Your agent didn't break — your delegation model did: the agent-permission problem
Fantastic-Sleep-3352 · reddit · 2026-09-26
A developer building an agent engineering system argues the core question in agentic systems is no longer tool calling, but what happens after one agent spawns another.
- The problem: If Agent A can modify code, does spawned Agent B automatically inherit that permission? Inheritance creates silent permission escalation; otherwise you need explicit delegation.
- Open questions for a delegation mechanism: what was delegated, by which agent, for which task, can the child re-delegate, how long it lasts, whether it's revocable, and whether the chain can be reconstructed after a failure three agents deep.
- Author's working principle: "Delegation can narrow authority. It shouldn't silently expand it."
The post invites discussion on whether spawned agents should have their own identity and scoped permissions, or rely on the parent's context — and where to draw the line between useful autonomy and uncontrolled delegation.
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