Managed AI

Create AI-Agent Permission Boundaries

Translate a bounded agent job into a least-privilege permission proposal with data-class limits, credential ownership, logging, review, and stop conditions.

Quick facts

Best for
Owners · Founder-operators
Prompt type
Effectiveness
Expected result
A least-privilege permission boundary with job-to-access evidence and source attribution, named human owners, data-class limits, credential references, Planned versus Executed versus Passed verification status, fail-closed conflicts and Unknowns, and explicit approval gates.
Time saved
Varies by system count and access complexity
Required inputs
AGENT JOB · ALLOWED AND PROHIBITED ACTIONS · SYSTEMS · CREDENTIAL OWNERS · DATA CLASSES · APPROVAL GATES · LOGGING AND REVIEW REQUIREMENTS · REVOCATION AND INCIDENT RULES
Works with
ChatGPT + Claude

What this prompt does

  • Creates a least-privilege matrix separating required, prohibited, approval-gated, and Unknown access.
  • Documents credential ownership, data classes, evidence, revocation readiness, and human approval gates without changing access.

When to use

  • Before provisioning an agent identity or during a documented access review for one bounded function.

When not to use

  • Do not use the output as authorization or technical instructions to provision, grant, revoke, rotate, connect, or change live access.
  • Do not paste secrets, credentials, tokens, keys, or unauthorized access records into an AI system.

The prompt

#CONTEXT:
Create a least-privilege permission-boundary proposal for one bounded AI-agent job. This is review support for named human owners, not authorization or a request to change access.

#INPUTS:
- Agent job, trigger, inputs, decisions, outputs, completion, non-goals, fallback, and environment: [AGENT JOB]
- Allowed actions, prohibited actions, and actions requiring named-human approval: [ALLOWED AND PROHIBITED ACTIONS]
- Approved systems, resources, environments, integrations, system owners, and available scopes: [SYSTEMS]
- Named credential owners, agent identities, secret-manager references, rotation owners, and current review state: [CREDENTIAL OWNERS]
- Approved data classes, purpose, source authority, sensitivity, retention, residency, and prohibited destinations: [DATA CLASSES]
- Explicit approval gates for read, draft, write, send, transact, modify, delete, administer, connect, production, and exception authority: [APPROVAL GATES]
- Required identity, action, source, result, approval, correlation, review cadence, and access-review evidence: [LOGGING AND REVIEW REQUIREMENTS]
- Supplied revocation owner, emergency stop, offboarding, incident evidence, fallback, reconciliation, and restart rules: [REVOCATION AND INCIDENT RULES]

#INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Map each requested capability to a supplied job requirement and evidence or source attribution. Label missing facts Unknown and incompatible access rules Conflict—human resolution required.
2. Use least privilege. Begin with no access, then propose only the minimum resource, environment, action, scope, data class, purpose, duration, and evidence needed for the bounded job.
3. Separate each capability as Required for review, Approval-gated, Prohibited, Not needed, or Unknown. A technical capability is not a business requirement or authorization.
4. Prefer read-only and draft-only access where it satisfies the job. Treat write, send, transaction, modification, deletion, administration, credential, cross-customer, sensitive-data, and production access as separate capabilities.
5. For every proposed capability, state the named human system owner, credential owner, data owner, approver, review cadence, logging evidence, stop condition, and revocation path. Missing ownership or evidence must fail closed.
6. Preserve credential secrecy. Record only identity name, credential owner, secret-manager reference, scopes, rotation state, and review evidence. Never request or reproduce a secret value.
7. Separate design status as Proposed, Approved, Provisioned, Validated, Active, Revoked, or Unknown. Separate verification status as Planned—not executed, Executed—not yet reviewed, Passed—evidence reviewed, Failed, Blocked, or Unknown. Never claim access or monitoring is active without supplied evidence.
8. Do not invent, infer, or fabricate an SLA, threshold, result, scope, permission, credential state, owner, data classification, approval, validation status, monitoring state, or system capability. Unsupported values remain Unknown.
9. Fail closed on missing job justification, source authority, data purpose, owner, approval gate, logging, revocation, environment, permission evidence, or unresolved conflict.
10. Do not infer authorization from a capability list, credential owner, existing scope, integration feature, prior approval, or test result.
11. Do not grant, revoke, or change permissions. Do not provision an agent or service account with access, permissions, or a role. Do not use or reveal credentials. Do not rotate any credential, token, API key, or secret. Do not deploy, enable, or disable an agent. Do not restart, pause, or activate an agent. Do not connect an agent or integration to a live system. Do not execute transactions. Do not send externally. Do not change production or claim monitoring is active.
12. Address privacy, security, data classes, purpose limitation, segregation, retention, and minimization. Use only authorized company data in an approved AI workspace or approved AI vendor. Minimize inputs and redact or omit unnecessary personal, sensitive, or confidential data. Follow company retention and vendor policy.
13. Never paste secrets, credentials, tokens, API keys, private keys, or recovery codes.

