---
id: SEC-CARD-001
type: reference
title: "Auth Mode vocabulary card"
repo: security-canon
status: draft
created: "2026-09-20"
source: infospace/vocabulary/mode-of-authority/SecurityCanonModeOfAuthority.md
---

# Auth Mode — vocabulary card

One page. Full definitions in
[SecurityCanonModeOfAuthority](../infospace/vocabulary/mode-of-authority/SecurityCanonModeOfAuthority.md).

## Notation

```text
MODE @ SCOPE

alice:
  ADMINISTER @ tenant/acme
  activation = JUST_IN_TIME
  duration   = 2h

support-agent:
  USE @ tenant/acme
  authority_context = customer-42
  relation          = IMPERSONATED

recovery-principal:
  SOVEREIGN @ identity-realm
  activation = BREAK_GLASS
  evidence   = EXTERNAL
```

## The seven modes

| Mode | Question | One-line test |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `USE` | How do I get the value the system exists to provide? | domain purpose |
| `OBSERVE` | What is this system doing? | knowledge about, not value from |
| `OPERATE` | How do I keep it functioning? | changes running state, not definition |
| `ADMINISTER` | How do I configure it within the rules? | inside rules set elsewhere |
| `GOVERN` | What rules constrain authority? | decides what admins may decide |
| `CONSTRUCT` | What can future versions be? | changes definitions, not instances |
| `SOVEREIGN` | How is the regime established or recovered? | at or beyond the authority boundary |

**Not a ladder.** These classify the kind of authority, not the amount.

## Dimensions

| Dimension | Values |
| --- | --- |
| `activation` | `STANDING` `JUST_IN_TIME` `SCHEDULED` `APPROVED` `INCIDENT` `BREAK_GLASS` `RECOVERY` |
| `provenance` | `LOCAL` `PARENT_SCOPE` `SUBSTRATE` `DELEGATED` `FEDERATED` `ASSUMED` `IMPERSONATED` |
| `environment` | `DEVELOPMENT` `TEST` `STAGING` `PRODUCTION` `RECOVERY` |
| `evidence` | `target-audited` `external-audited` `substrate-audited` `multi-party-audited` `outside-audit-boundary` |
| `principal_type` | `HUMAN` `WORKLOAD` `SERVICE` `AGENT` `CONTROLLER` `DEVICE` *(imported)* |
| `relation` | `DELEGATED` `IMPERSONATED` |

## The ten questions

```text
1. Who is the actor?              6. Where does the authority originate?
2. On whose authority?            7. Under what conditions is it activated?
3. What Auth Mode?                8. What realm enforces it?
4. Over what scope?               9. Who preserves the evidence?
5. What operations?              10. Who can override enforcement?
```

## Common translations

```text
auditor          → OBSERVE @ evidence
developer        → CONSTRUCT @ product
backup operator  → OPERATE @ backup-system
break-glass      → <mode>, activation=BREAK_GLASS
"has root"       → SOVEREIGN @ host  (say the scope)
```