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Architecture principles

Trust‑first design

ASTRA fundamentally reimagines security for agentic systems by placing trust at the center of every interaction. Unlike traditional security models that rely on static permissions, ASTRA implements dynamic trust scoring that continuously evaluates agent behavior, performance, and compliance adherence. This approach recognizes that agent trustworthiness can change over time based on actions, environment, and context.

The architecture supports secure trust delegation, enabling high-trust agents to temporarily share capabilities with other agents within defined boundaries. This creates a trust fabric—an interconnected network of trust relationships that forms a resilient security foundation. When one agent vouches for another's capability to perform a specific task, the system can make nuanced decisions about access while maintaining strict oversight.

Zero‑trust security

ASTRA adopts a comprehensive zero-trust approach specifically designed for agentic AI environments. Every interaction undergoes validation regardless of previous trust levels, network location, or historical access patterns. This continuous validation model recognizes that agents can be compromised, manipulated, or behave unexpectedly, requiring constant verification of intent and capability.

The system implements context-aware policy enforcement that considers not just the agent and resource, but the full environmental context including time, location, business rules, and current risk posture. Access decisions incorporate minimal privilege principles, granting only the specific permissions required for the immediate task and for the shortest time necessary to complete the operation.

Policy‑driven governance

Governance in ASTRA is implemented through policy-as-code, treating security rules as software that can be version-controlled, tested, and systematically deployed. This approach enables organizations to maintain consistent security postures across complex multi-agent environments while supporting rapid iteration and deployment of policy changes.

Real-time policy enforcement operates at sub-second speeds, ensuring that security decisions never become bottlenecks in agent operations. The system provides automated compliance checking against regulatory frameworks, continuously validating that agent actions remain within prescribed boundaries for SOX, GDPR, HIPAA, and other regulatory requirements.

Agent autonomy with governance

ASTRA strikes a careful balance between enabling agent autonomy and maintaining organizational control. Agents operate independently within clearly defined policy boundaries, allowing them to make decisions and take actions without constant human intervention while ensuring compliance with enterprise security requirements.

The architecture supports collaborative intelligence between agents, enabling them to share information, coordinate activities, and learn from each other's experiences within a secure framework. For high-risk operations or when policy boundaries are approached, the system implements policy-driven escalation patterns that seamlessly integrate human oversight through approval workflows, ensuring that critical decisions receive appropriate human review while maintaining operational efficiency.

Intent verification

  • Signal‑driven evaluation: Behavioral signals and risk dimensions produced by the analyzer drive policy decisions
  • Policy‑bound risk thresholds: Enforce thresholds per risk dimension; apply constraints or require approvals when exceeded
  • Risk‑adaptive gating: Escalate to human approval when risk is unusually high or deviates from norms
  • Consistency checks: Detect behavioral drift across sessions and tasks; flag pattern anomalies

Intent analysis operationalizes “verify, not trust” for autonomous behavior. Before executing a tool call, ASTRA evaluates request context and recent behavior to produce behavioral_signals and risk_dimensions. Policies gate actions based on these signals; low‑risk requests proceed, while higher‑risk cases trigger constraints (rate limits, masking) or human approval.