#RESPONSE FORMAT:
## Job-to-access evidence and source attribution
| Job requirement | Evidence source | Required capability | Owner | Conflict or Unknown |
|---|---|---|---|---|

## Least-privilege permission boundary
| System and environment | Resource and data class | Action and scope | Required, approval-gated, prohibited, not needed, or Unknown | Purpose | Named owners and approver | Logging evidence | Stop and revocation conditions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|

## Credential reference and review register
| Identity name | Credential owner | Secret-manager reference | Scope | Rotation state | Verification: Planned, Executed, Passed, Failed, Blocked, or Unknown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|

## Fail-closed gaps, conflicts, and Unknowns

## Approval-gate and validation register

Input checklist

  • AGENT JOB
  • ALLOWED AND PROHIBITED ACTIONS
  • SYSTEMS
  • CREDENTIAL OWNERS
  • DATA CLASSES
  • APPROVAL GATES
  • LOGGING AND REVIEW REQUIREMENTS
  • REVOCATION AND INCIDENT RULES

Example input

Fictional example — AGENT JOB: Northstar intake agent reads a sandbox export and drafts an internal brief. ALLOWED AND PROHIBITED ACTIONS: Read and draft only; no write, sending, pricing, deletion, or administration. SYSTEMS: Sandbox CRM export and approved knowledge repository; production access not approved. CREDENTIAL OWNERS: Omar owns the sandbox identity; secret-manager reference supplied, no secret value. DATA CLASSES: Internal business data; personal identifiers omitted; restricted data prohibited. APPROVAL GATES: Maya approves draft use; Omar approves access; production approver Unknown. LOGGING AND REVIEW REQUIREMENTS: Identity, source version, result, correlation ID, quarterly cadence proposed. REVOCATION AND INCIDENT RULES: Omar owns revocation; manual intake fallback; restart owner Unknown.

Expected output structure

  • A least-privilege permission boundary with job-to-access evidence and source attribution, named human owners, data-class limits, credential references, Planned versus Executed versus Passed verification status, fail-closed conflicts and Unknowns, and explicit approval gates.

Customize this prompt

  • Challenge each write or administrative scope by asking whether read-only, draft-only, or a narrower resource can satisfy the job.
  • Test prohibited access and revocation behavior in an approved non-production environment before any live-authority decision.

Guardrails

  • Fail closed on missing justification, source authority, purpose, ownership, approval, logging, revocation, permission evidence, or unresolved conflict; preserve evidence for review by a named human owner.
  • Preserve evidence or source attribution for every proposed scope, data class, owner, status, and approval gate; unsupported facts remain Unknown.
  • Keep status distinct: Planned is not Executed, Executed is not Passed, and Proposed or Validated access is not necessarily Active.
  • Do not invent, infer, or fabricate any SLA, threshold, result, scope, permission, credential state, owner, data class, approval, monitoring state, or capability.
  • Do not claim monitoring is active without supplied operating evidence.
  • A named human owner must review and approve every payment or financial decision before any action.
  • A named human owner must review and approve every legal, liability, admission, settlement, or contract decision before any action.
  • A named human owner must review and approve every account, access, permission, or credential decision before any action.
  • A named human owner must review and approve every policy exception, override, or waiver before any action.
  • A named human owner must review and approve every external send or publication before any action.
  • A named human owner must review and approve every deletion, closure, suspension, termination, revocation, deactivation, disablement, or archive decision before any action.
  • A named human owner must review and approve every promise, guarantee, or commitment before any action.
  • Use explicit approval gates; a named human owner must approve every access, permission, credential, connection, production, exception, revocation, and restart decision before action.
  • Do not infer authorization. Do not grant, revoke, or change permissions. Do not provision an agent or service account with access, permissions, or a role. Do not use or reveal credentials. Do not rotate any credential, token, API key, or secret. Do not deploy, enable, or disable an agent. Do not restart, pause, or activate an agent. Do not connect an agent or integration to a live system. Do not execute transactions. Do not send externally. Do not change production or claim monitoring is active.
  • Protect privacy and security: use only authorized company data in an approved AI workspace or approved AI vendor; minimize data; redact or omit unnecessary personal, sensitive, or confidential data; follow company retention and vendor policy.
  • Never paste secrets, credentials, tokens, API keys, private keys, or recovery codes.

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