What is an Agent Session?

1 min read Updated

A bounded execution context where an agent performs a specific task with its own budget, permissions, and time limits. Financial authority expires when the session ends.

WHY IT MATTERS

Sessions scope authority: "research market data, budget $50, expires in 2 hours." Agent operates within context, loses authority on completion.

Like OAuth tokens — temporary, scoped, expiring. Prevents stale permissions and limits blast radius.

Can nest: master session spawns sub-sessions for steps, each with its own carved budget.

HOW POLICYLAYER USES THIS

PolicyLayer scopes spending rules to sessions — temporary budgets expiring with task completion.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Duration?
Configurable — minutes to days. Best practice: expected task length plus small buffer.
Extensions?
Yes, via API with authorization. Extensions are audit-logged.
In-progress transactions on expiry?
Unsigned transactions blocked. Already-submitted ones unaffected — sessions control signing, not on-chain execution.

FURTHER READING

Let agents act without letting them run wild.

Deterministic policy on every MCP tool call. Per-identity grants. Full audit log.

Currently onboarding teams running MCP in production.
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