Action Restrictions and Permissions › Practical Guidelines for Action Safety

As you implement action restrictions for your own agent, keep these guidelines in mind:

Start with the minimum: When adding a new tool, give it the most restrictive permissions possible. You can always loosen restrictions later, but it's harder to tighten them once users expect certain capabilities.

Make restrictions visible: When the agent can't do something, make sure it explains why. A message like "I don't have permission to delete files" is much better than a generic error.

Log everything: Keep a record of what actions the agent attempted, which were allowed, and which were blocked. This helps you understand how the agent is being used and whether your restrictions are too tight or too loose.

Test adversarially: Try to trick your agent into doing things it shouldn't. Ask it to email someone outside the allowed list. Try to make it access files outside its sandbox. See where the weaknesses are.

Layer your defenses: Don't rely on a single protection mechanism. Use permissions, restrictions, confirmations, and sandboxing together.

Consider the context: A personal assistant running on your laptop might need different restrictions than one deployed as a service for multiple users. Adjust your safety measures to match the risk level.