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Commit-Time Authority

Equivalent Terms​

No accepted equivalent terms are recorded yet.

Equivalent-term claims should be submitted through the proposal lifecycle and accepted only through a decision record.

Overlapping Terms​

The following terms may overlap with commit-time authority, but are not treated as identical without review:

  • runtime authorization;
  • just-in-time authorization;
  • commit-time policy evaluation;
  • execution-time authorization;
  • policy enforcement;
  • policy decision, when used to describe a policy-engine result produced from supplied input, policies, and data. This overlaps with Commit-Time Authority when the decision contributes to authorization at the binding moment, but it is not equivalent unless the decision also preserves the authority class, evidence posture, review posture, continuity posture, and consequence boundary required for admissibility.

Adjacent Terms​

The following terms are adjacent because they may occur near the same system boundary but do not necessarily answer the same governance question:

  • access control;
  • approval workflow;
  • policy-as-code;
  • audit logging;
  • attestation.

Definition​

Commit-time authority is the authority basis that exists at the moment a transition binds.

It is not enough that an actor was previously approved, previously trusted, or previously authorized.

Core Distinction​

Approval is not continuity.

Execution is not admissibility.

Commit-time authority asks whether the authority basis remains valid when the system is about to commit consequence.

Why The StegVerse Term Is Retained​

The StegVerse term is retained because overlapping terms may describe authorization, enforcement, or policy evaluation without necessarily requiring consequence standing, continuity posture, evidence posture, and admissibility at the binding moment.

Examples​

A transition may lose commit-time authority when:

  • a policy changes;
  • an identity record changes;
  • evidence becomes stale;
  • review status changes;
  • a required observer is unavailable;
  • the authority class no longer matches the action.
governance:
  proposal_link: "../../static/governance/proposals/proposal.example.008.json"
  decision_link: "../../static/governance/decisions/decision.example.008.json"
  replay_link: "../../static/governance/replay/decision.example.008.txt"
  reconstruction_link: "../../static/governance/evidence/decision.example.008/README.md"