Yellow Theme

Yellow Theme is your SOC 2 yellow team.

Fixed-fee Guardrails engagements install policy-as-code, CI security gates, and an evidence trail in your repositories — with Plan, Access, Evidence, and pack acceptance in the client portal after deposit. Not a SaaS product, not the auditor.

Create a brief Check readiness

What a yellow team does

Build SOC 2 controls into the repos and CI product teams already run.

For Series A–C B2B SaaS teams with a real customer review, questionnaire, or audit deadline. Red teams break systems; blue teams defend them. A yellow team helps engineering ship enforceable checks and an evidence trail before the CPA arrives. After deposit, the client portal carries Plan, Access grants, Evidence, and pack acceptance. Yellow Theme prepares the controls; an independent licensed CPA firm performs the examination and issues the report.

Inspect the shape before you brief

Controls you can see working.

Policy, pipeline enforcement, and evidence organization are designed together. Samples are synthetic excerpts — they show the shape of the work, not a client result.

policy/soc2_cc6_1.regoOPA · pull request gate
package security.guardrails

default allow := false

# CC6.1 — block changes that weaken access controls
allow if {
  input.kms_key_rotation == true
  input.enforce_mfa == true
  not input.public_storage
}

deny contains msg if {
  input.public_storage == true
  msg := "Public storage detected in IaC plan"
}

See the sample deliverables

One flagship engagement

What your SOC 2 yellow team leaves behind.

Guardrails is the flagship fixed-fee engagement: working checks in your repositories, pipelines, and cloud configuration — not another compliance SaaS seat and not a binder of policies. Before you pay a deposit, the statement of work defines the scope, deliverables, acceptance criteria, timeline, and fee.

Guardrails

Working checks in your stack.

Most engagements take about six to eight weeks after access is granted. The statement of work contains the schedule that applies to your project. Exact fee is in the SOW.

Those guardrails sit alongside tools like Vanta or Drata. An independent CPA issues the SOC 2 report.

A good starting point

  • Your team already uses GitHub Actions or another CI system.
  • A live deal, questionnaire, or audit window is creating the deadline. Questionnaire unblock.
  • The first phase can focus on one primary cloud and a defined set of repositories.

Outcomes you can operate

  • Plan — milestones and scope the engagement runs against in the client portal after deposit.
  • Access — named grants that open the repositories, CI, and cloud systems in scope.
  • Evidence — policies as code, CI gates, and an index that links each control to the file, run, log, or ticket that proves it.
  • Pack acceptance — accept delivered packs in the portal so handoff is written, not tribal.
  • A prioritized list of remaining work, ordered by review impact.

What this engagement does not include

  • Replacing your governance, risk, and compliance platform.
  • Joining your Slack as a full-time staff substitute.
  • Accepting pasted credentials or broad administrator access on day one.
  • Performing the CPA examination, or guaranteeing an audit result.
Fixed fee Mid five figures

Also available

Infrastructure-as-code modernization DevSecOps retainer Read-only assessment

IaC and the retainer are mid five figures and mid four figures a month respectively; the read-only assessment fee credits toward Guardrails within 90 days. Exact fees are in the SOW.

Brief first · async by default

Start in writing. Add a short call only if it helps.

Send four facts about the work. Yellow Theme replies with a written fit note and, when the engagement is a fit, a fixed-fee statement of work. An optional call of up to 20 minutes is available after the fit note. How we work — the full async path.

  1. 1. Tell us what is blocked.

    Share the compliance target, primary cloud, source and CI setup, and what should stay out of the first pass. You can add one sentence about the deadline.

  2. 2. Review the fit note and SOW.

    The fit note explains the likely engagement and open questions. When it is a fit, the SOW names deliverables, acceptance criteria, timeline, fee, and the independent-auditor boundary. After the fit note, you can reply and request up to 20 minutes before signing. The deposit opens the engagement.

  3. 3. Build in the repositories.

    Your yellow team work runs after deposit: Access grants open the named systems; Plan, Evidence, and pack acceptance stay in the client portal. Implementation and evidence stay in the systems they describe. Written replies arrive within 24 business hours.

Takes about 3 minutes

Start with the constraint blocking the deal.

Share four scope facts. Company and contact details come after you confirm them. Yellow Theme then sends a written fit note and, when the work is a fit, a fixed-fee SOW. You can review both before paying a deposit.

You see the written fit note and fixed-fee SOW before any deposit. If we’re not a fit, you keep the note and walk away.

Not ready to brief? Check readiness first — about 3 minutes, then an optional email report.

  1. Compliance bar — SOC 2, HIPAA, or both.
  2. Cloud for the first pass.
  3. Source and CI.
  4. What stays out of the first read-only pass.

Question 1 of 4

Company and stakeholder details stay locked until these four facts are confirmed.

Fit & boundaries

Where this engagement belongs.

