Aster Security Model

Aster security is defined by Distro and exposed through Gate framework boundaries. Protocols declare the authority their operations imply, spaces declare the capabilities they require, and Distro binds those requirements only when the space has matching entitlement grants.

Enforcement Maturity

Aster uses four words for trust claims:

Stage	Meaning
Declared	A protocol or requirement states the authority it needs.
Displayed	Install and plan review surfaces show the authority change before it is accepted.
Structural	The resolver, install path, or call site refuses work that exceeds the granted envelope.
Isolated	The operating system or substrate enforces the boundary directly.

Current Aster builds are structural for entitlement binding and cooperative at runtime. That means ungranted capability requirements do not bind, high-trust provider rights are checked during install/import, inter-space delegation requires caller entitlement, and environment-provider selection refuses weaker isolation classes. Once work is bound, provider code and host runtime services still perform the operation; Aster does not yet claim platform-wide OS-level namespace, ACL, or sandbox enforcement for every authority kind.

Authority Kinds

Authority	Current behavior
fs	Grant-bound at requirement binding; runtime file access is mediated by providers and permission services.
network	Grant-bound at requirement binding; provider code performs the egress.
model_spend	Grant-bound at binding and visible through the kernel resource meter.
child_run_spawn	Grant-bound at binding; child work enters through Run identity.
inter_space_invocation	Checked before a caller can delegate to another space.
secret	Declared and reviewable; concrete secret-store enforcement lands with the secret-store runtime.
provider_right	Checked during high-trust provider install/import.
isolation_class	Environment providers declare process, container, or vm; demands and gateway floors refuse weaker providers.

Gate modules project only the spaces, tools, skills, services, apps, and marketplace sources selected by Distro or installed by the user. Concrete providers such as database, analytics, and observability adapters live outside @aster/gate, so product runtimes can swap infrastructure without changing the framework.