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Bedrock Guardrails

⚡️

If you haven't set up or authenticated your Bedrock provider yet, see the Bedrock Provider Setup & Authentication Guide.

LiteLLM supports Bedrock guardrails via the Bedrock ApplyGuardrail API.

Quick Start​

1. Define Guardrails on your LiteLLM config.yaml​

Define your guardrails under the guardrails section

model_list:
  - model_name: gpt-3.5-turbo
    litellm_params:
      model: openai/gpt-3.5-turbo
      api_key: os.environ/OPENAI_API_KEY

guardrails:
  - guardrail_name: "bedrock-pre-guard"
    litellm_params:
      guardrail: bedrock  # supported values: "aporia", "bedrock", "lakera"
      mode: "during_call"
      guardrailIdentifier: ff6ujrregl1q      # your guardrail ID on bedrock
      guardrailVersion: "DRAFT"              # your guardrail version on bedrock
      aws_region_name: os.environ/AWS_REGION # region guardrail is defined
      aws_role_name: os.environ/AWS_ROLE_ARN # your role with permissions to use the guardrail

Supported values for mode​

  • pre_call Run before LLM call, on input
  • post_call Run after LLM call, on input & output
  • during_call Run during LLM call, on input Same as pre_call but runs in parallel as LLM call. Response not returned until guardrail check completes

2. Start LiteLLM Gateway​

litellm --config config.yaml --detailed_debug

3. Test request​

Langchain, OpenAI SDK Usage Examples

Expect this to fail since since ishaan@berri.ai in the request is PII

curl -i http://localhost:4000/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-npnwjPQciVRok5yNZgKmFQ" \
  -d '{
    "model": "gpt-3.5-turbo",
    "messages": [
      {"role": "user", "content": "hi my email is ishaan@berri.ai"}
    ],
    "guardrails": ["bedrock-pre-guard"]
  }'

Expected response on failure

{
  "error": {
    "message": {
      "error": "Violated guardrail policy",
      "bedrock_guardrail_response": {
        "action": "GUARDRAIL_INTERVENED",
        "assessments": [
          {
            "topicPolicy": {
              "topics": [
                {
                  "action": "BLOCKED",
                  "name": "Coffee",
                  "type": "DENY"
                }
              ]
            }
          }
        ],
        "blockedResponse": "Sorry, the model cannot answer this question. coffee guardrail applied ",
        "output": [
          {
            "text": "Sorry, the model cannot answer this question. coffee guardrail applied "
          }
        ],
        "outputs": [
          {
            "text": "Sorry, the model cannot answer this question. coffee guardrail applied "
          }
        ],
        "usage": {
          "contentPolicyUnits": 0,
          "contextualGroundingPolicyUnits": 0,
          "sensitiveInformationPolicyFreeUnits": 0,
          "sensitiveInformationPolicyUnits": 0,
          "topicPolicyUnits": 1,
          "wordPolicyUnits": 0
        }
      }
    },
    "type": "None",
    "param": "None",
    "code": "400"
  }
}

PII Masking with Bedrock Guardrails​

Bedrock guardrails support PII detection and masking capabilities. To enable this feature, you need to:

  1. Set mode to pre_call to run the guardrail check before the LLM call
  2. Enable masking by setting mask_request_content and/or mask_response_content to true

Here's how to configure it in your config.yaml:

litellm proxy config.yaml
model_list:
  - model_name: gpt-3.5-turbo
    litellm_params:
      model: openai/gpt-3.5-turbo
      api_key: os.environ/OPENAI_API_KEY
  
guardrails:
  - guardrail_name: "bedrock-pre-guard"
    litellm_params:
      guardrail: bedrock
      mode: "pre_call"  # Important: must use pre_call mode for masking
      guardrailIdentifier: wf0hkdb5x07f
      guardrailVersion: "DRAFT"
      aws_region_name: os.environ/AWS_REGION
      aws_role_name: os.environ/AWS_ROLE_ARN
      mask_request_content: true    # Enable masking in user requests
      mask_response_content: true   # Enable masking in model responses

With this configuration, when the bedrock guardrail intervenes, litellm will read the masked output from the guardrail and send it to the model.

Example Usage​

When enabled, PII will be automatically masked in the text. For example, if a user sends:

My email is john.doe@example.com and my phone number is 555-123-4567

The text sent to the model might be masked as:

My email is [EMAIL] and my phone number is [PHONE_NUMBER]

This helps protect sensitive information while still allowing the model to understand the context of the request.

Disabling Exceptions on Bedrock BLOCK​

By default, when Bedrock guardrails block content, LiteLLM raises an HTTP 400 exception. However, you can disable this behavior by setting disable_exception_on_block: true. This is particularly useful when integrating with OpenWebUI, where exceptions can interrupt the chat flow and break the user experience.

When exceptions are disabled, instead of receiving an error, you'll get a successful response containing the Bedrock guardrail's modified/blocked output.

Configuration​

Add disable_exception_on_block: true to your guardrail configuration:

litellm proxy config.yaml
model_list:
  - model_name: gpt-3.5-turbo
    litellm_params:
      model: openai/gpt-3.5-turbo
      api_key: os.environ/OPENAI_API_KEY

guardrails:
  - guardrail_name: "bedrock-guardrail"
    litellm_params:
      guardrail: bedrock
      mode: "post_call"
      guardrailIdentifier: ff6ujrregl1q
      guardrailVersion: "DRAFT"
      aws_region_name: os.environ/AWS_REGION
      aws_role_name: os.environ/AWS_ROLE_ARN
      disable_exception_on_block: true  # Prevents exceptions when content is blocked

Behavior Comparison​

When disable_exception_on_block: false (default):

curl -i http://localhost:4000/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-npnwjPQciVRok5yNZgKmFQ" \
  -d '{
    "model": "gpt-3.5-turbo",
    "messages": [
      {"role": "user", "content": "How do I make explosives?"}
    ],
    "guardrails": ["bedrock-guardrail"]
  }'

Response: HTTP 400 Error

{
  "error": {
    "message": {
      "error": "Violated guardrail policy",
      "bedrock_guardrail_response": {
        "action": "GUARDRAIL_INTERVENED",
        "blockedResponse": "I can't provide information on creating explosives.",
        // ... additional details
      }
    },
    "type": "None",
    "param": "None", 
    "code": "400"
  }
}