Permissions answer
What can this agent access?
Authorization before action
Before an agent deploys code, moves money, changes data, or takes another sensitive action, BobSentry checks your rules and returns ALLOW, REQUIRE_APPROVAL, or BLOCK.
BobSentry makes the authorization decision. Your existing system performs the action.
POST https://runtime.bobsentry.com/v1/runtime/evaluate
{
"action": "deploy_production",
"metadata": {
"environment": "production",
"target": "github-deploy-workflow"
}
}
→ { "decision": "REQUIRE_APPROVAL" }The problem
AI agents can now deploy code, issue refunds, change infrastructure, update customer data, and call sensitive APIs. Having permission to perform an action does not mean every instance of that action should proceed automatically.
Permission is not authorization.
Credentials and runtime controls can constrain what an agent is able to reach or do. Authorization determines whether this particular consequential action should proceed now.
Is this particular action authorized now?
Permissions answer
What can this agent access?
BobSentry answers
Should this action proceed right now?
When an agent is about to take a consequential action, send the proposed action to BobSentry. BobSentry evaluates it against the policy and context you provide and returns ALLOW, REQUIRE_APPROVAL, or BLOCK. Your existing agent and executor remain responsible for execution.
Illustrative examples
These examples show the shape of a decision. They are not customer results.
refund_customer
$25
Within refund policy.
deploy_production
payments-api
Production change requires human authorization.
export_customers
5,000 records
Destination is not permitted.
Demo
Watch AI agent authorization in practice: an agent requests a consequential action, BobSentry evaluates policy in real time, requires human approval for AI agents when needed, and creates signed decision evidence before execution can proceed.
BobSentry provides the authorization decision. The integration remains responsible for execution.
The same authorization pattern shown here protects BobSentry's own production deployment pipeline.
Real production workflow
Our GitHub Actions → AWS production deployment workflow runs through BobSentry before infrastructure mutation. When deploy_production is requested, policy returns REQUIRE_APPROVAL. A human authorizes the action, GitHub Actions performs the deployment, and the execution outcome is recorded separately from the authorization decision.
BobSentry authorizes the action. GitHub Actions and AWS perform the deployment.
How it works
The agent wants to do something
Deploy code, issue a refund, change infrastructure, export data, or perform another consequential action.
BobSentry checks the action
Who is acting? What are they trying to do? Where? What policy or context applies?
BobSentry decides
ALLOW, REQUIRE_APPROVAL, or BLOCK.
Your system stays in control
BobSentry returns the authorization decision. Your existing integration remains responsible for execution.
BobSentry records the decision
Keep signed evidence of what was requested, what BobSentry decided, and human authorization where applicable.
Product
See who asked, which actions may proceed, what BobSentry decided, and the signed record of that authorization decision.
Know which agent requested the action.
Define which actions may proceed.
See what BobSentry decided.
Review actions that need human authorization.
Keep signed records of authorization decisions.
See what BobSentry would decide before using a policy in a real workflow.
Developer path: Developers. Full product overview: Product.
Trust boundary
Metadata-only by default: raw business payloads can remain in your environment while BobSentry receives the normalized action context needed for authorization. BobSentry returns a signed authorization result. Starter controls and unmatched-action fallbacks keep unknown actions from falling through to a silent ALLOW.
BobSentry returns the authorization decision; the integration must honor it. BobSentry does not execute the downstream action.
Customer environment
Normalized action metadata
BobSentry
The integration calls BobSentry before the consequential operation and is responsible for honoring the authorization decision.
BobSentry evaluates and records what policy would decide, but does not control downstream execution.
Customer-facing modes today are COOPERATIVE and OBSERVE. There is no customer-selectable ENFORCED mode. Read the full security model on Security.
Your agents may come from different vendors, frameworks, or internal teams. Their consequential actions can be evaluated through a common BobSentry authorization boundary while your existing integrations and executors remain responsible for performing or withholding the action.
performs or withholds
Consequential action
Examples
asks for a decision
BobSentry
One consequential action. One execution boundary. Start in OBSERVE. Your existing agent, approval flow, and executor can stay unchanged.
What actions does your team still refuse to let agents execute automatically?
Share the consequential actions you need to authorize and your integration call site.
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