An AI Action Boundary Map is a practical allow, review, approve, and block policy for AI-assisted engineering actions. It keeps low-risk coding fast while adding the right control for actions that can use credentials, change workflows, call tools, deploy, publish, or touch production.
Starter action boundary
Allow
- Code edits in normal repo scope
- Tests, linting, and docs
- Local refactors
- Read-only repo analysis
- Non-sensitive generated comments
Review
- Package installs or dependency changes
- Workflow or CI/CD config edits
- MCP calls to internal systems
- Shell, network, or protected-file access
- Unclear owner, purpose, or target
Approve
- Deploy or release triggers
- Cloud CLI or infrastructure commands
- Secret-adjacent reads
- Package publishing, signing, or migration jobs
- Customer-impacting or production-adjacent changes
Block
- Disabling required checks
- Unmanaged secret reads
- Broad PAT or static key use without purpose
- Destructive production actions
- Workflow changes that bypass approval
Boundary by environment
| Environment | Default stance | Review or approval trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Local dev | Allow normal edits, tests, docs, and local refactors. | Review shell, network, protected files, or tool calls outside repo scope. |
| Pull request | Allow reviewable code changes under branch protection. | Review workflow edits, required-check changes, package scripts, or generated release config. |
| CI/CD | Approve jobs that can use secrets or publish artifacts. | Deploy, package publish, signing, cloud commands, migrations, or secret-adjacent reads. |
| Production / release | Require explicit approval and retained proof. | Customer-impacting changes, destructive actions, feature flags, admin tools, or data writes. |
Evidence to keep at the boundary
Owner and purpose
Who asked for the action, which agent or automation acted, and what business or engineering purpose was declared.
Credential and scope
Which token, service account, OAuth grant, CI secret, cloud role, or inherited identity was involved.
Approval reason
Who approved the action, what policy applied, and why it was allowed, reviewed, approved, or blocked.
Outcome
What changed, which target was affected, what validation ran, and where logs or proof live afterward.
Copyable map
See how this boundary appears in a graph.
The lab shows where allow, review, approve, or block decisions appear across agent, repo, workflow, credential, action, target, and proof.
Open the lab