Deployment models
There's one collector to deploy, and one decision to make up front: how does AI traffic reach it? Everything else — sizing, CA trust, HA — follows from that. This page helps you choose; the pages under it walk each model in detail.
The one thing to decide: how traffic is routed
Kilasec only inspects traffic that reaches the collector's proxy. You get it there in one of two ways:
| Model | How traffic arrives | Best when | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| PAC file (auto-config) | DHCP hands clients a proxy.pac URL; clients auto-route AI-provider domains to the collector | You control DHCP and want zero per-device config | Single-site |
| Explicit proxy chain | You already run a forward proxy (Squid, Zscaler, a NGFW); you chain AI-provider traffic through the collector | You have an existing egress proxy and prefer to route through it | Explicit proxy |
Both end at the same place — the collector on :8080. PAC is the lightest touch for a single site; explicit-proxy chaining fits shops that already funnel egress through infrastructure they control.
Where the collector runs
The collector is a single hardened Docker container. It needs:
- A Linux host with systemd (amd64 or arm64) — a small VM, a NUC, a Pi 4/5, or a spare box. Not macOS/Windows as a host; the installer is systemd-based.
- Docker 20.10+.
- Outbound HTTPS (443) to
kilasec.comfor the control-plane uplink. - Reachability from your clients on
:8080(proxy) and:9443(PAC), on the LAN.
It runs read-only, non-root, --cap-drop=ALL, no-new-privileges. See Install a collector for the one-liner and Sizing & failure modes for hardware.
The one piece that touches devices: the CA
To inspect TLS without warnings, clients must trust the collector's CA. This is the only step that reaches endpoints, and it's normally a one-time push via MDM/Jamf/Intune/GPO. It's the most common source of onboarding friction, so it has its own guide: Trusting the inspection CA.
A typical rollout
- Stand up the collector on a Linux host and approve it in the dashboard.
- Distribute the CA to a pilot group of devices (CA distribution).
- Route traffic for that pilot group (single-site or explicit-proxy).
- Verify a real AI call shows up in Live Traffic (Generate test traffic).
- Start in observe mode — policy defaulting to
log/allow— watch what's actually on the network, then tighten rules. - Expand the CA + routing to the rest of the fleet.
Rolling out to a pilot group first is strongly recommended: you validate CA trust and routing on a handful of machines before touching everyone.
Sizing at a glance
One collector comfortably handles a small-to-mid site. Scale by adding collectors (one per site/subnet is common) rather than one giant box. Full guidance — CPU/RAM, throughput, and what happens when a collector or the cloud goes down — is in Sizing & failure modes.