Tool Governance
Scoping which agents may call which tools, under which conditions, with which approval steps.
What is Tool Governance?
Tool governance is where governance becomes operational. An agent that can read documents is one risk profile; one that can modify records or send customer-facing content is another. The orchestrator must enforce scope, not the calling code. See AI Agent Governance.
What is an example of Tool Governance?
A support agent can look up an order and draft a refund, but the refund tool caps the amount, restricts destination accounts, checks the user’s role, and requires approval above a defined threshold.
How is Tool Governance different from related concepts?
Tool use is the technical ability to request a function. Tool governance decides whether that request is allowed and under what conditions.
What should enterprises evaluate for Tool Governance?
- Give each agent its own identity and narrow credentials rather than sharing a broad service account.
- Validate arguments and downstream effects, and bind approvals to the exact proposed action.
- Monitor denied calls, unusual sequences, privilege changes, high-impact actions, and attempts triggered by untrusted content.
Related terms
Authoritative sources
Primary sources for the formal meaning, requirements, or original research behind Tool Governance:
- LLM06:2025 Excessive Agency — source for Tool Governance OWASP GenAI Security Project
Putting Tool Governance to work?
VDF AI runs governed AI agents on your own infrastructure — on-premises, sovereign cloud, or air-gapped. Book a working session to map the architecture.
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