core practice · system design prompt
Design exercise: Agent Permissions & Sandboxing
Capability grants, read/write scopes, approval gates, secret isolation, network policy, quotas, and audit logs. Implement designOutline() returning non-empty values for: capabilityScope, approvalGate, auditTrail. Each value must name a concrete mechanism or decision.
The mechanism
Treat an agent as an untrusted principal. Grant the smallest capability for the shortest time, isolate execution, require approval for irreversible effects, and log authority use. Scope: this card owns treating an agent as an untrusted principal — capability grants, approval gates for irreversible effects, secret isolation and audit. The underlying isolation technology is `sandbox-execution-environments`; the threat-modelling discipline is `security-isolation-boundaries`.
Expected evidence
A design outline with capabilityScope, approvalGate, auditTrail plus an explicit failure mode or trade-off.
Try this drill in the practice workspace →
Hints when you need them
- Name the failure mode before selecting the mechanism.