Top Builders
Explore the top contributors showcasing the highest number of app submissions within our community.
Lobster Trap
Lobster Trap is a reverse proxy built by Veea that sits between AI agents and any OpenAI-compatible LLM backend. It performs deep prompt inspection (DPI) on both incoming prompts and outgoing responses, classifying threats and enforcing YAML-based firewall rules in sub-millisecond time using compiled regex patterns. No additional model calls, API keys, cloud connectivity, or runtime dependencies are required.
| General | |
|---|---|
| Release date | 18 Feb 2026 |
| Developer | Veea |
| Type | Open-source LLM security proxy |
| License | MIT |
| GitHub | veeainc/lobstertrap |
| Documentation | README and policy reference |
Core Features
- Regex-based DPI - all classification runs in sub-millisecond time using compiled regex patterns, with no secondary LLM calls for threat detection.
- Bidirectional inspection - rules apply to both incoming prompts and outgoing responses, catching both injection attempts and exfiltration in responses.
- Structured metadata extraction - detects and surfaces intent categories, risk scores, credentials, PII, system commands, injection attempts, exfiltration patterns, target paths, domains, and risky commands.
- Programmable YAML policy - first-match-wins ingress and egress rules with actions: ALLOW, DENY, LOG, HUMAN_REVIEW, QUARANTINE, and RATE_LIMIT.
- Declared vs. detected intent - agents can declare intent via
_lobstertraprequest headers; Lobster Trap compares declared against detected and reports mismatches in the audit trail. - Real-time dashboard - built-in web UI at
http://localhost:8080/_lobstertrap/showing live traffic, decisions, and metadata. - JSON-line audit logs - structured logs of every decision, readable by security tooling or a regulator.
- Drop-in deployment - transparent proxy for any tool using the OpenAI chat completions API; no application code changes required.
Supported Backends
Lobster Trap works with any OpenAI-compatible inference endpoint:
| Backend | Notes |
|---|---|
| Ollama | Default target in quickstart config |
| vLLM | Compatible via OpenAI-compatible API |
| llama.cpp | Compatible via server mode |
| OpenAI | Proxy to production OpenAI API |
| Anthropic | Via OpenAI-compatible adapter |
| Gemini | Via OpenAI-compatible adapter |
Policy System
Policies are defined in YAML and loaded at startup. Each rule specifies a direction (ingress or egress), a priority, match conditions, and an action.
Available actions:
| Action | Behavior |
|---|---|
ALLOW | Pass the request through |
DENY | Block and return an error |
LOG | Allow but write a log entry |
HUMAN_REVIEW | Flag for manual review queue |
QUARANTINE | Isolate for deferred inspection |
RATE_LIMIT | Throttle matching traffic |
A default policy file is provided at configs/default_policy.yaml as a starting point. Rules also support network policies and filesystem restrictions in addition to content-based matching.
Tools and Resources
- GitHub repo (MIT) - source code, issues, and contribution guide.
- README and quickstart - full policy reference and setup instructions.
- Default policy -
configs/default_policy.yamlin the repo, ready to fork and extend. - Adversarial test suite - run
./lobstertrap testto validate your policy against built-in attack patterns. - Single-prompt debugger - run
./lobstertrap inspect "<your prompt>"to see full metadata extraction output for any input.
Deployment Options
Three ways to run Lobster Trap:
- Standalone - clone the repo, run
make build, then start with./lobstertrap serve. Requires Go 1.22 or later. - Pre-built static binary - download a Linux, Windows, or macOS binary from the repo with no Go toolchain required.
- Native.Builder - already packaged inside lablab's Native.Builder environment; no setup needed.
No API keys, signups, rate limits, or cloud dependency required for any deployment path.
Ecosystem and Integrations
- Acts as the trust layer beneath multi-agent systems, enforcing per-agent permission boundaries and logging cross-agent interactions.
- Serves as a foundation for compliance policy packs targeting HIPAA, SOC2, or financial regulations.
- Integrates with governance dashboards and drift monitoring tooling via its structured JSON audit log output.
- Supported by Veea engineers in the lablab Discord for policy review, integration help, and architecture questions during hackathon build phases.
Get started by cloning the repo and running ./lobstertrap serve, or download a pre-built binary from github.com/veeainc/lobstertrap. The full policy reference is in the README.
veea Lobster Trap AI technology Hackathon projects
Discover innovative solutions crafted with veea Lobster Trap AI technology, developed by our community members during our engaging hackathons.





