Foundation 02 · Mandates and policy

Make authority
explicit.

An agent can prepare a recommendation, invoke a tool, or carry a credential. None of those facts alone explains who authorized a transaction, what scope was granted, when it expires, or how it can be revoked.

Learning boundary. This lesson is a policy-modeling exercise, not legal delegation, payment authorization, security certification, or financial advice. A signed credential or tool permission may authenticate a request; it does not by itself establish informed consent, suitability, or permission for every downstream effect.

Learning objective

Turn a vague mandate into a reviewable policy.

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to separate principal, agent, resource, counterparty, scope, amount, purpose, time, approval, and revocation when designing an agentic commerce authority boundary.

01 · Principal

Who bears the decision?

Name the person, organization, or account holder on whose behalf the action is proposed. Keep the principal distinct from the software performing the request.

02 · Scope

What may the agent do?

Limit merchant, product, service, purpose, quantity, currency, geography, tool, and data access. “Buy things” is not a bounded scope.

03 · Threshold

What needs approval?

Define amount, velocity, aggregate exposure, counterparty risk, and escalation thresholds. A spend limit needs a source, time window, and enforcement point.

04 · Revocation

How does authority end?

Record expiry, cancellation, credential rotation, dispute, and emergency hold paths. A policy that cannot be withdrawn is an exposure, not autonomy.

Practice lab

Write the smallest mandate.

A principal asks an agent to purchase replacement parts for a machine. The agent may choose a vendor, but the total monthly budget is fixed and parts over a specified amount require approval.

  1. Name the principal, agent, counterparty, resource, purpose, currency, and time window.
  2. Write the per-item and aggregate spend limits, including what counts toward the budget.
  3. Define when the agent must pause and request approval rather than infer consent.
  4. List the revocation and reconciliation evidence needed if a vendor disputes the transaction.

Source shelf

Study access, consent, and agent boundaries.

  1. PCI Security Standards Council: PCI DSSUse the official standard family as a reference for protecting payment-account data and scoping responsibilities. It is not a template for granting an agent commercial authority.
  2. Model Context Protocol specificationStudy the application-level consent and safety considerations around tools, sampling, elicitation, and data boundaries.
  3. Agent2Agent Protocol specificationCompare authentication requirements and declared agent capabilities with the separate policy question of whether a task may be performed.

Continue the pathway

Next: reconcile
the ledger.