instabox@0.8.40
A cloud box for your coding agent, the instabox CLI and its agent skills in one command: npx instabox@latest
AI Security Review
scanned 7d ago · by lpm-firewall-aiThe package has no install lifecycle hook, and the reviewed agent-skill writes occur during the documented CLI onboarding flow and are limited to skills shipped by this package. Authentication uses a user-approved device flow; telemetry is disclosed and can be disabled, while repository migration is user-directed and warns about sensitive Git metadata and conversation history.
Static reason
No blocking static signals were detected.
Trigger
User invokes the CLI onboarding command; repo transfer behavior is described in a skill intended for an explicit migration request.
Impact
No evidence of credential theft or unauthorized account actions. Expected effects include local skill and credential files, telemetry, and repository transfer during an intentional migration.
Mechanism
The CLI authenticates through the configured Instabox API, copies its own skills into user skill directories, and sends usage events to PostHog. Migration scripts transfer selected repository data to a user-created box.
AI rationale
The package has no install lifecycle hook, and the reviewed agent-skill writes occur during the documented CLI onboarding flow and are limited to skills shipped by this package. Authentication uses a user-approved device flow; telemetry is disclosed and can be disabled, while repository migration is user-directed and warns about sensitive Git metadata and conversation history.
Evidence
~/.claude/skills/<skill>/~/.agents/skills/<skill>/${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/instabox/credentials.json${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/instabox/telemetry.json<user-selected repo migration staging and destination paths>
Network endpoints2
api.instabox.shus.i.posthog.com
Decision evidence
public snapshotAI called this Clean at 95.0% confidence as Benign with low false-positive risk.
Evidence for AI clean decision
- package.json declares no install, preinstall, or postinstall hook.
- The CLI installs only the skills shipped with this package under the documented Claude and agent skill directories; it supports --no-skills and only overwrites copies marked as installed by instabox.
- Onboarding runs for the documented bare CLI invocation or sh command; other arguments are passed to the CLI.
- Sign-in uses a device-code flow that presents a verification page and waits for the user’s approval.
- Telemetry sends usage events to PostHog; the CLI says events contain steps and outcomes, not names or arguments, and documents opt-out variables.
- The repo-migration skill warns that Git metadata can include token-bearing remote URLs and asks the user about copying conversation history that may contain secrets.
Evidence against
- Onboarding writes package skills into ~/.claude/skills and ~/.agents/skills, which are outside the package directory.
- Onboarding sends usage telemetry by default to us.i.posthog.com.
- The migration skill can transfer .git data, including a remote URL with an embedded token, when the user requests migration.
Source & flagged code
5 flaggedbin/instabox.mjsView file
•Runtime or CLI code links a write operation to an explicit external AI-agent control path:
sync(join(dir, rel), { withfiletypes: true })
.sort((a, b) => a.name.localecompare(b.name))
.flatmap((e) => {
const r = rel ? `${rel}/${e.name}` : e.name;
return e.isdirectory() ? skillfiles(dir, r) : e.isfile() ? [r] : [];
});
}
const retired_skills = [
'instabox-migrate',
'instabox-move-all',
];
function removeretiredskills(roots) {
const removed = new set();
for (const root of roots)
for (const n of retired_skills) {
try {
High
External Ai Agent Control Surface Mutation
Runtime or CLI source writes behavior-bearing configuration into a user or project AI-agent control surface.
bin/instabox.mjsView on unpkg316no-skills')) return null;
const src = join(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), '..', 'skills');
let names;
try {
names = readdirSync(src).filter((n) => existsSync(join(src, n, 'SKILL.md')));
} catch {
return null;
}
const roots = [join(homedir(), '.claude', 'skills'), join(homedir(), '.agents', 'skills')];
// A skill counts as upda
Low
Ai Review Evidence
The CLI installs only the skills shipped with this package under the documented Claude and agent skill directories; it supports --no-skills and only overwrites copies marked as installed by instabox.
Findings
1 High5 Medium6 Low
HighExternal Ai Agent Control Surface Mutationbin/instabox.mjs
MediumNetwork
MediumEnvironment Vars
MediumShips Native Binarycli/instabox-windows-arm64.exe
MediumShips Build Helperskills/instabox-basic-setup/scripts/install-files.py
MediumStructural Risk Force Deep Review
LowScripts Present
LowFilesystem
LowHigh Entropy Strings
LowUrl Strings
LowSuspicious Lifecycle Evidencepackage.json
LowAi Review Evidencebin/instabox.mjs
Affected versions and remediation
This report applies to instabox@0.8.40.
See all versions of instabox for other recorded verdicts.
- Review the evidence and your use of instabox@0.8.40 before allowing it. Restrict the permissions described in this report.
- Choose an independently verified alternative or release. This report does not establish that other versions are safe.
Evidence last updated: .
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