Why this is hard
Building a working tool with AI now takes an afternoon. Putting that tool in front of colleagues safely is a different job. The tool needs a place to run, a sign-in, a security check, the right data, an owner and a way to switch it off. Most companies have none of that ready for tools built outside IT.
So one of two things happens. IT blocks the tools, and the work goes back to spreadsheets. Or staff run the tools anyway, on personal accounts and other people’s servers, and nobody can see them. That second path is the shadow IT most companies already have.
What Substrait does
Substrait gives every tool your staff build the same governed path.
- The builder keeps their AI model. A plugin connects Claude Code, the Claude desktop app or Cursor to Substrait.
- The tool starts in dev, behind your sign-in. Only your organisation can open it while it is being built.
- The tool passes a security check before production. Substrait scans the release for secrets, weak code, vulnerable dependencies and container issues. A release with too many issues stops for a human approver.
- The tool reads only the data its owner approved. Each grant is approved by the owner of that data and lasts for a set time.
- The tool has an owner and a record. Every change is versioned, every tool can be rolled back, and every tool can be switched off.
What changes for IT
IT stops picking which projects get built. IT sets the rules once, and Substrait applies them to every tool. A tool that stays inside its approved limits ships without a new review. Only a tool that asks for more data, starts writing instead of reading, or faces customers goes back for approval.
What changes for staff
Staff build the tools they need, with the AI model they already use. Substrait tells each builder what to do next, in plain words, from their first sign-in to their first tool in production.