head to head · open source
SkillSpector vs pipelock
SkillSpector has 23,981 GitHub stars, 2,070 forks, 136 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pipelock has 978 stars, 112 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SkillSpector leads on adoption by 2,352% (23,981 vs 978 stars). SkillSpector is written in Python under Apache-2.0; pipelock is written in Go under Apache-2.0. SkillSpector has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, pipelock 11%. pipelock was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (agent-security, ai-security), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| SkillSpector | pipelock | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 24K | ★ 978 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 112 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick SkillSpector if
- You weight community size — 24K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick pipelock if
- You want the pipelock feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and pipelock fits your workflow better
About SkillSpector
SkillSpector Security scanner for AI agent skills. Detect vulnerabilities, malicious patterns, and security risks before installing agent skills. Overview AI agent skills (used by Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, etc.) execute with implicit trust and minimal vetting. In the 31,132 skill analyzed subset of the research dataset, 26.1% of skills contain vulnerabilities and 5.2% show likely malicious intent . SkillSpector helps you answer: "Is this skill safe to install?" SkillSpector is part of the NVIDIA Verified Skills pipeline, which scans, evaluates, and signs agent skills before publication. Skills that…
read the full SkillSpector overview →
About pipelock
Open source AI agent firewall for Verifiable Egress Control . Pipelock sits between AI agents and the network. It inspects mediated HTTP, WebSocket, MCP, and A2A traffic, plus CONNECT tunnel contents when TLS interception is enabled, for secret exfiltration, prompt injection, SSRF, tool poisoning, and risky tool call chains. Plain CONNECT without interception is scanned at the hostname and URL level. Configured MCP upstreams are an exception to private address SSRF blocking: local/private servers are allowed, but cloud metadata endpoints remain blocked. Pipelock emits mediator signed action receipts over content…
read the full pipelock overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SkillSpector or pipelock more popular?
SkillSpector has 23,981 GitHub stars and pipelock has 978. SkillSpector has the larger community by that measure.
Are SkillSpector and pipelock free?
Both are open source. SkillSpector is licensed under Apache-2.0 and pipelock under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SkillSpector and pipelock?
SkillSpector is written in Python and pipelock in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, SkillSpector or pipelock?
Choose SkillSpector if you want the larger community (23,981 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose pipelock if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.