong. It leads with the fact that turned out to be the whole thesis: 97% of npm's OSV records are malicious packages, not vulnerabilities. Alongside 235,577 indicators, 2 ms to refuse a binary at execve, and 0.8 ms added to a normal program starting. Every number on that page is measured, and every one of them appears in a commit message here. Themes: light is the bare :root, dark is layered twice — once for the un-stamped "follow the system" state via prefers-color-scheme, once for an explicit [data-theme="dark"] — so all three of auto/light/dark resolve as complete sets rather than half a palette. The toggle persists to localStorage inside try/catch, because a private window throws on access and a theme switch must not take the page down with it. The sticky header now sets an opaque background BEFORE the color-mix and backdrop-filter enhancement, behind @supports. A sticky header that falls back to transparent puts scrolling content underneath the navigation, which is worse than having no blur at all. WHAT I COULD NOT VERIFY, and it matters: the browser available to me renders with CSS disabled — document.styleSheets.length is 0 with the + + + +
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Linux · open source agent
+

Your antivirus has never heard of the things that actually reach your machine.

+

+ Hound blocks a binary before it runs, and reads your lockfiles against + 235,577 packages that exist only to be malware. Built for people who + ship software, on the machines they ship it from. +

+
+ Install on Linux + See what it catches + Free tier, no account. +
+
+ +
+
joe@thinkpad — hound
+
$ hound supply-chain ~/src/dashboard
+
+✘ 2 critical, 1 warning across 1,284 packages
+
+CRITICAL  @vue/cli-plugin-babe1@1.0.2
+          node_modules/@vue/cli-plugin-babe1/package.json
+          Its "postinstall" step runs automatically when the
+          package is installed — before you have used any of
+          its code — and it downloads a script from the
+          internet and runs it immediately.
+          → Do not install this package. If it is already
+            installed, rotate any credentials it could read.
+
+CRITICAL  mcp-github-tools@0.3.1
+          ~/.config/mcp/servers.json
+          Handed GITHUB_TOKEN, and its code is downloaded
+          fresh from the internet on every launch.
+
+WARNING   CLAUDE.md
+          vendor/awesome-agents/CLAUDE.md
+          Contains instructions aimed at your assistant
+          rather than at you.
+
+
+
+
+ +
+
+
+
97%of npm's security records are malware, not bugs
+
235,577malicious packages Hound knows by name
+
2 msto refuse a malicious binary at execve
+
0.8 msadded to a normal program starting
+
+
+
+ +
+
+
What it catches
+

The Linux desktop threat is not a Windows virus.

+

+ Traditional antivirus databases are overwhelmingly Windows malware — useful if you are a + file server passing infections along, irrelevant to the laptop you write code on. What + actually reaches a developer machine is a dependency, a model file, or a repository. +

+ +
+
+ Supply chain +

Dependencies that are malware

+

Typosquats, and the newer problem: names an AI invented that somebody then registered. Hound reads your lockfiles — so it catches what will be installed, before the payload runs during installation.

+
+
+ Execution +

Refused before it runs

+

Real-time protection that denies execve rather than reporting it afterwards. Built on fanotify, with a watchdog that fails open — a bug in Hound must never be able to freeze your machine.

+
+
+ Model files +

Weights that are programs

+

A pickle-based .pt or .ckpt executes code the moment it loads. Downloading weights is a code-execution decision, and Hound reads the opcodes before you find out the hard way.

+
+
+ Persistence +

What changed since last time

+

Half of a Linux compromise is a line added to a startup file, not a file on disk. Hound keeps a hashed ledger of systemd units, cron, autostart, shell profiles and authorized_keys, and reports what moved.

+
+
+ Install scripts +

Code that runs on npm install

+

A postinstall hook that pipes a remote script into a shell, decodes something scrambled and runs it, or reaches for your SSH keys. It executes before you have used a line of the package.

