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Pattern by Knoveya

Authentication Chains

Knoveya

Show the chain of identities and permissions behind an agent action at a useful level of detail.

Design intent

Show the chain of identities and permissions behind an agent action at a useful level of detail.

When to use

Use this pattern when its control or information directly helps the current task. Start with a real user scenario rather than adding an AI-themed affordance by default.

Example

See which service account performed a CRM update.

This is an illustrative Knoveya scenario, not a claim about a particular shipped product.

Implementation checklist

  • Define the trigger, visible state, allowed action, and completion condition.
  • Credentials stay secret while principal and capability are inspectable.
  • Cover missing input, unavailable permissions, interrupted work, and partial results where they apply.
  • Keep keyboard focus, labels, and recovery behavior understandable without motion.

Trade-offs

Extra controls or explanations add reading and decision effort. Prefer the smallest presentation that exposes the relevant consequence. Do not display a guarantee, metric, or permission that the underlying system cannot enforce.

Verify

Reproduce the example with synthetic data and deliberately trigger its failure path. Credentials stay secret while principal and capability are inspectable.