recess-cli@3.22.1

Safe Recess administration and family AI tools from the command line.

AI Security Review

scanned 7d ago · by lpm-firewall-ai

The postinstall hook performs an automatic, consent-free refresh of this package's own agent skill directories, which leaves a bounded agent extension lifecycle risk. The separate AGENTS.md write occurs only through the explicitly invoked apps init command.

Static reason

One or more suspicious static signals were detected.

Trigger

Installing the published package runs its postinstall hook.

Impact

The installed agent skill instructions are replaced and may affect how those agents handle later Recess CLI tasks.

Mechanism

The hook calls installSkill, which removes and recopies the Recess CLI skill into the configured agent skill directories.

AI rationale

Evidence

package.jsonscripts/postinstall.mjsdist/setup.jsskill/recess-cli/SKILL.mdskill/recess-cli/~/.codex/skills/recess-cli~/.claude/skills/recess-cli

Decision evidence

public snapshot

AI called this Suspicious at 90.0% confidence as Dangerous Capability with medium false-positive risk.

Evidence for warning

The package postinstall hook runs scripts/postinstall.mjs.
On published-package installs, the hook calls installSkill without an explicit consent check.
installSkill removes and recopies the Recess skill in the selected agent skill directories.
The destinations are the Recess CLI skill directories under the Codex and Claude configuration roots.
The bundled skill supplies Recess CLI instructions; a separate apps init command writes AGENTS.md in the requested folder.

Evidence against

Behavioral surface

Source

ChildProcessCryptoDynamicRequireEnvironmentVarsFilesystemNetworkShell

Supply chain

HighEntropyStringsUrlStrings

Manifest

NoLicense

scanned 47 file(s), 943 KB of source, external domains: 127.0.0.1, api.recess.gg, example.com, recess.gg

Source & flagged code

4 flagged

package.jsonView file

Lines 44-66json

44 "esbuild": "^0.28.2",

45 "openapi-typescript": "^7.8.0",

46 "oxlint": "^1.28.0",

47 "oxlint-tsgolint": "^0.6.0",

48 "typescript": "^5.9.2",

49 "vitest": "^1.6.0",

50 "@tryrecess/typescript-config": "0.0.0"

51 },

52 "scripts": {

53 "build": "node node_modules/@tryrecess/typescript-config/bin/tsc-fast.mjs",

54 "client:generate": "node scripts/generate-api-types.mjs",

55 "typecheck": "node node_modules/@tryrecess/typescript-config/bin/tsc-fast.mjs --noEmit",

56 "format": "oxfmt --ignore-path .oxfmtignore --check",

57 "format:fix": "oxfmt --ignore-path .oxfmtignore",

58 "lint": "oxlint --type-aware src/*.ts src/commands/*.ts",

59 "lint:fix": "oxlint --type-aware --fix src/*.ts src/commands/*.ts",

60 "test": "vitest run",

61 "install-local": "pnpm run build && make install-local",

62 "install-persistent": "pnpm run build && make install-persistent",

63 "install-skill": "pnpm run build && node scripts/install-skill.mjs",

64 "postinstall": "node scripts/postinstall.mjs"

High

Install Time Lifecycle Scripts

Package defines install-time lifecycle scripts.

package.jsonView on unpkg · L64

Medium

Ambiguous Install Lifecycle Script

Install-time lifecycle script is not statically allowlisted and needs review.

package.jsonView on unpkg · L64

65 }

66}

dist/commands/onboarding.jsView file

Lines 556-596javascript

556 };

557 return writeCommand(parsed, {

558 action: "provision or reconnect the kid's Math Academy account (vendor write; cannot be automatically undone)",

559 target: { familyId, kidUserId },

560 request: body,

561 }, async () => unwrap(await

scripts/postinstall.mjsView file

Lines 10-45javascript

10// 1. Never fail the install. A read-only HOME, a sandboxed CI runner, or a

11// missing build all exit 0 — a skill copy is not worth a failed upgrade.

12// 2. Never run from a source checkout. In the monorepo `pnpm install` fires

13// postinstall for the workspace package too, where dist/ may be stale or

14// absent; writing a developer's half-built skill into their real agent

15// directories would be a surprising side effect of `pnpm install`.

16// 3. Stay quiet on success. One line, on stderr, so it cannot pollute a

17// piped `--json` envelope if anything ever invokes this indirectly.

18import fs

Source & flagged code

4 flagged · loading source

package.jsonView file

•scripts.postinstall = node scripts/postinstall.mjs

High

Install Time Lifecycle Scripts

Package defines install-time lifecycle scripts.

package.jsonView on unpkg

•scripts.postinstall = node scripts/postinstall.mjs

Medium

Ambiguous Install Lifecycle Script

Install-time lifecycle script is not statically allowlisted and needs review.

package.jsonView on unpkg

dist/commands/onboarding.jsView file

576patternName = generic_password severity = medium line = 576

Medium

Secret Pattern

Package contains a possible secret pattern.

dist/commands/onboarding.jsView on unpkg · L576

Findings

1 High6 Medium5 Low

HighInstall Time Lifecycle Scriptspackage.json

MediumAmbiguous Install Lifecycle Scriptpackage.json

MediumSecret Patterndist/commands/onboarding.js

MediumDynamic Requirescripts/postinstall.mjs

MediumNetwork

MediumEnvironment Vars

MediumStructural Risk Force Deep Review

LowScripts Present

LowFilesystem

LowHigh Entropy Strings

LowUrl Strings

LowNo License

Affected versions and remediation

This report applies to recess-cli@3.22.1.

See all versions of recess-cli for other recorded verdicts.

Review the evidence and your use of recess-cli@3.22.1 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: 2026-10-15 20:12:24.155Z (UTC).

Think this verdict is wrong? Dispute it on GitHub or read how reports are produced.