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General

Securing Agent Tool Permissions

How to scope what your agent can touch without blocking useful work.

Principles

  • **Default deny** — Give the agent access to nothing by default. Add permissions one at a time.
  • **Read before write** — Let it read code, docs, and logs. Require approval for writes, deletes, and external API calls.
  • **Environment boundaries** — Use separate keys or sandboxes for dev, staging, and production.
  • **Audit logs** — Log every tool invocation, including inputs and outputs. Review weekly at first.
  • **Scope per task** — If the agent only needs one repo, restrict it to that repo. If it only needs email read, do not grant send.

    • MCP servers and tool brokers like the SMF Works M365 Access Broker make this easier by centralizing scopes and approval gates.