{
  "schema_version": "1.1",
  "id": "auto-b53948be9f",
  "slug": "give-the-agent-a-budget-not-a-token-sachin-malhotra-anth-b53948be9f",
  "url": "https://feed7.dev/p/give-the-agent-a-budget-not-a-token-sachin-malhotra-anth-b53948be9f",
  "title": "Give the Agent a Budget, Not a Token — Sachin Malhotra, Anthropic",
  "why_included": "Bound write volume, rate, reversibility, and visibility, with human-only overrides outside the agent session.",
  "summary": "Production agents need bounded write authority, infrastructure-stamped identity, and human-only overrides; a broad token and tool list cannot control blast radius.",
  "practical_implication": "Classify write verbs by how failures surface, rate-limit every write, and keep overrides outside agent sessions. Record aggregate behavior with trip wires, size limits using an undo test, and let a trusted proxy stamp agent and session identity.",
  "agent_context": "A cleanup agent’s empty pipeline stage removed its filter, matching and deleting about **200 workloads** used by **20 engineers** in **90 seconds**. The proposed alternative treats authority as budgets across action volume, rate, reversibility, and visibility.\n\nClassify write verbs by how failures surface, rate-limit every write, and keep overrides outside agent sessions. Record aggregate behavior with trip wires, size limits using an undo test, and let a trusted proxy stamp agent and session identity.\n\nThese are production safety primitives, not a guarantee against bad actions. Limits still need tuning by resource and namespace, while quiet or irreversible operations may require a separate human-held credential.",
  "source": {
    "name": "AI Engineer",
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbjWzZK2LU0",
    "published_at": "2026-08-22T00:00:00.000Z"
  },
  "source_class": "video",
  "content_type": "Video",
  "layer": "agent",
  "domains": [
    "coding",
    "security"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "harness-engineering",
    "tool-use",
    "sandboxing"
  ],
  "verification": {
    "status": "source_linked",
    "label": "Source Linked",
    "method": "source_feed",
    "verified_at": null
  },
  "uncertainty": [],
  "connected_context": null,
  "lifecycle": "New",
  "published_at": "2026-08-22T00:00:00.000Z",
  "modified_at": "2026-08-22T00:00:00.000Z",
  "supersedes": [],
  "expires_at": null,
  "formats": {
    "html": "https://feed7.dev/p/give-the-agent-a-budget-not-a-token-sachin-malhotra-anth-b53948be9f",
    "json": "https://feed7.dev/p/give-the-agent-a-budget-not-a-token-sachin-malhotra-anth-b53948be9f.json",
    "markdown": "https://feed7.dev/p/give-the-agent-a-budget-not-a-token-sachin-malhotra-anth-b53948be9f.md"
  }
}