Vollmacht

Verifiable human authority for AI agents

Approve the commitment.
Not every step.

Agents can act. Who gave them the authority?

We’re building an open-source foundation for bounded human authority.
Permission that travels with your agent, verified before the commitment.

Explore on GitHub See how it works

Open source · Early development · Built in the open

A flight, from search to purchase.

Illustrative workflow

Within existing permission. No new prompts.

  1. 01

    Search flights

    Find routes that fit
    your plans.

  2. 02

    Compare options

    Weigh price, timing
    and flexibility.

  3. 03

    Prepare itinerary

    Bring the best option
    back to you.

04 · Approval boundary

Buy the ticket

SFO to JFK

$480 total · Nonrefundable

One purchase · Expires in 2 minutes

Your approval is required
Passkey verification · Concept

Example only. No purchase or approval is performed.

Your policy defines when fresh approval is required. Routine work stays within the permissions you already granted.

The system we are building toward

One permission.
Checked where it matters.

Target architecture · A permission travels. A service checks it.
  1. 01 / Human

    You authorize.

    One ticket. Up to $480. Once.

    Bounded mandate
  2. 02 / Agent

    Your agent acts.

    It carries your permission with the exact purchase request.

    Mandate + request
  3. 03 / Verifying service

    The service checks.

    The merchant or trusted gateway verifies the mandate and agent, then applies its policy before purchase.

    Within the limits? Proceed.
    Outside them? Reject.

The service enforces the boundary. The agent cannot widen your permission.

Explore service-side verification and gateway adoption →

A small permission. A precise purpose.

A mandate,
not a blank check.

In the Vollmacht design, a Human Mandate binds an agent to a specific action, resource and set of limits. The receiving service or trusted gateway checks that authority before committing the action.

Vollmacht is German for authority to act on someone else’s behalf. That is the idea: delegated authority, not unrestricted access.

Human Mandate Concept
Agent
Your travel assistant
Action
Purchase selected ticket
Resource
Exact reviewed itinerary
Limit
$480 total · Once
Validity
2 minutes

A different itinerary or higher price falls outside this permission.

Beyond travel: protected merges, permanent deletion, and financial commitments.
Illustrative integrations in the target design. Each service applies its own policy.

Designed for meaningful oversight

Less interruption.
More intentional approval.

No prompt for every step.

Repeated prompts invite reflexive approval. The goal is to ask at selected consequential boundaries, not turn every tool call into a biometric ceremony.

Your biometrics stay local.

Passkeys use Touch ID or another supported verification method. Vollmacht does not need your fingerprint. User verification is not proof of humanity or proof that you understood a request.

Enforcement matters.

A mandate only helps when consequential actions pass through a trusted enforcement layer. It cannot stop an agent that can bypass that layer with its own credentials.