Authority & Safety

The authority system controls how much autonomy JARVIS has. It determines which actions the agent can take on its own, which require your approval, and which are blocked entirely. Authority is enforced at every level — the primary agent, sub-agents, and workflows all respect the same rules.

Authority Levels

Authority is set on a scale from 1 to 10:

Level	Name	Description
1	Read-only	Can read files, browse the web, answer questions. Cannot modify anything.
2	Suggest	Can suggest actions but must get approval for all writes.
3	Conservative	Can write files, run safe shell commands. Asks for anything external. (Default)
4	Moderate	Can send messages on your behalf with approval.
5	Capable	Can send messages, manage calendar, interact with APIs.
6	Autonomous	Can delete files, execute arbitrary shell commands.
7	Trusted	Can make purchases under a configured limit.
8	High trust	Can manage accounts and credentials.
9	Near-full	Can take almost any action. Very few guardrails.
10	Full autonomy	No restrictions. The agent acts without asking.

Set your level in ~/.jarvis/config.yaml:

authority:
  default_level: 3

Or via the onboarding wizard:

jarvis onboard

Governed Actions

Certain action categories are always checked against the authority system, regardless of the overall level:

authority:
  governed_categories:
    - send_email
    - send_message
    - make_payment
    - delete_files
    - execute_shell
    - modify_config
    - access_credentials

Each governed action has a minimum authority level. If the agent’s level is below the threshold, the action is blocked or requires approval.

Decision Order

When the agent attempts an action, the authority engine evaluates in this order:

1. Emergency state — if paused or killed, block everything
2. Context rules — time-based, tool-specific, or always-on rules
3. Per-action overrides — explicit allow/deny for specific actions
4. Governed categories — check the action category against the authority level
5. Default level — if nothing else matches, use the default authority level

The first rule that matches determines the outcome.

Per-Action Overrides

Override the default behavior for specific actions:

authority:
  overrides:
    - action: send_email
      allowed: false               # Block entirely, regardless of level

    - action: execute_shell
      requires_approval: true      # Always ask, even at high authority

    - action: delete_files
      role_id: researcher          # Only applies to the researcher sub-agent
      allowed: false

Context Rules

Define rules that apply based on conditions:

authority:
  context_rules:
    - id: no-purchases-at-night
      action: make_payment
      condition: time_range
      params:
        start: "22:00"
        end: "06:00"
      effect: deny
      description: "Block payments between 10 PM and 6 AM"

    - id: always-approve-emails
      action: send_email
      condition: always
      effect: require_approval
      description: "Always ask before sending emails"

Condition Types

Condition	Params	Description
time_range	start, end (HH:MM)	Matches during the specified time window
tool_name	name (string)	Matches when a specific tool is being used
always	—	Always matches

Effects

Effect	Description
allow	Permit the action without asking
deny	Block the action entirely
require_approval	Ask the user before proceeding

Approval Workflow

When an action requires approval, JARVIS sends a request through your configured channels:

• Dashboard — a modal dialog appears with the action details and approve/deny buttons
• Telegram — an inline keyboard message with approve/deny buttons
• Discord — a reaction-based approval on the notification message

The agent waits for your response before proceeding. If no response is received within the configured timeout, the action is denied by default.

Learning & Auto-Approve

The authority system learns from your approval patterns:

authority:
  learning:
    enabled: true
    suggest_threshold: 5    # After 5 approvals, suggest auto-approve

When you approve the same type of action repeatedly, JARVIS suggests adding an auto-approve rule. You can accept or dismiss the suggestion. This gradually reduces approval fatigue for routine actions.

Emergency Controls

Three emergency states control the agent’s overall behavior:

State	Effect
normal	Agent operates according to authority rules
paused	All actions are blocked. The agent can still respond to messages but cannot execute tools.
killed	Agent is fully stopped. No responses, no actions.

Set the emergency state:

authority:
  emergency_state: normal    # normal | paused | killed

Or from the dashboard’s System Status panel.

Sub-Agent Authority

Sub-agents inherit the authority level of the primary agent but can be further restricted:

• A sub-agent can never exceed the primary agent’s authority level
• Per-action overrides can target specific roles using the role_id field
• The researcher role, for example, might be blocked from delete_files even if the primary agent has level 6

authority:
  overrides:
    - action: delete_files
      role_id: researcher
      allowed: false
    - action: execute_shell
      role_id: coder
      requires_approval: true

Audit Trail

Every authority decision is logged to the SQLite database. The audit trail records:

• What action was attempted
• Which agent/role attempted it
• What the authority decision was (allowed, denied, approval requested)
• Whether the user approved or denied (for approval requests)
• Timestamp

View recent authority decisions from the dashboard under the System Status panel, or query the database directly:

sqlite3 ~/.jarvis/jarvis.db "SELECT * FROM authority_log ORDER BY created_at DESC LIMIT 20"

Configuration Reference

authority:
  default_level: 3                           # 1-10
  governed_categories:
    - send_email
    - send_message
    - make_payment
  overrides: []                              # PerActionOverride[]
  context_rules: []                          # ContextRule[]
  learning:
    enabled: true
    suggest_threshold: 5
  emergency_state: normal                    # normal | paused | killed

See Configuration for the full config file structure.

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