Deploy AI Watch

AI Watch ships as one signed package per operating system. Deploy it once, then manage its behavior from Runlayer or package configuration. macOS and Windows are supported equally: both packages provide the same Monitor, Protect, Enforce, and Sessions behavior with the same configuration model — only the delivery mechanism differs (Configuration Profiles on macOS, MSI properties / registry on Windows). See platform support for supported architectures and Linux.

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Features

Project and client-config detection is always enabled after AI Watch is installed. Endpoint behavior is selected with Mode; Sessions and optional runtime discovery are controlled independently. One organization API key authenticates AI Watch scans, hooks, session events, and macOS updates; no enrollment keys are required.

• Running-process and container discovery are disabled by default. Set their macOS/Linux keys to true or Windows properties to 1 to opt in.
• Monitor is the default mode.
• Sessions is enabled by default. Set Sessions=false (macOS) or AIWATCH_SESSIONS=0 (Windows) to skip the full event/session hook set.

Mode overrides the legacy Enforcement boolean when it contains a valid value. If Mode is absent or invalid, Enforcement=true maps to Enforce and Enforcement=false or absent maps to Monitor. Generated deployment artifacts still include Enforcement for older AI Watch versions: Monitor writes false, while Protect and Enforce write true. Mode-aware clients apply the exact selected mode; an older client receiving Protect falls back to Enforce rather than silently monitoring, but does not have Protect’s exact direct-MCP scanner path. Hook installation follows the combined capability state: AI Watch installs hook configs when Mode is Protect/Enforce or Sessions is enabled. Detect-only uses Monitor with Sessions disabled; omitting Sessions uses the default enabled state and installs hooks for Monitor telemetry. On current macOS and Windows packages, admins can change Mode, Sessions, process/container discovery, project depth, and project timeout from Settings → MDM configuration → Manage settings. Devices fetch the complete settings snapshot during the privileged hook reconcile, typically within an hour, without an MDM policy update. The tenant host, organization API key, AutoUpdate, CPU/memory limits, and browser-extension settings remain MDM-owned. Advanced scan tuning (optional). Detect scans walk each user’s home directory to a bounded depth within a per-scan time budget, and a cooperative in-process governor keeps CPU and memory use within soft caps. The defaults fit most fleets — override them only if scans miss deeply-nested project configs (raise depth), run out of time on very large home directories (raise timeout), or you want to constrain the scan’s footprint on constrained hosts (lower the CPU / memory caps). All are integers — macOS <integer> in the tenant-config profile, Windows REG_DWORD via the matching MSI AIWATCH_* property. Omit the keys to keep the defaults. Values outside the range are clamped into it; non-integer or non-positive values are ignored and the default applies. The CPU / memory caps are best-effort: the governor throttles the scan to hold the CPU duty cycle (max(0.05, min(cpu_cores, MaxCpuPercent% × logical_cores)) cores) and aborts the scan if its Python-heap high-water mark exceeds the memory ceiling.

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Package and platform support

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Package configuration

Use Settings → MDM configuration to create an AI Watch deployment. The wizard picks your MDM, mints a single organization API key, and puts the tenant host, key, initial behavior, and platform settings into the downloaded artifacts. After deployment, select Manage settings on the deployment card to change Mode, Sessions, DetectProcesses, DetectContainers, ProjectDepth, or ProjectTimeout. Current macOS and Windows packages fetch these settings during the privileged hook reconcile, typically within an hour; the complete backend snapshot overrides those six values from the original profile or MSI. If a fetch fails or returns invalid data, AI Watch keeps the last valid snapshot and otherwise falls back to the MDM values. The tenant host, organization API key, identity overrides, AutoUpdate, CPU/memory limits, and browser-extension settings remain MDM-owned. Re-deploy the profile or MSI/registry values to change them. No behavior change requires reinstalling the package itself. The root updater installs the backend-selected binary on its own schedule; holding a version requires AutoUpdate=false or a matching backend rollout target.

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macOS artifacts

The macOS package is a signed and notarized .pkg plus three MDM Configuration Profiles: Deploy the three Configuration Profiles before the .pkg so tenant config and TCC grants are present before the first scan tick. If you need multiple configurations, deploy one com.runlayer.aiwatch.config.mobileconfig per group. The .pkg, PPPC profile, and Login Items profile are universal and can be reused unchanged across all configurations.

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Windows artifacts

The Windows package is a signed MSI wrapped for Intune. The MSI writes tenant config to HKLM\Software\Runlayer\AIWatch and registers device-local Scheduled Tasks that run scans (all real user profiles) and assert hooks (SYSTEM) on a recurring schedule — no Intune Remediations required.

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Linux artifacts (Detect only)

The Linux deployment bundle (aiwatch-<version>-linux-x86_64.zip) contains a .deb and an .rpm (both named runlayer-aiwatch), SHA256SUMS, and the config templates. The package installs the aiwatch binary plus a cron entry that scans all users every 15 minutes. Linux is Detect-only — the device’s Protect, Enforce, and Sessions features show Disabled in the dashboard by design.

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Manual and custom workflows

For individual test devices, use the feature pages: For custom fleet integrations outside a supported MDM, use the same package configuration model: install AI Watch once, provide host and organization API key, leave Detect running, and set Mode, Sessions, and optional process/container discovery to the desired values. Omit Mode only when intentionally relying on the legacy Enforcement fallback.

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Related Resources