Set Up Formal with Recipes

Overview

Recipes are guided setups for common outcomes, such as blocking agent Git pushes or limiting the rows a query returns. Each recipe asks a few questions and shows exactly what it will create. Then it creates that configuration in your organization. A recipe can create policies, permissions, workflows, network rules, scenario monitors, hooks, or data loaders. A Bundle recipe creates several of these together. The created items are ordinary configuration. You can edit or delete them later like anything else you create by hand.

Use a Recipe

Find a recipe

Go to Recipes. Filter by outcome (AI Activity, Data Protection, Access Patterns, or Detection and Response), by type, or by search.

Configure it

Click Configure on a recipe card. Answer each question, such as which Resources and which people the setup covers.

Review the plan

Click Review and create. The drawer lists every item the recipe will create. Nothing is created until you confirm.

Create the items

Click the button with the item count, such as Create 2 items. If some items fail, fix the cause and click Retry remaining.

Verify: The new items appear on their own pages, such as Policies or Network Rules. Creating items requires the same permissions as creating them by hand. Recipes marked Coming Soon aren’t available yet.

Available Recipes

Recipe	Type	What it sets up
Block agent Git pushes	Bundle	Blocks pushes to protected GitHub repositories over SSH and HTTPS
Restrict Codex Desktop egress	Bundle	Allows LLM traffic, named MCP Resources, and ChatGPT sessions, and blocks direct web access and built-in search
Restrict Anthropic sign-ins	Bundle	Captures Anthropic LLM traffic and enforces your approved organization IDs
Set up the MCP gateway	Bundle	Serves MCP servers from a Connector so Claude, ChatGPT, and coding agents sign in with Formal
Prevent Merges by Cloud Agents	Bundle	Blocks cloud agents from merging pull requests while they can still prepare changes
Restrict Service Access to Approved People	Policy	Limits access to selected people, teams, and approved automation
Prevent Use of Personal AI Accounts	Policy	Blocks Anthropic sign-ins and API use outside your approved accounts
Block AI Agents	Policy	Blocks specific agents, unapproved agents, or agents running without human confirmation
Enforce Read-Only Access to Data	Policy	Lets people and agents read data while blocking changes and deletions
Limit the Rows a Query Returns	Policy	Caps query results so large exports need a deliberate exception
Require Sign-In Confirmation	Policy	Asks for multi-factor confirmation before sensitive sessions start
Restrict Agent Tool Access	Policy	Allows or blocks specific MCP tools for the people and agents who use them
Choose Who Can Manage Formal	Permission	Gives administrators full control, everyone else the view they need, and teams their areas
Notify People About Important Activity	Workflow	Sends policy blocks, successful sign-ins, or failed sign-ins to a Slack channel
Capture Application Activity	Network Rule	Captures the applications and destinations you choose, including subdomains and child processes
Route Services Through Formal	Network Rule	Sends selected service traffic to a Formal Resource for visibility and protection

Recipes for the Example Use Cases

Several example use cases have a matching recipe. The guide explains each piece. The recipe creates the same configuration in a few clicks.

Example use case	Recipe
Block Agent Git Pushes	Block agent Git pushes
Restrict Codex Desktop Egress	Restrict Codex Desktop egress
Restrict Anthropic Sign-Ins	Restrict Anthropic sign-ins
Prevent Cloud Agents from Auto-Merging PRs	Prevent Merges by Cloud Agents
MCP Gateway	Set up the MCP gateway

Getting Started

Example Use Cases

AI Governance

Configuring Formal

Integrations

Configuration

Overview

Use a Recipe

Available Recipes

Recipes for the Example Use Cases

Next Steps

Formal Agent

Policies

​Overview

​Use a Recipe

​Available Recipes

​Recipes for the Example Use Cases

​Next Steps

Formal Agent

Policies

Overview

Use a Recipe

Available Recipes

Recipes for the Example Use Cases

Next Steps