svenflow/auth-dialog-monitor

Auth Dialog Monitor

Monitors macOS authentication dialogs (SecurityAgent), auto-resolves safe ones via rule engine, and escalates unknown dialogs to admin via SMS with a CLI for resolution.

Architecture

SecurityAgent dialog appears
        ↓
AuthDialogMonitor (~/dispatch/assistant/auth_dialog.py)
  - Detects via PyObjC AX tree polling
  - Traces provenance to SDK session via process tree
  - Classifies via rule engine (config.local.yaml)
        ↓
   ┌────────────┬─────────────────┐
   │ Safe rule  │  Unknown/unsafe │
   │ → auto-    │  → escalate to  │
   │   approve  │  admin via SMS  │
   └────────────┴─────────────────┘
        ↓
Admin replies → auth-dialog-approve CLI resolves it

Runs as part of the main dispatch daemon. Bus events logged to system topic.

CLI: auth-dialog-approve

~/dispatch/bin/auth-dialog-approve list                  # List pending escalated dialogs
~/dispatch/bin/auth-dialog-approve info <dialog_id>      # Show dialog details
~/dispatch/bin/auth-dialog-approve approve <dialog_id>   # Click OK/Allow
~/dispatch/bin/auth-dialog-approve deny <dialog_id>      # Click Cancel
~/dispatch/bin/auth-dialog-approve always <dialog_id>    # Approve + add auto-approve rule to config

Pending dialogs stored in: ~/dispatch/state/auth_dialog_pending.json Resolution via PyObjC AXUIElement (no daemon IPC needed).

Escalation Flow

1. Unknown dialog detected → admin notified via SMS with dialog details
2. Admin replies (e.g. "approve" or "deny") → triggers inject-prompt into admin session
3. Admin session runs auth-dialog-approve approve <id> or deny <id>
4. Use always to also add a permanent auto-approve rule

Auto-Approve Rules

Rules live in ~/dispatch/config.local.yaml under auth_dialog.auto_approve_rules:

auth_dialog:
  auto_approve_rules:
    - name: "homebrew installs"
      app_pattern: "installer"
      action_pattern: "install"
      action: approve
    - name: "my script"
      app_pattern: "python"
      action_pattern: "keychain"
      action: approve

All patterns are regex, case-insensitive. Fields: app_pattern, action_pattern, dialog_type.

Config hot-reloads via SIGHUP — no daemon restart needed.

Bus Events

| Event | Topic | When | |-------|-------|------| | auth_dialog.detected | system | Dialog appears | | auth_dialog.approved | system | Auto-approved by rule | | auth_dialog.escalated | system | Sent to admin | | auth_dialog.approved | system | Human approved | | auth_dialog.denied | system | Human denied | | auth_dialog.always_approved | system | Approved + rule added |

Search bus: cd ~/dispatch && uv run python -m bus.cli search "auth_dialog" --limit 20

Dialog Types

• password — requires password entry (APPROVE_WITH_PASSWORD if rule matches)
• allow_deny — simple Allow/Deny buttons
• ok_cancel — OK/Cancel buttons

Notes

• Resolution is done in-process via PyObjC — passwords never leave the process
• always command adds rule to config.local.yaml and auto-approves existing pending dialog
• If dialog disappears before resolution, approve/deny will report "dialog not found"