ARIA Framework

📋Learning Objectives

• Understand the ARIA framework and why AI agents need special authorization
• Learn the delegation model with DELEGATES_TO relationships
• Configure capabilities, trust levels, and constraints
• Validate delegation chains for multi-hop agent operations
• Integrate ARIA with PDP policies
• Create and verify delegations via the API

🤖Why AI Agents Need Special Authorization

Traditional OAuth scopes work for human users interacting directly with applications. But AI agents operate differently:

🔗The Delegation Model

ARIA stores delegations as DELEGATES_TO edges in the Neo4j identity graph.

DELEGATES_TO Edge Properties

Creating a Delegation (Cypher)

-- Create delegation from user to agent
MATCH (u:Identity {id: "alice@acme.com"})
MATCH (a:Agent {id: "agent-123"})
CREATE (u)-[:DELEGATES_TO {
  id: randomUUID(),
  status: 'active',
  capabilities: ['invoice:read', 'invoice:pay'],
  constraints: { spend_cap: 5000 },
  trust_level: 'medium',
  created_at: datetime(),
  expires_at: datetime() + duration('P1D')
}]->(a);

🛡️Trust Levels & Capabilities

Trust levels control what capabilities an agent can be granted and what actions it can perform.

Capability Examples

// Common capability patterns
capabilities: [
  'invoice:read',      // View invoices
  'invoice:pay',       // Pay invoices (requires spend_cap)
  'user:read',         // Read user profiles
  'mcp.tools.invoke',  // Call MCP tools
  'llm:use',           // Make LLM requests (requires budget)
  'doc:sign'           // E-sign documents
]

🔗Chain Eligibility Validation

When agents delegate to other agents, the full delegation chain must be validated. This prevents privilege escalation.

Chain Validation Rules

• All hops must be active: Every DELEGATES_TO edge in the chain must have status: 'active'
• No expired delegations: All expires_at timestamps must be in the future
• Capability intersection: Agent can only use capabilities present in ALL hops
• Constraint inheritance: Most restrictive constraint from any hop applies
• Trust level floor: Effective trust level is the minimum in the chain

PIP Endpoint for Chain Eligibility

# Check if agent can perform action via delegation chain
curl https://membership.self.empowernow.ai/api/v1/pip/chain-eligibility \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "subject_id": "agent-456",
    "required_capability": "payment:initiate",
    "context": {
      "amount": 720
    }
  }'

# Response
{
  "chain_valid": true,
  "chain_length": 2,
  "effective_capabilities": ["payment:initiate"],
  "effective_constraints": {
    "spend_cap": 1000
  },
  "effective_trust_level": "medium",
  "delegation_ids": ["del-abc", "del-xyz"]
}

🔒PDP Integration

PDP policies can reference delegation context to make authorization decisions.

Policy Example: Allow Delegated Invoice Payment

# PDP policy for delegated agent actions
id: allow-delegated-invoice-payment
subjects:
  - type: delegated_identity   # Magic type - resolved by PIP
    capability: invoice:pay

rules:
  - resource: payment
    action: initiate
    effect: permit
    allowIf: >
      context.delegation.trust_level in ['medium', 'high'] and
      context.delegation.chain_valid == true and
      context.amount <= context.delegation.constraints.spend_cap

PDP Request with Delegation Context

# Agent requests authorization
curl -X POST https://pdp.self.empowernow.ai/access/v1/evaluation \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AGENT_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "subject": {
      "type": "ai_agent",
      "id": "agent-123"
    },
    "action": { "name": "initiate" },
    "resource": {
      "type": "payment",
      "id": "pay-777"
    },
    "context": {
      "delegation": {
        "from": "alice@acme.com",
        "caps": ["invoice:pay"],
        "edge_id": "del-abc123"
      },
      "amount": 720
    }
  }'

# Response
{
  "decision": true,
  "context": {
    "constraints": [
      { "id": "spend_cap", "value": 5000 }
    ],
    "obligations": [
      { "id": "audit", "type": "log_delegation_use" }
    ],
    "delegation": {
      "from": "alice@acme.com",
      "edge_id": "del-abc123"
    }
  }
}

