kings-guard/docs/pilots/QontoAssistantPosturePilot.md

title	version	status	date	repo	classification
Qonto Assistant Posture Pilot	0.1.0	Draft	2026-07-23	kings-guard	Public

Qonto Assistant Posture Pilot

1. Decision

qonto-assistant is selected as the first pilot lane for KG-WP-0002-T04.

This is a deliberate override of the original preference order (ops-warden -> secrets-engine -> Railiance reconstitution), not because those lanes are unimportant, but because qonto-assistant already provides all three prerequisites needed for a meaningful first pilot:

1. a declared security_genome;
2. a real audit stream that maps cleanly to immune_observation;
3. a service-local fast loop that can consume an advisory posture hint.

That makes it a better first validation target for the contract layer than a more abstract platform lane.

2. Why This Lane

qonto-assistant is:

• reachable by external harness sessions, not only by cluster-internal callers;
• the sole holder of a real company bank credential;
• already instrumented with a deny-escalation local loop;
• already documented as a future kings-guard consumer in qonto-assistant/docs/SecurityPractice.md.

This gives the pilot real risk, real evidence, and a bounded local response path without granting kings-guard any new secret or authorization authority.

3. Pilot Question

Can kings-guard consume a normalized observation derived from qonto-assistant's existing audit stream, compare it against a declared security genome, and emit a bounded posture hint that the service can use for its own local fast loop?

4. Request/Response Flow

client request
  -> qonto-assistant policy kernel denies suspicious action
  -> qonto-assistant emits audit event
  -> kings-guard normalizes event into immune_observation
  -> kings-guard evaluates posture against qonto security_genome
  -> kings-guard emits posture_hint signal
  -> qonto-assistant chooses whether to activate local deny-escalation lockout
  -> state-hub receives metadata-only evidence

5. Input Mapping

qonto-assistant field	Kings Guard field	Notes
request_id	observation_id	Stable correlation id
timestamp	timestamp	Direct mapping
actor	actor_id	Current pilot still tolerates self-asserted identity binding
tenant_id	tenant_id	Direct mapping
capability	resource_scope	Fine-grained route/capability name such as org_summary
derived constant	capability	Coarse scope: finance.qonto.read
protocol	protocol	rest or mcp
decision	decision	allow / deny
deny_reason	deny_reason	Pilot currently exercises credential_exfil
derived constant	identity_binding	self_asserted until key-cape integration lands
derived constant	egress_destination	qonto-thirdparty-api for this pilot
genome evidence_sources	evidence_class / event_class	Copied from the source declaration. audit.deny is load-bearing; audit.allow is attributive. Not inferred from decision.

6. Output Shape

The pilot emits one immune_signal of kind posture_hint when posture is above healthy.

For the initial credential_exfil scenario:

• posture: inflamed
• primary finding: credential_exfil_probe
• bounded local action hint: lock_actor_temporarily
• evidence sink hint: state-hub metadata-only incident recording

7. Authority Boundary

kings-guard does not:

• authorize or deny the client request;
• fetch or hold the Qonto credential;
• change qonto-assistant policy rules directly;
• mutate OpenBao, flex-auth, or key-cape.

qonto-assistant keeps those responsibilities. kings-guard only emits an advisory posture hint and metadata-only evidence guidance.

8. Rollback / Safety

The pilot is easy to disable:

• if kings-guard is unavailable, qonto-assistant continues with its current local policy and deny-escalation behavior;
• if the signal consumer is disabled, audit events still exist and no secret or authorization authority has moved;
• no secret values are copied into kings-guard or state-hub.

9. Follow-On Lanes

Choosing qonto-assistant first does not reject the original preference order. It sequences them:

1. qonto-assistant proves the contract layer with a real consumer.
2. ops-warden sign-request posture hinting is the next likely platform lane.
3. secrets-engine delivery posture hinting follows once the contract is stable enough to reuse.