AiGuardrails

AiGuardrails is a Ruby gem for validating, repairing, and securing AI-generated outputs. It ensures responses from LLMs (like OpenAI or Anthropic) are valid, safe, and structured.

Overview
Installation
Quick Start
Features
- Schema Validation
- Automatic JSON Repair
- Unit Test Helpers / Mock Model Client
- Provider-Agnostic API
- Auto-Correction / Retry Layer
- Safety & Content Filters
- Easy DSL / Developer-Friendly API
- Background Job / CLI Friendly
- Optional Caching
- JSON + Schema Auto-Fix Hooks
Error Handling
Development
Contributing
License
Code of Conduct

Overview

AI models often generate invalid JSON, inconsistent data types, or unsafe content. AiGuardrails helps you handle all of this automatically, providing:

✅ JSON repair for malformed AI responses
✅ Schema validation for predictable structure
✅ Safety filters for blocked or harmful content
✅ Retry + correction for invalid responses
✅ Easy integration via a single AiGuardrails.run call

flowchart LR
    A[AI Response] --> B[JSON Parse Attempt]
    B -->|Valid| F[Return Output ✅]
    B -->|Invalid| C[Auto-Fix Hook 🔧]
    C --> D[Revalidate Schema]
    D -->|Fixed| F
    D -->|Still Invalid| E[Retry or Fallback 🚨]
    E --> G[Raise AiGuardrails::SchemaError]

Installation

Add AiGuardrails to your project using Bundler:

bundle add ai_guardrails

Or install manually:

gem install ai_guardrails

Requirements

Ruby >= 3.0.0
Rails >= 6.0 (if using Rails integration)
Optional dependencies:
- ruby-openai for OpenAI provider
- ruby-anthropic gem if using Anthropic provider

Quick Start

require "ai_guardrails"

schema = { name: :string, price: :float }

# Optional: Helps AI return structured output matching the schema.
# Can be any type: String, Hash, etc.
schema_hint = schema

result = AiGuardrails::DSL.run(
  prompt: "Generate a product JSON",
  provider: :openai,
  provider_config: { api_key: ENV["OPENAI_API_KEY"] },
  schema: schema,
  schema_hint: schema_hint
)

puts result
# => { "name" => "Laptop", "price" => 1200.0 }

Features

Schema Validation

Validate AI output against a Ruby schema.

require "ai_guardrails"

schema = { name: :string, price: :float, tags: [:string] }
validator = AiGuardrails::SchemaValidator.new(schema)

input = { name: "Laptop", price: 1200.0, tags: ["electronics", "sale"] }
success, result = validator.validate(input)

if success
  puts "Valid output: #{result}"
else
  puts "Validation errors: #{result}"
end

Supported Types

Type	Example
`:string`	`"Laptop"`
`:integer`	`42`
`:float`	`19.99`
`:boolean`	`true`
`[:string]`	`["a", "b"]`
`[{ key: :string }]`	`[{"key" => "value"}]`

Example Invalid Input

input = { name: 123, price: "abc", tags: ["electronics", 2] }
success, errors = validator.validate(input)
# => { name: ["must be a string"], price: ["must be a float"], tags: ["element 1 must be a string"] }

Automatic JSON Repair

LLMs often return invalid JSON. AiGuardrails::JsonRepair automatically fixes common issues.

require "ai_guardrails"

raw_json = "{name: 'Laptop' price: 1200, tags: ['electronics' 'sale']}"
fixed = AiGuardrails::JsonRepair.repair(raw_json)

puts fixed
# => { "name" => "Laptop", "price" => 1200, "tags" => ["electronics", "sale"] }

What It Fixes

Missing quotes or commas
Single → double quotes
Trailing commas
Unbalanced braces/brackets
Nested arrays/objects without separators

Unrepairable JSON Example

begin
  AiGuardrails::JsonRepair.repair("NOT JSON")
rescue AiGuardrails::JsonRepair::RepairError => e
  puts "Could not repair JSON: #{e.message}"
end

Integration with Schema Validation

schema = { name: :string, price: :float }
fixed = AiGuardrails::JsonRepair.repair("{name: 'Laptop', price: '1200'}")
validator = AiGuardrails::SchemaValidator.new(schema)
success, result = validator.validate(fixed)