🔧Delegation API Operations

Create Delegation

# User delegates to agent
curl -X POST https://membership.self.empowernow.ai/api/v1/delegations \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $USER_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "delegator_id": "alice@acme.com",
    "delegate_id": "agent-123",
    "capabilities": ["invoice:read", "invoice:pay"],
    "constraints": {
      "spend_cap": 5000,
      "ip_range": ["10.0.0.0/8"]
    },
    "trust_level": "medium",
    "expires_in": "24h"
  }'

# Response
{
  "delegation_id": "del-abc123",
  "status": "active",
  "expires_at": "2026-01-22T15:30:00Z"
}

Verify Delegation

# Verify delegation is valid before using
curl https://membership.self.empowernow.ai/api/v1/delegations/verify \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AGENT_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "delegator_id": "alice@acme.com",
    "delegate_id": "agent-123",
    "required_capabilities": ["invoice:pay"]
  }'

# Response
{
  "valid": true,
  "delegation_id": "del-abc123",
  "capabilities": ["invoice:read", "invoice:pay"],
  "constraints": { "spend_cap": 5000 },
  "trust_level": "medium",
  "expires_at": "2026-01-22T15:30:00Z"
}

Revoke Delegation

# Revoke a delegation immediately
curl -X DELETE https://membership.self.empowernow.ai/api/v1/delegations/del-abc123 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $USER_TOKEN"

# Response
{
  "delegation_id": "del-abc123",
  "status": "revoked",
  "revoked_at": "2026-01-21T10:30:00Z"
}

📋Plan Contracts

Plan Contracts pre-approve the steps, inputs, and budgets an agent can execute. Before any tool call, the agent's actions are validated against the contract.

Plan Contract Structure

{
  "version": "plan/v1",
  "meta": {
    "prompt_id": "identity.onboard@1.0.0",
    "tenant": "cont-av",
    "max_budget_usd": 5.00
  },
  "steps": [
    {
      "kind": "approve",
      "id": "gate",
      "params": { "message": "Create account for {{ name }}?" }
    },
    {
      "kind": "workflow",
      "ref": "av_ad_create_user",
      "version": "1.0.0",
      "params": {
        "FirstName": "{{ first_name }}",
        "LastName": "{{ last_name }}",
        "Email": "{{ email }}"
      },
      "allow_tags": ["account", "create", "ad"],
      "dry_run": true
    }
  ]
}

Step Kinds

Contract Enforcement Flow

🛡️How ARIA's 7 Controls Reinforce Delegation

ARIA's seven controls work together to secure delegated agent actions:

End-to-End Example

When Alice delegates invoice approval to her AI assistant:

1. User-Bound: Agent instance is tied to Alice
2. Capability: Agent proves it has invoice:approve
3. Plan: Contract allows only approve/reject on invoices ≤$1000
4. Context: Decision bound to the specific invoice data
5. Attestation: SAP BAPI tool version verified
6. BDNA: Agent's approval pattern within normal range
7. Receipt: Signed record: Alice → agent → approve → $750 invoice

🔍Troubleshooting

Delegation Not Found

Symptom: {"error": "No active delegation from alice@acme.com to agent-123"}

Debug:

# Check delegation in Neo4j
MATCH (u:Identity)-[d:DELEGATES_TO]->(a:Agent)
WHERE u.id = 'alice@acme.com' AND a.id = 'agent-123'
RETURN d.status, d.expires_at, d.capabilities;

Causes: Delegation never created, expired, revoked, or wrong IDs.

Capability Not Granted

Symptom: {"error": "Capability 'invoice:delete' not in delegation"}

Fix: The delegation only grants specific capabilities. Create a new delegation with the required capability, or use an existing capability that's already granted.

Chain Validation Failed

Symptom: {"chain_valid": false, "reason": "hop 2 expired"}

Fix: One of the delegations in the chain has expired. Each delegation must be renewed independently.

Constraint Violation

Symptom: {"error": "Amount 6000 exceeds spend_cap 5000"}

Fix: The action violates a constraint. Either reduce the amount or request a new delegation with higher limits.

❓Knowledge Check

📝Day 23 Checkpoint

• Understand why AI agents need special authorization (ARIA)
• Know the DELEGATES_TO relationship and its properties
• Understand trust levels and capability scoping
• Know how chain validation works
• Can create, verify, and revoke delegations via API
• Understand PDP integration for delegated actions