Delegation

An authorised agent can delegate a narrower authority grant to a sub-agent when its own Mandate allows it. The sub-agent has its own identity, but it remains connected to the parent grant and the Vault above it.

Capital controller
    ↓
Treasury agent
    ↓
Execution sub-agent

The governing rule is simple:

Delegated authority may become narrower, but never broader.

Inherited boundaries

The effective authority of a sub-agent is constrained by the grant that created it and by the active lineage above it. A sub-agent may receive fewer actions, tighter limits, stricter conditions, or less discretion, but it cannot use delegation to create authority its parent did not have. The current implementation applies this inheritance to:

• native amount limits;
• native-USD amount limits;
• escalation permissions;
• delegation permission;
• Preflight floors (native and native-USD); and
• the validity window.

In the current model:

effective authority
= current child Mandate
  ∩ active parent boundaries
  ∩ active ancestor boundaries

The Preflight check then applies its own state boundary to the proposed action. It does not give the child authority that is absent from its active lineage.

Delegation depth

The current contracts support a root Mandate, a child Mandate, and one further sub-agent level. Maximum delegation depth is 2.

At depth 2, canDelegate is forced off. A grandchild cannot create further descendants regardless of what its rules specify. This prevents unbounded delegation chains.

Pausing and delegation

Pausing an ancestor blocks execution for all descendants. A paused parent means the child's lineage is not active for evaluation, even if the child's own status is ACTIVE. Unpausing the ancestor restores execution for the entire lineage.

Administration and revocation

The Vault controller and authorised parent agents can administer the grants within their respective boundaries. Revocation of an ancestor prevents descendant authority from being used, while preserving the records needed to understand the lineage and its history.

See Mandates for the authority grant itself and Decisions for how an inactive or insufficient lineage affects a proposal.