---
title: "Check the authority a request requires."
description: "RAIFFA supports the decision without making it. It lays options side by side with their assumptions and keeps a record of who approved what, on what basis."
updated: "30 August 2026"
availability: "PUBLIC DEMO FLOW · TEST_ONLY · AUTHORITY NONE"
candidate_route: "/docs/raiffa/overview"
---

# Check the authority a request requires.

RAIFFA supports the decision without making it. It lays options side by side with their assumptions and keeps a record of who approved what, on what basis.

**PUBLIC DEMO FLOW · TEST_ONLY · AUTHORITY NONE:** The public GET response returns precomputed authority requirement checks · no real login, organizational authority, or external execution

## Block a request with missing authority requirements.

Check identity, session, and policy binding in a server-issued test request, then stop before evaluation when the binding is missing.

**FIXED BLOCKED CASE:** PUBLIC DEMO FLOW

### Input

REQUEST / FIXTURE

- **DecisionCaseRef:** opaque / present — server-issued descriptor
- **Policy profile:** owner-held / pinned
- **Actor-session binding:** MISSING

### Verify

INTEGRITY / EXACT BINDING

- **Candidate integrity:** PINNED
- **Owner policy plan:** VERIFIED
- **Exact mapping:** NOT FOUND

### Result

FAIL CLOSED / RECEIPT

- **Status:** BLOCKED_CONTRACT
- **Authorization:** false
- **External effects:** 0 — No dispatch, release, or write

> **Product boundary:** AUTHORITY NONE — No eligibility or execution authority is invented.

- [Quickstart](/docs/raiffa/getting-started)
- [Open example](/docs/raiffa/examples/sandbox-authorization)
- [Gate reference](/docs/raiffa/reference/eligibility-gate)

## Check the authority requirements for a request

RAIFFA checks the human approval and authority basis for a request. Evidence or decision conditions alone do not create authority.

## Separate request, approval, and execution

1. **Fix the requested action** — Identify subject, purpose, scope, expected impact, and stopping conditions.
2. **Verify authority and prerequisites** — Confirm role, validity period, limits, and required prior review.
3. **Record the human response** — Approval, rejection, hold, or request for more evidence must be explicit.
4. **Keep any future execution separate** — The current local validation does not transmit actions. If an operational connection is later provided under separate terms and verification, retain the authority-check record and actual execution outcome as separate events.

## An authority record must precede action

A button state or job title is not sufficient authority. Request, approval, execution, and outcome remain separate events, each bound to a policy basis and validity period.

- Requester, approver, and actual execution actor
- Authority derived from a role, policy, or executed agreement
- Permitted subject, purpose, action scope, and impact limit
- Approval start, expiry, conditions, and revocation state
- Execution outcome, failure state, and follow-up evidence coordinates

> **Separation of responsibility:** The fact that an action was approved is not the same event as proof that it was executed.

## Record a blocking reason when requirements are not met

RAIFFA stops the request when authority or a safe execution path cannot be verified. It records the reason and the conditions required for another review.

- No valid approver or governing role
- Expired, revoked, or materially changed approval
- Requested scope no longer matches approved scope
- No permitted execution path or accountable actor
- Execution outcome or audit evidence cannot be verified

## The public execution checks authority requirements only

RAIFFA validates authority requirements and blocking behavior with fixed synthetic data in the public GET flow and local tests. It does not provide organizational authority, external execution, or autonomous execution rights.

---

Published route: /docs/raiffa/overview