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[OAUTH-WG] New I-D: Problem statement on verifiable human mandates for autonomous agent actions

Mohamad Khalil Yossif <mohamad@yuthent.com> Wed, 22 July 2026 12:31 UTC

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From: Mohamad Khalil Yossif <mohamad@yuthent.com>
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Subject: [OAUTH-WG] New I-D: Problem statement on verifiable human mandates for autonomous agent actions
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Hi all,

I have submitted draft-yossif-agent-mandate-problem-00, a short
problem statement. No protocol, no mechanism.

The problem: a human authorizes intent at T0, an autonomous agent
executes a specific parameterized action at T1, and nothing
cryptographically binds the executed parameters to the constraints
the human actually signed. OAuth scopes are static and session-bound,
audit logs are self-asserted after the fact, and existing
mandate-style work is payments-scoped. The draft states the gap and
the requirements any general solution would need to meet.

https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-yossif-agent-mandate-problem/

Given the WG charter now covers authorization for automated agents,
I would welcome feedback on the problem definition itself: is it
stated at the right level, and is anything missing from the
requirements?

Mohamad Khalil Yossif

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