> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://aspex.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# aspex tighten

> Least-privilege recommendations from what is configured versus what your agents actually used.

```sh theme={"dark"}
aspex tighten                 # last 30 days
aspex tighten --since 7d
aspex tighten --json
```

`tighten` joins the environment model (every server's tools and filesystem roots) with `aspex trace` activity (which tools were called, which paths were read or written) and recommends the narrowest configuration that would have supported what actually happened.

## Tool allowlists

```
  github  312 calls · strong evidence
     Exposed tools: 31    Observed: 6
     Candidates for removal (not observed in available traces):
       - delete_branch
       - merge_pull_request
       ...
     Recommended allowlist:
       + create_issue
       + get_pull_request
       + search_repositories
       ...
```

Observed tools are always kept. Unobserved tools are **candidates**, phrased as such: "not observed in available traces" is not "never needed". Below `--min-calls` (default 20) the evidence is labelled **weak** and the list is a hint, not a recommendation.

## Filesystem roots

```
  filesystem  1 204 calls · strong evidence
     Current scope: /Users/steven
     Observed usage: 41 path(s), e.g. /Users/steven/projects/acme/src/main.go, ...
     Never observed: ~/.ssh, ~/.aws, ~/.gnupg, ~/.kube, ~/Documents, ~/Downloads
     Recommendation:
       - /Users/steven
       + ~/.gitconfig
       + ~/projects/acme
     Blast-radius reduction: SIGNIFICANT: from the whole home directory to 2 directories
```

Roots are collapsed to two components below home. Paths that appear inside file *contents* (a README mentioning `~/.ssh`) are ignored; only path-shaped arguments count. A server already scoped to a project gets no root recommendation.

The reduction is **qualitative**: SIGNIFICANT, MODERATE, or LIKELY SIGNIFICANT when the evidence is weak. Aspex does not print a percentage it cannot justify.

## What it never does

* It never edits your configuration. Apply the change in your client, then run `aspex lock` again.
* It never calls an unobserved server unused. Servers with no activity in the window are listed separately with the caveat that absence in traces is not proof of disuse.
* It needs real traces: with no events in the window it says so and recommends nothing.