Local override (HEXGATE_LOCAL_POLICY)

Point an agent at a local source and every tool call routes through the WASM engine instead of pydantic — no platform needed. Two shapes are accepted, and both hot-reload on save (no restart, no manual rebuild between turns):

`HEXGATE_LOCAL_POLICY=…`	What happens	When to use
`./bundle/` (output of `hexgate policy build`)	Stat the bundle manifest each turn; reload if its mtime changed.	Production-shaped local testing — exercises the exact signed-bundle path.
`./policy.yaml`	Stat the yaml each turn; recompile via `opa` when its mtime changed.	The tight dev loop — edit yaml, save, ask again. No build step.

# Pre-built bundle dir — rebuild it mid-session, next chat picks it up
hexgate policy build policy.yaml --out ./bundle
HEXGATE_LOCAL_POLICY=./bundle hexgate chat --agent example_agent
# [hexgate] HEXGATE_LOCAL_POLICY active (bundle-dir): ./bundle (wasm_hash=7e6d1f8b..., unsigned)

# Raw yaml — edit policy.yaml in your editor, save, next chat sees the new policy
HEXGATE_LOCAL_POLICY=./policy.yaml hexgate chat --agent example_agent
# [hexgate] HEXGATE_LOCAL_POLICY active (yaml): ./policy.yaml (wasm_hash=ab12..., unsigned)

The bundle’s integrity (files match the manifest) is verified on every reload — a stale or corrupt bundle fails immediately, not at the first tool call. Yaml sources default to unsigned; see signing to sign each recompile.

Same refresh seam as the platform. Under the hood both sources implement PolicySource.fetch(); the agent runtime calls it at the top of every turn and only swaps the active policy when the returned bundle is a new instance. Unchanged → identity match → no work. That’s the same hot-reload path hexgate serve uses for platform-edited YAML.

Get started

Concepts

Framework adapters

Policy

CLI

Local override (HEXGATE_LOCAL_POLICY)