Governance

HITL, audit trails, and break-glass protocols for agents.

Human-in-the-Loop (HITL)

When Required

Action HITL Required
Recommend changes No
Execute read-only No
Mutate data Yes
Deploy to production Yes
Accept semantic debt Yes

Implementation

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@kernel.filter(FilterTypes.FUNCTION_INVOCATION)
async def hitl_filter(context, next):
    if context.function.metadata.get("requires_approval"):
        approval = await request_hitl_approval({
            "function": context.function.name,
            "arguments": context.arguments,
            "agent": context.agent_id,
            "sponsor": context.sponsor_id
        })
        if not approval.granted:
            raise HITLRejected(approval.reason)
    return await next(context)

Audit Trails

All agent actions logged to Evidence Service (SDS-043):

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{
  "type": "agent.action",
  "agentId": "pm-agent-001",
  "sponsor": "R-DS:jane.doe",
  "action": "recommend_changes",
  "input": {...},
  "output": {...},
  "timestamp": "2026-01-05T10:00:00Z",
  "duration_ms": 150,
  "hitl_required": false,
  "hitl_approved": null
}

Query Audit Log

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GET /governance/audit?agentId=pm-agent-001&from=2026-01-01

Break-Glass Protocol

Emergency override of governance controls.

States

requested → approved denied → active → expired revoked

Request

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POST /governance/break-glass
{
  "requestedBy": "R-RM:john.doe",
  "scope": {
    "bypassedControls": ["hitl_requirement"],
    "affectedAgents": ["pm-agent-001"]
  },
  "reason": {
    "category": "production_outage",
    "description": "Critical fix needed",
    "ticketReference": "INC-12345"
  }
}

Constraints

Constraint Value
Max duration 4 hours
Max renewals 2
Approver R-SO only

Invariants

Separation of Duties

See Authority_Rules.md for complete SoD rules.

Last Updated: January 2026