Tirith
Tirith is a free, open-source command-line tool for evaluating infrastructure documents against JSON policies.
What Tirith is
Tirith is a free, open-source command-line tool for evaluating infrastructure documents against JSON policies. It reports which rules pass or fail and identifies the affected resource and value. Its pipeline gate checks Terraform plan output and can return a nonzero exit code for a policy violation before infrastructure changes are applied. Documented inputs include Terraform plans and state, Kubernetes manifests, Infracost breakdowns, CloudFormation, and other JSON documents. Policies can use evaluators such as ContainedIn, Equals, and RegexMatch, and the provider architecture can be extended for other input formats. In local mode, evaluation runs on the user's runner; the project says policies and documents are not sent elsewhere. Optional organization mode checks plans against StackGuardian policies and uploads a masked document for evaluation. Tirith can run in GitHub Actions and other container-based CI jobs, with direct CLI use for GitLab. OpenTofu plans work like Terraform plans for the documented gate. An optional beta terminal interface provides results exploration, policy building, and examples, and can also be served in a browser.
Good
- Free open-source CLI; no account required
- Supports multiple infrastructure document formats
- Can stop a pipeline on policy violations
- Local mode keeps evaluation on the user's runner
- Includes policy lint and format commands
Watch out
- GitLab users invoke the CLI directly
- Terminal interface is beta
- Organization mode uploads a masked document
Who it suits
Tirith is aimed at DevSecOps engineers, infrastructure architects, cloud administrators, and others who manage infrastructure guardrails. It may suit teams that want policy checks in CI or local CLI workflows.
Verdict
Tirith offers policy-based checks for infrastructure documents, with local evaluation and CI pipeline gating. GitLab users should account for the direct CLI workflow rather than a GitLab-native action.
Plans and prices
From Tirith's own pricing page, checked 7 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Tirith (Apache-2.0) | Free | Open-source CLI; no account required; optional StackGuardian organization mode |
The facts
Each one read from Tirith's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- CI integrations
- The README documents a GitHub Actions integration and direct CLI use in GitLab or other container-based CI jobs.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Intended users
- The project names DevSecOps engineers, infrastructure architects, cloud administrators, and others who manage or enforce infrastructure guardrails.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Interactive interface
- The optional beta terminal interface provides an Explorer for results, a Builder for policies, and a Playground for examples; it can also be served in a browser.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Notable limitation
- The maker says there is no GitLab-native action equivalent, so GitLab users invoke the CLI directly.checked 7 Oct 2026
- OpenTofu
- The maker's site says OpenTofu plans work identically to Terraform plans for the documented gate.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Organization mode
- The optional platform check evaluates plans against policies enforced by a StackGuardian organization and uploads a masked document to StackGuardian for evaluation.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Pipeline gate
- It checks Terraform plan output and can return a nonzero exit code for a policy violation before infrastructure changes are applied.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Policy features
- Policies can use providers and evaluators such as ContainedIn, Equals, and RegexMatch, and the provider architecture can be extended for other input formats.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Policy maintenance
- The CLI includes lint and format commands, and both are published as pre-commit hooks.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Tirith evaluates infrastructure documents against declarative JSON policies and reports which rules passed or failed, including the affected resource and value.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Sensitive values
- In local mode, evaluation runs on the user's runner and the project says that policies and documents are not sent anywhere.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Supported inputs
- The project documents support for Terraform plans and state, Kubernetes manifests, Infracost breakdowns, and other JSON documents.checked 7 Oct 2026
The company
- Headquarters
- Germanychecked 28 Sep 2026
- Maker and founding
- StackGuardian says it was founded in 2022.checked 7 Oct 2026
Where it runs
- Other CI platforms
- The maker's site lists GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Bitbucket Pipelines, any CI, and local CLI as ways to run Tirith.checked 7 Oct 2026
Alternatives to Tirith
- 1

Terraform
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AWS CloudFormation
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Kyverno
Free planOpen sourceWebAPILinuxmacOS7.7Free plan - 4

Open Policy Agent Gatekeeper
Free planOpen sourceAPILinuxSelf-hosted7.2Free plan - 5

Fairwinds Polaris
Free planWebLinuxmacOSSelf-hosted7.1Free plan - 6
Google Cloud Organization Policy
Free planWebAPILinuxmacOS7.1Free plan
