Select the enforcement boundary for agent actions

The best enforcement boundary has trusted principal and task context, normalized request arguments and control over the actual effect. Where one layer lacks a fact, pair it with a non-bypassable downstream check.

01 / The operating case

What changes in a real workflow?

A workflow engine can identify the task but only a cloud API sees the final instance target; both facts are required to authorize a termination.

Trace the authority boundary
  1. 01Authority origin
  2. 02Task and grant
  3. 03Current decision
  4. 04Observed outcome

02 / Decision contract

What the executor must check

Map the full call graph, identify where each fact becomes trusted, and place the final allow/deny before the cloud operation. Test direct SDK, queued job and retry paths for the same policy.

InputPrincipal · task · action · target
DecisionGrant ancestry · policy · current state
ResultEnforce · record · verify outcome

03 / Failure and evidence

What goes wrong, and what can be proven?

Failure mode

A model-side check approves a vague “maintenance” plan, then the executor receives a different instance or operation and acts under that old approval.

Evidence to retain

Keep call-graph version, trusted context source, request digest, enforced decision and cloud operation ID for each path.

04 / Canonical scope

Why this reference stands alone

PEP bypass analysis tests missing paths; this page owns the positive choice of boundary and the trusted-input inventory.

Implementation review

Trusted-input placement

Workflow: signed-in user and task origin. Tool handler: normalized operation and arguments. Cloud API: final target, resource state and effect. Carry verified context to the last non-bypassable boundary.

Adversarial check

Change the cloud target after tool approval or call the API through a second route. Both should reveal whether the chosen boundary saw the true request.

Primary references

Read the underlying material

Architecture discussion

Choose one consequential action and make its boundary explicit.

Request a Conversation