Unit Test Helpers / Mock Model Client

Simulate AI model responses for testing without API calls.

mock_client = AiGuardrails::MockModelClient.new(
  "Generate product" => '{"name": "Laptop", "price": 1200}'
)

response = mock_client.call(prompt: "Generate product")
puts response
# => '{"name": "Laptop", "price": 1200}'

mock_client.add_response("Generate user", '{"name": "Alice"}')

Simulate API Errors

begin
  mock_client.call(prompt: "error", raise_error: true)
rescue AiGuardrails::MockModelClient::MockError => e
  puts e.message
end

Fallback Example

response = mock_client.call(prompt: "error", default_fallback: "No mock response defined")
puts response
# => "No mock response defined"

Provider-Agnostic API

AiGuardrails supports any LLM provider, with dynamic loading and zero vendor dependencies.

Provider	Gem	Status
OpenAI	`ruby-openai`	✅ Supported
Anthropic	`ruby-anthropic`	🔜 Planned
Google Gemini	`gemini-ai`	🔜 Planned
Ollama (local)	`ollama-ai`	🔜 Planned

client = AiGuardrails::Provider::Factory.build(
  provider: :openai,
  config: { api_key: ENV["OPENAI_API_KEY"], model: "gpt-4o-mini" }
)

puts client.call_model(prompt: "Hello!")

Auto-Correction / Retry Layer

Automatically repairs and retries AI output until it passes schema validation.

schema = { name: :string, price: :float }

client = AiGuardrails::Provider::Factory.build(
  provider: :openai,
  config: { api_key: ENV["OPENAI_API_KEY"] }
)

auto = AiGuardrails::AutoCorrection.new(provider: client, schema: schema, max_retries: 3, sleep_time: 1)

result = auto.call(prompt: "Generate a product JSON", schema_hint: schema)
puts result
# => { "name" => "Laptop", "price" => 1200.0 }

Optional Parameters

max_retries: Maximum retry attempts
sleep_time: Delay between retries
schema_hint: Optional guide to help AI produce valid output
Raises AiGuardrails::AutoCorrection::RetryLimitReached if retries exhausted

Safety & Content Filters

Detect and block unsafe or prohibited content.

filter = AiGuardrails::SafetyFilter.new(blocklist: ["badword", /forbidden/i])

filter.safe?("clean text") # => true
filter.safe?("badword inside") # => false

Raise exception on violation:

begin
  filter.check!("This has badword")
rescue AiGuardrails::SafetyFilter::UnsafeContentError => e
  puts e.message
end

Easy DSL / Developer-Friendly API

AiGuardrails::DSL.run is a single entry point combining:

JSON repair
Schema validation
Auto-correction & retries
Safety filters
Logging & debugging
Optional caching

result = AiGuardrails::DSL.run(
  prompt: "Generate product",
  schema: { name: :string, price: :float },
  schema_hint: schema, # It could be any other data type eg, string, json etc
  provider: :openai,
  provider_config: { api_key: ENV["OPENAI_API_KEY"] },
  blocklist: ["Forbidden"]
)

puts result
# => { "name" => "Laptop", "price" => 1200.0 }

Schema vs Schema Hint

schema (required): Full validation for final output.
schema_hint (optional): Guides AI generation, can be a subset or modified version.

schema = { name: :string, price: :float, tags: [:string] }
hint = "JSON should contain name, price and tags"

result = AiGuardrails::DSL.run(
  prompt: "Generate product JSON",
  schema: schema,
  schema_hint: hint,
  provider_config: { api_key: ENV["OPENAI_API_KEY"] },
  blocklist: ["Forbidden"],
  max_retries: 3,
  sleep_time: 1
)

puts result
# => { "name" => "Laptop", "price" => 1200.0, "tags" => ["electronics", "sale"] }

Background Job / CLI Friendly

Works seamlessly in Rails background jobs, Sidekiq, or standalone CLI scripts.

