# Agent Permission Expands Over Steps

## Ontology Metadata

Code: ISS-0099
Version: ISS-0099@0.1.0
Ontology release: 0.1.0
Updated: 2026-05-10T00:00:00Z
Canonical URL: /workbench/issues/agent-permission-expands-over-steps/

## Summary

An agent begins with limited permission but gains, assumes, or exercises broader authority as the workflow continues.

## Category

- CAT-0110 — Spread & Escalation
  - URL: /workbench/categories/spread-and-escalation/
  - Summary: Problems where small errors, local exceptions, risk signals, retries, permissions, or outputs spread downstream, grow in consequence, or trigger broader actions.

## Primary Pattern

- PAT-0300 — Escalation Growth
  - URL: /workbench/patterns/escalation-growth/
  - Summary: A structural condition where impact, authority, scope, or consequence increases across sequential states without a declared limiting mechanism.

## Declared Patterns

- PAT-0300 — Escalation Growth
  - URL: /workbench/patterns/escalation-growth/
  - Summary: A structural condition where impact, authority, scope, or consequence increases across sequential states without a declared limiting mechanism.
- PAT-0120 — Missing Authority
  - URL: /workbench/patterns/missing-authority/
  - Summary: A structural condition where a region, action, state, or decision path exists without a declared governing authority.
- PAT-0340 — Overreach
  - URL: /workbench/patterns/overreach/
  - Summary: A structural condition where actions, effects, authority, or modifications extend beyond declared scope without authorization.

## Derived Primary Lenses

- LEN-0100 — Absence Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/absence-lens/
  - Summary: Detects structurally required elements that are missing from the observed structure.
- LEN-0110 — Authority Overlay Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/authority-overlay-lens/
  - Summary: Maps declared authority hierarchies onto observed structure to detect absence, override, or conflict.
- LEN-0120 — Boundary Compliance Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/boundary-compliance-lens/
  - Summary: Evaluates observed structure against declared boundary posture, including allow, block, and exception rules.
- LEN-0190 — Escalation Gradient Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/escalation-gradient-lens/
  - Summary: Measures structural growth or intensification across sequential executions, states, or transitions.
- LEN-0240 — Overreach Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/overreach-lens/
  - Summary: Detects structure that exceeds declared scope or authority reach.
- LEN-0290 — Variance / Entropy Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/variance-entropy-lens/
  - Summary: Measures structural variability across repeated or comparable evaluations and identifies divergence beyond expected bounds.

## Derived Secondary Lenses

- LEN-0150 — Conflict Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/conflict-lens/
  - Summary: Detects mutually incompatible constraints, claims, states, or declarations that cannot be simultaneously satisfied.
- LEN-0250 — Propagation Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/propagation-lens/
  - Summary: Traces how structural declarations, effects, or state changes propagate across boundaries or stages.
- LEN-0270 — Reconciliation Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/reconciliation-lens/
  - Summary: Evaluates whether structural changes align with declared authority updates, version changes, or reconciliation rules.

## Search Intents

- agent permission expands over steps
- AI agent permission grew over time
- agent authority expanded during task
- AI agent got more access across steps
- agent permission creep
- agent acts with broader permission later