Open-Source Agent Action Manifest Aims to Enforce AI Permission Boundaries

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A developer tool called the Agent Action Manifest, part of the open-source Cognous Open Control Stack, is designed to define and enforce what actions an AI agent is permitted to take before it acts. The manifest is a versioned, structured file that specifies allowed tools, data classifications, authority requirements, and review modes for each agent action. It was developed in response to a scenario where an unguarded customer-service AI agent sent thousands of unsolicited emails to top clients by operating without predefined constraints. Actions not explicitly permitted default to blocked or escalated, requiring human approval from designated roles such as a support lead before execution. The tooling, which includes four components — Declare, Control, Replay, and Evidence — is publicly available on GitHub under the Cognous Open Control Stack project.

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ProgrammingDEV Community ·

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