Background Job Example

require "logger"

logger = Logger.new($stdout)

AiGuardrails::BackgroundJob.perform(logger: logger, debug: true) do
  AiGuardrails::DSL.run(
    prompt: "Generate product",
    schema: { name: :string, price: :float },
    schema_hint: { name: :string, price: :float },
    provider_config: { api_key: ENV["OPENAI_API_KEY"] }
  )
end

CLI Example (Standalone Script or IRB) Use the CLI for running workflows outside of Rails or for local testing.

# If running as a standalone Ruby script, make sure the gem lib path is loaded:
$LOAD_PATH.unshift(File.expand_path("lib", __dir__))
require "ai_guardrails"

AiGuardrails::CLI.run(debug: true) do
  result = AiGuardrails::DSL.run(
    prompt: "Generate product",
    schema: { name: :string, value: :integer },
    schema_hint: { name: :string, value: :integer },
    provider_config: { api_key: ENV["OPENAI_API_KEY"] }
  )

  puts result
end

Note: End-users of the gem in Rails projects do not need the CLI. It is primarily for gem developers or for running workflows outside a Rails app.

Optional Caching

Cache AI responses for repeated prompts to reduce cost and latency.

AiGuardrails::Cache.configure(enabled: true, store: Rails.cache, expires_in: 300)

schema = { name: :string, price: :float }

result1 = AiGuardrails::DSL.run(prompt: "Generate product", schema: schema, schema_hint: schema, provider_config: { api_key: ENV["OPENAI_API_KEY"] })
result2 = AiGuardrails::DSL.run(prompt: "Generate product", schema: schema, schema_hint: schema, provider_config: { api_key: ENV["OPENAI_API_KEY"] })

puts result1 == result2 # => true

Fetch Examples

key = AiGuardrails::Cache.key("prompt", schema)

# Using default
value = AiGuardrails::Cache.fetch(key, "default_value")

# Using block
value = AiGuardrails::Cache.fetch(key) { "computed_result" }

JSON + Schema Auto-Fix Hooks

Automatically repair and coerce malformed JSON to match schema.

schema = { name: :string, price: :float, available: :boolean }
raw = '{"name": "Shirt", "price": "19.99", "available": "true"}'

fixed = AiGuardrails::AutoFix.fix(raw, schema: schema)
# => {"name"=>"Shirt", "price"=>19.99, "available"=>true}

Custom Hooks

hooks = [proc { |h| h["price"] *= 2 }]
fixed = AiGuardrails::AutoFix.fix(raw, schema: schema, hooks: hooks)
puts fixed["price"] # => 39.98

Hooks allow:

Setting default values
Transforming or normalizing data
Custom calculations or aggregations
Injecting metadata before final output

Hooks run after schema validation and JSON repair, ensuring safe, valid, and tailored output.

Error Handling

Exception	When It Occurs
`AiGuardrails::JsonRepair::RepairError`	Cannot repair invalid JSON input
`AiGuardrails::AutoCorrection::RetryLimitReached`	Maximum retries reached without valid output
`AiGuardrails::SafetyFilter::UnsafeContentError`	Blocked or unsafe content detected in AI output

Example:

begin
  result = AiGuardrails::DSL.run(prompt: "Generate product", schema: schema)
rescue AiGuardrails::AutoCorrection::RetryLimitReached => e
  puts "Retries exceeded: #{e.message}"
rescue AiGuardrails::SafetyFilter::UnsafeContentError => e
  puts "Blocked content detected: #{e.message}"
end

Development

Install dependencies:

bin/setup
rake spec

Interactive console:

bin/console

Release a new version:

bundle exec rake release

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome at: 👉 https://github.com/logicbunchhq/ai_guardrails

This project follows the Contributor Covenant.

License

Released under the MIT License.

Code of Conduct

Everyone interacting with AiGuardrails project is expected to follow the Code of Conduct.

ai_guardrails

Development

Runtime

AiGuardrails

Table of Contents

Overview

Installation

Requirements

Quick Start

Features

Schema Validation

Supported Types

Example Invalid Input

Automatic JSON Repair

Unit Test Helpers / Mock Model Client

Provider-Agnostic API

Auto-Correction / Retry Layer

Safety & Content Filters

Easy DSL / Developer-Friendly API

Background Job / CLI Friendly

Optional Caching

JSON + Schema Auto-Fix Hooks

Error Handling

Development

Contributing

License

Code of Conduct