+
+
+ Rootkits +

Questions with factual answers

+

A process the kernel has but /proc does not list. A setuid binary no installed package claims. Not guesswork against a list of names that only holds on one distribution.

+
+
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+ +
+
+
For people who code with agents
+

Your assistant can ask Hound first.

+

+ Hound ships an MCP server. Point Claude, Cursor, VS Code or anything else that speaks MCP + at it, and your assistant can check a repository before it installs its dependencies or + starts working in it. +

+ +
+
+
~/.config/mcp/servers.json
+
{
+  "mcpServers": {
+    "hound": {
+      "command": "/usr/bin/hound-mcp"
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+// No npx — nothing fetched at launch.
+// No env — no secret handed over.
+// No path — no directory granted.
+//
+// Hound flags all three in other
+// people's configs. Ours passes its
+// own audit.
+
+
+
+
+

Four read-only tools

+

check_project, check_package, check_file, check_mcp_config. There is no quarantine tool and never will be — an assistant that can be persuaded by the repository it is reading must not be able to make your antivirus delete things.

+
+
+

It audits the tools you already trust

+

Every MCP server in your config runs with your permissions and gets called without asking you. Hound tells you which ones download their code fresh on every launch, and which ones you handed a token.

+
+
+

Written to be read twice

+

Once by the model, once by you. No rule identifiers, no jargon, and a clean result says what it did not check — because "nothing wrong" that reads as a blanket endorsement is worse than no answer.

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+ +
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+
Pricing
+

The scanner is free. The blocking and the intelligence are not.

+

+ A free tier that cannot protect anything is a bad first impression, so real-time file + protection is in the free build. The line is drawn at refusing execution, and at the + threat feed. +

+ +
+
+

Free

+
$0
+

Everyone. No account, no telemetry.

+
    +
  • On-demand scanning, CLI and desktop app
    • +
  • Real-time file protection
    • +
  • Quarantine vault
    • +
  • MCP server for your assistant
    • +
+ Install +
+ +
+

Pro

+
$89.95 / year
+

One machine. For people who build software on it.

+
    +
  • Everything in Free
    • +
  • Execution gate — refuse a binary before it runs
    • +
  • Supply-chain scanner with the full feed
    • +
  • Persistence ledger and rootkit checks
    • +
  • Signed definitions, updated automatically
    • +
+ Get Pro +
+ +
+

Fleet

+
$249.95 / month
+

Up to 10 seats, then $15 per seat. Annual at ten months' price.

+
    +
  • Everything in Pro, on every machine
    • +
  • Central console, enrolment and policy
    • +
  • Compliance reports an auditor accepts
    • +
  • Air-gapped definition mirrors
    • +
+ Talk to us +
+
+
+
+ +
+
+
Install
+

One command, then it is running.

+

+ Ubuntu, Debian and Linux Mint today. The execution gate ships switched off — + it needs root and covers your whole filesystem, so turning it on is your decision rather + than the installer's. +

+ +
+
+

Debian, Ubuntu, Mint

+
+ curl -fsSL https://dl.houndav.com/deb/hound_latest_amd64.deb -o hound.deb && sudo apt install ./hound.deb + +
+
+
+

Try it without installing

+
+ curl -fsSL https://dl.houndav.com/appimage/Hound-latest-x86_64.AppImage -o hound && chmod +x hound && ./hound status + +
+
+
+ +

+ The AppImage runs as your user and leaves nothing behind. It cannot do the execution gate — + that needs privileges an uninstalled bundle does not have — and it will tell you so rather + than failing quietly. +

+
+
+ +
+
+
Open source
+

You are installing a root daemon that can block execution.

+

+ So you should be able to read it. The agent is Apache-2.0 and the definitions are signed + with a key whose public half is compiled into the binary — anyone can verify that what + they received is what we published. What you pay for is the threat feed, the console and + support, not permission to look. +

+
+ Read the source + See the definitions index +
+
+
+
+ + + + + +