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Hostkeep
About

Built by someone who needed it at 3 a.m.

Hostkeep is an independent startup founded in 2026 by Fay and backed by The Climate Truth. It started as a tool for one Windows trading VM and is being hardened so other small teams can trust it on their own machines.

Updated 11 October 2026hostkeep.tech/about

The story

I run a trading system on a Windows VM. When something broke overnight, the routine was always the same: open remote desktop, find the right folder, read the log, check what changed. I wanted to ask my AI assistant instead, from wherever it runs.

So I built a bridge between the assistant and the machine. In one week of daily use it handled more than 4,400 tool calls. It also showed the real problem: 799 of those calls were unrestricted PowerShell and only 4 were fixed, pre-defined tasks, because nothing existed between read-only access and full control. Hostkeep is that middle ground, with walls the assistant can't climb.

Principles

  • Least privilege first. Read-only by default, named folders only, tasks instead of a shell, no admin rights.
  • Don't trust the AI. Assistants can be confused or tricked. Every protection is enforced in code on the machine.
  • Evidence over claims. Every security claim names the code that enforces it and the automated test that proves it.
  • Publish the gaps. What isn't finished is listed openly until it is.
  • Your data stays yours. No Hostkeep cloud, no telemetry, logs on your machine.

How it's built

Hostkeep is built AI-first. Claude acts as architect and security reviewer: it writes the specifications and decisions and reviews every change. Coding agents implement against those written specs. Every fix starts as a failing test, and nothing is merged without evidence: the suite has 192 automated tests, plus stress tests that swap folders for links 100,000 times and a one-hour soak test.

Every design decision is recorded with the evidence behind it, including the ones that changed course after a test proved an earlier approach wrong. Three examples:

  • Path checks can be raced, so pin the folders instead. A stress test showed that checking a path and then opening it leaves a gap a fast folder swap can slip through. A dedicated worker now holds every folder open while it works. Result: 100,000 operations, 0 outside access.
  • Open everything relative to what you already hold. The first version still opened the final file by its full name. Now every step opens relative to a handle the worker holds, and Windows refuses to follow a folder that was swapped for a link.
  • One failed log write must never silence the log. Each write now fails on its own, busy files are retried, and while logging is down, new changes are refused before they run.

Built on Windows 11, Node.js 22 LTS, MCP 2025-11-25 and the Windows NT handle APIs, with few dependencies, all pinned.

Who's behind it

Fay, founder. Fay builds production systems by directing AI: a multi-account trading platform, signal processing, client websites and integrations. Hostkeep comes out of that work.

Hostkeep is backed by The Climate Truth, a grassroots climate advocacy network that Fay is part of. Their funding arrived in October 2026.

Free for nonprofits and climate groups, during the beta and after it. Get in touch to be set up.

Hostkeep is not affiliated with Anthropic, OpenAI, Microsoft or any other company named on this site. Product names belong to their owners.

Facts

  • Product: Hostkeep, an MCP server for Windows machines and VMs.
  • For: small teams running unattended Windows workloads.
  • Status: private beta, working today; onboarding the first teams.
  • Platform: Windows 11, Node.js 22, MCP 2025-11-25 over streamable HTTP.
  • Tools: 63, with 38 on by default. Tests: 192 automated, plus stress suites.
  • Founded: 2026 by Fay. Backed by: The Climate Truth.
  • Pricing: free for nonprofits and climate groups, during the beta and after.

What's next

Human approval before changes or tasks run, separate keys per client, sign-in for web assistants, a one-click installer, and a pilot with three to five teams. The full roadmap is on the roadmap page. If you run Windows workloads and want to be one of those teams, get in touch.