Generative Application Firewall (GAF)

Gold definitionUpdated Apr 2, 2026

Definition

The Generative Application Firewall (GAF) is a new architectural layer designed to secure Large Language Model (LLM) applications. It unifies fragmented defenses like prompt filters and guardrails into a single enforcement point, protecting LLM apps, autonomous agents, and their tool interactions.

At a glance

Executive summary

The Generative Application Firewall (GAF) is a new security system for AI applications, especially those using large language models. It brings together all the different security tools, like content filters and safety rules, into one central place, making AI apps safer and easier to manage, even when they use other tools.

TL;DR

A Generative Application Firewall (GAF) is a central security system that combines all safety measures for AI apps, making them more secure and easier to protect.

Key points

Unifies fragmented LLM defenses (prompt filters, guardrails, data-masking) into a single enforcement point.
Addresses the fragmentation of LLM security tools and provides comprehensive protection for generative AI applications.
Used by researchers, security engineers, and developers building and deploying secure LLM applications and autonomous AI agents.
Unlike disparate, individual security tools, GAF offers a unified, architectural layer for centralized policy enforcement.
Represents a research trend towards holistic security architectures for complex generative AI systems, especially with the rise of AI agents and tool use.

Use cases

Securing enterprise LLM deployments, such as internal chatbots or content generation tools, to prevent data leakage or misuse.
Protecting public-facing AI assistants from prompt injection attacks or generating inappropriate content.
Ensuring autonomous AI agents interacting with external APIs (e.g., booking flights, managing finances) adhere to safety policies and do not perform unauthorized actions.
Filtering potentially malicious or insecure code generated by LLMs before it's used in development pipelines.
Enforcing data-masking policies on sensitive information processed by LLMs to comply with privacy regulations.

Also known as

GAF, LLM Firewall, AI Application Firewall