Spanda

Decision Authority

Status: Stable — authority extraction and central-approval gates tested at runtime.

Each entity declares what it can decide locally versus what requires central approval.

Types

Type	Description
DecisionAuthority	Per-entity local vs central action lists
DecisionScope	Entity, fleet, site, and layer binding
DecisionBoundary	Hard limits no local layer may cross
DecisionPolicy	Versioned, signed policy with allowed/forbidden actions
DecisionDelegation	Temporary authority transfer between entities
DecisionEscalation	Step-up path when local resolution fails

Entity declaration

robot Rover001 {
    local_decision_authority [
        emergency_stop,
        obstacle_avoidance,
        degraded_mode,
        return_home,
        sensor_failover
    ];
    requires_central_approval [
        resume_high_risk_mission,
        override_safety_policy,
        disable_kill_switch,
        update_firmware
    ];
}

Validation

The engine checks:

1. Action is in local_decision_authority
2. Action is not in requires_central_approval
3. Action passes DecisionBoundary checks (kill switch, firmware, unknown devices)
4. Action passes active DecisionPolicy rules

High-risk actions require human approval, fleet quorum, or central approval.

CLI

spanda decision list mission.sd        # show all authorities
spanda decision inspect mission.sd --entity Rover001 --action emergency_stop

API

GET /v1/entities/{id}/decisions returns authority evaluation for the entity.

This site is open source. Improve this page.