Glossary · Identity

Agent delegation

Updated 2026-09-23

"I'm calling on behalf of my client" is a delegation claim. It has three parts: who the agent is, who the principal is, and what the principal allowed. A careful counterparty wants all three.

Delegation is where identity ends and permission begins. Knowing which agent is acting is not the same as knowing what it is allowed to do.

Definition

Agent delegation is the act of a person or organization, the principal, giving an AI agent authority to act on its behalf, usually within limits of scope, amount and time.

Also known as: delegated authority, acting on behalf of

How it relates to AgenID

AgenID v1.1.1 answers the first part: which agent, and which operator declared it. It keeps DECLARED, VERIFIED and AUTHORIZED strictly separate, and AUTHORIZED has no signed object in v1.1.1. The manifest keys permissions and authorizations are reserved and rejected by a v1.1.1 validator.

A v1.2 authorization layer, with a signed grant from a principal and a way to withdraw it, is a draft in development. It is not available on agenid.com.

Why it matters

Delegation chains are where fraud hides: an agent with a real identity can still overstate what it was asked to do. Separating the two questions keeps a valid identity from being read as permission. The delegation scenario walks through it.

The reference deployment at agenid.com issues nothing above L1_REGISTERED today. L2 and higher require a VerificationAssertion signed by a root authority key, and that key has not been created yet.

What it does not mean

A registered AgenID is not evidence of delegation. It does not say who the agent represents in a given transaction or what that party approved.

It also does not say whether the operator and the principal are the same party. A booking agent may be operated by a software vendor while acting for a traveler: three parties, three separate questions.

Frequently asked questions

Can I prove my agent is authorized to spend money today?

Not with AgenID. v1.1.1 defines no signed authorization object; that decision stays with you and the business on the other side.

Is the v1.2 authorization layer usable?

No. It is a draft and nothing in the deployed registry stores or serves a grant.

Who is the principal?

The person or organization on whose behalf the agent acts, which may differ from the operator that runs it.

What agenid.com issues today

The reference deployment at agenid.com issues DECLARED and L1_REGISTERED only. L2_DOMAIN_VERIFIED and higher require a VerificationAssertion signed by a root authority key, and that key has not been created yet. L5 is reserved by the specification and is not issuable at all.

Identity is not permission

Which agent is acting and who declared it is one question. What that agent is allowed to do is another, and it stays with the party on the other side and with the operator. Protocol v1.1.1 defines no signed authorization object.

how-it-works

Agent-to-agent delegation

docs

Operator onboarding guide

glossary

Declared, verified and authorized