AI can draft controls. Yellow Theme installs ones you can inspect, own, and hand an assessor — under a fixed SOW with a human accountable to the artifacts. Client work stays confidential; public samples are synthetic and clearly labeled.

This is a strong fit when…

  • You need enforceable controls and evidence in git — not a chat transcript of drafted policies.
  • A real deal, questionnaire, or audit date is creating urgency. Questionnaire unblock.
  • You want gates that fail closed when a model hallucinates a control, with an assessor-shaped trail from change to run URL.
  • The first phase can stay focused on one primary cloud and defined repos.
  • Written, asynchronous collaboration works better than daily standups.

Another partner may fit better when…

  • You need a full-time DevSecOps hire for ongoing capacity over quarters — not a bounded unblock that leaves inspectable gates behind.
  • You need a consultant embedded full-time in your office or Slack.
  • The problem is still exploratory and has no concrete infrastructure target.
  • You want a low-cost policy document rather than working pipeline controls.
  • You need around-the-clock operational coverage or someone to replace your GRC platform.

One accountable owner

Accountable review.

Yellow Theme scopes every statement of work and reviews every deliverable before it ships. Delivery is based in Central Time. Calls stay inside 7:00–10:30 a.m. CT; written replies arrive within 24 business hours.

AI & PHI

Disclosed controls.

AI tools may assist under zero-data-retention terms; client code is not used to train models. Unredacted PHI stays out of scope until a business associate agreement is signed. Detail stays in the FAQ.

60-second readiness check

Find the likely pressure point.

Three questions. No email. The result is a direction, not a score. The full 12-question readiness check stays on its own page.

0 of 3 answered

01. Are infrastructure policy checks enforced before merge?

02. Can you produce evidence without manual console screenshots?

03. Do controls have named owners and versioned acceptance criteria?

Choose an answer to begin

The result is directional, not an audit opinion.

Want the full 12-question readiness snapshot? Run the full readiness check

Straight answers

The questions a security buyer will ask.

Your SOC 2 yellow team, CPA boundary, GRC coexistence, fees, the optional call, and what we will not promise.

What is Yellow Theme?

Yellow Theme is your SOC 2 yellow team: an independent operator practice that runs fixed-fee Guardrails engagements. The work installs policy-as-code, CI security gates, and an evidence trail in your repositories and pipelines. It is not a SaaS product, not a GRC platform, and not the SOC 2 auditor. After deposit, the client portal carries Plan, Access grants, Evidence, and pack acceptance for the engagement.

Why is it called Yellow Theme?

Do you use AI in delivery?

Are you the SOC 2 auditor?

Do you replace our GRC platform?

What does the work typically cost?

When do calls happen?

What happens before we pay?

Can you guarantee that we pass?

See the operating terms before you sign.

This preview explains working hours, reply times, AI and data safeguards, and deliverable-based execution. The e-signed master services agreement and your SOW are the binding documents.

Calls 7:00–10:30 AM CT · written reply within 24 business hours · sync ≤30 min/week

Master services agreement and statement of work

Yellow Theme — preview terms (binding copy via e-sign)

1. Deliverable-Based Execution & Multi-Client Right

Services are performed by Yellow Theme on a fixed-fee deliverable or periodic retainer basis. Client acknowledges Contractor provides services to multiple third-party clients concurrently. Contractor retains full operational autonomy over means, tools, and execution timing.

2. Asynchronous SLA & Core Operating Hours

Calls and sync meetings are scheduled during 7:00–10:30 AM US Central Time on business days. Written responses to non-urgent requests within 24 business hours and may land outside the call window. Sync meetings are limited to 30 minutes per week, scheduled during the 7:00–10:30 AM CT call window unless both parties agree otherwise in writing.

3. AI Tooling & Data Privacy Safeguards

Contractor may use AI-assisted development under strict data-privacy controls. Client code is not retained for third-party model training. All outputs are human-reviewed and security-validated before delivery.

4. Selected Statement of Work (SOW)

Selected engagement: —

Reference: assigned when you submit

Public technical knowledge

Engineering notes & proof

Practical engineering notes on continuous integration (CI), identity and access, browser behavior, tenant isolation, and the systems behind Yellow Theme’s own intake and evidence vault. Examples use stand-in values and synthetic data; no client systems or names appear.

Showing 3 of 21 write-ups

Config triage

Config defines NetScaler blast radius

CVE-2026-88779 is in scope only when the appliance is a SAML SP or IdP. Config-as-code makes triage boring.

Read · ~4 minView note

Wrong green

An empty matrix is not a green board

A control board can look finished with zero approved statements. Green needs approved wording — status still starts unset.

Read · ~4 minView note

Session boundary

An HttpOnly cookie cannot help if the API returns the refresh token

If the session endpoint echoes refresh into JSON, XSS that can call it still owns the session.

Read · ~5 minView note

All notes