Connect Inference Hooks

Connect Nightfall as the Claude Enterprise Inference Hooks server. No endpoint agent and no MDM.

Inference Hooks let Nightfall allow or deny a Claude Enterprise prompt before the model runs. Nothing is installed on the laptop, and there is no MDM rollout.

This is not the device-hook install. Claude Code, Cursor, and VS Code hooks are separate guides on Setup and Installation. Keep those when you need to stop a shell command or a tool call before it runs.

Before you begin

• A Claude Enterprise organization. Team, Pro, and Max cannot turn this on.

• The Owner or Primary owner role in claude.ai. The Admin role cannot configure Inference hooks.

• Inference Hooks enabled for your Nightfall tenant. If you do not see it on the Anthropic integration, contact your Nightfall account team.

Inference Hooks and the Claude Compliance API are separate products on the same Anthropic integration. Connecting one does not connect the other. Keep the Compliance API connected. Claude records hook denials and circuit-breaker trips in the activity feed only when that API is enabled.

Connect

1. In Nightfall, open the Anthropic integration and choose Inference Hooks. Copy the endpoint URL, the header name X-Api-Key, and the identification key. The key is shown once. The installation stays off until you paste the signing secret back.

2. In claude.ai, go to Organization settings > Data and privacy > Inference hooks. Turn on Allow for your organization. That does not start inspection. Choose Configure, paste the URL, add the X-Api-Key header, and save. Copy the signing secret Anthropic shows once. If you lose it, rotate it in the Claude admin and paste the new value.

3. Paste the signing secret into Nightfall. This step cannot be skipped. Nightfall shows a fingerprint of the secret it holds. Until the signature verifies, Claude allows every prompt.

4. Use Test connection in the Claude console. Re-enter the header value before you test. Nightfall should show that the test arrived and the signature verified.

5. Start in shadow mode: 100% inspected, timeout at least 5,000 ms, failure handling Allow the request. Then create the exfiltration policy. Existing device policies do not cover this traffic. See Creating an AI Agent Security Policy.

6. When the decisions look right, set failure handling and turn on Enforce verdicts. Allow the request is the right default. Block the request stops Claude for the organization whenever Nightfall cannot answer in time.

Changing the endpoint URL later clears every stored custom header. Re-enter X-Api-Key after any URL change.

What the policy must select

Inference Hooks evaluate User Prompts only. Tool Calls, Tool Responses, Shell Commands, and Model Responses do not fire on this integration. Leave MCP server scope on All MCP servers.

Turn content scanning on and add detection rules when you want to block only prompts that contain sensitive data.

Content scanning off is live. It does not wait for a detector. Block denies every prompt the policy covers. Monitor records a violation on every prompt and lets it through. That is the same rule as other endpoint exfiltration policies.

If Nightfall cannot answer

Claude applies the failure mode you set. Sustained failures trip Anthropic's circuit breaker. With Block the request selected, the organization is blocked until the breaker resets. Fix the cause, then turn Enforce verdicts back on. The trip is recorded in Claude's activity feed when the Compliance API is enabled.

What a denied person sees

The prompt does not reach the model. Claude shows Nightfall's reason, then the standing message under Custom blocked prompt message. The denied message stays in the conversation until it is edited or removed. On claude.ai, edit it or start a new chat. On Claude Code, run /rewind or /clear. On Cowork, edit the latest message or start a new task. In Slack, edit or delete the message, then send @Claude !restart.

Nightfall does not receive raw file bytes or images. A screenshot is not inspected. Voice mode is not covered. Claude on Bedrock, Vertex, or a Console API key is not covered.

Policy templates are on Hook policy recommendations.