Unclassified
10 · Governance
The hard gate between intent and execution — authority, policy, risk, approval, evidence, and audit
May This Be Done?
Governance is the hard gate between intent and execution. Nothing executes without passing through governance. It is not a suggestion layer — it is a hard stop.
Governance Model
Intent / Action
↓
Policy Evaluation
↓
Authorization Check
↓
Risk Assessment
↓
Approval Workflow
↓
Execution Token
↓
Execution
Governance Components
| Component | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Policy Evaluation | Checks against organizational policies |
| Authorization | Verifies permissions and roles |
| Risk Assessment | Evaluates risk level of the action |
| Approval Workflow | Routes to human approvers when required |
| Limits & Guardrails | Enforces spending, rate, and scope limits |
| Evidence Collection | Gathers supporting evidence for the decision |
| Audit Trail | Records who did what, when, and why |
Governance Rules
| Rule | Description |
|---|---|
| No token = no execution | Every execution requires a governance token |
| Every action is auditable | Full traceability from intent to outcome |
| Human approval for high-risk | High-risk actions require explicit human approval |
| Twin never acts without approval | Twin proposals go through governance |
| Policies are enforceable | Organizational policies are hard gates |
Governance Gates
Composition Gate (Before Work Is Created)
Evaluates whether work should be created:
- Does this align with organizational goals?
- Is this within the scope of the requesting role?
- Are there policy conflicts?
Execution Gate (Before Work Is Executed)
Evaluates whether approved work can be executed:
- Is the execution within authorized scope?
- Are there rate limits or budget constraints?
- Is the target system healthy?
- Is governance approval current?
Authority Law
The Twin NEVER acts without approval. The user ALWAYS has control.
This is the fundamental governance invariant:
- No chat required
- No prompt required
- No context explaining required
- Just the Four Buttons: Store, Ask, Assign, Approve
Governance Connects to
| Layer | Relationship |
|---|---|
| Business Context | Policies derived from business context |
| Work Allocation | Evaluates allocation decisions |
| Twin Workbench | Gates Twin actions |
| Agents | Gates agent execution |
| Execution | Issues execution tokens |
| Reconciliation | Records governance decisions |