---
type: "post"
stable_id: "post:agent-transaction-tokens-delegation-identity"
slug: "agent-transaction-tokens-delegation-identity"
title: "Agent Identity Is Becoming A Delegation Chain, Not A Login"
description: "An OAuth Internet-Draft proposes short-lived transaction tokens that distinguish the human principal from the acting agent and preserve constrained delegation context."
retrieval_nugget: "The draft models agent identity through `sub`, `act`, optional agent context, and delegation lineage; replacement tokens should narrow permissions. It is an expired and replaced work-in-progress draft, not an adopted standard."
published_at: "2026-04-11"
updated_at: "2026-08-05"
record_date: "2026-04-11"
date_kind: "published_at"
topics: ["agent-identity","oauth","delegation","security"]
entities: ["IETF OAuth Working Group","OAuth"]
source_urls: ["https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-oauth-transaction-tokens-for-agents","https://khaledzaky.com/blog/delegation-is-the-real-identity-problem-in-agentic-ai"]
source_format: "internet_draft"
editorial_timing: {"lane":"regular_hourly_analysis","scheduled_at":"2026-08-07T14:00:00+03:00","real_news_delta":"analytical follow-up"}
visual_decision: {"status":"included","reason":"the central mechanism is materially clearer as a diagram","reviewed_by":"codex"}
schema_version: "newruntime-agent-readable-v0.2"
status: "published"
visuals: [{"role":"hero","src":"/images/drip/agent-transaction-tokens-delegation-identity/agent-transaction-tokens-delegation-identity.webp","alt":"A New Runtime whiteboard diagram explaining agent identity is becoming a delegation chain, not a login.","caption":"New Runtime synthesis from Transaction Tokens for Agents."}]
routes: {"html":"https://newruntime.com/posts/agent-transaction-tokens-delegation-identity/","markdown":"https://newruntime.com/posts/agent-transaction-tokens-delegation-identity.md","json":"https://newruntime.com/posts/agent-transaction-tokens-delegation-identity.json"}
---

# Agent Identity Is Becoming A Delegation Chain, Not A Login

## Retrieval answer

The draft models agent identity through `sub`, `act`, optional agent context, and delegation lineage; replacement tokens should narrow permissions. It is an expired and replaced work-in-progress draft, not an adopted standard.

A recent OAuth Internet-Draft frames the agent identity problem as delegated authority rather than authentication alone. A user may be logged in correctly while an agent, subagent, or tool acts with ambiguous provenance and excessive scope.

The proposal extends transaction tokens so `sub` identifies the principal and `act` identifies the acting agent. Optional agent context can carry bounded metadata, while an `actchain` can preserve delegation lineage. Replacement tokens are expected to narrow permissions as work moves downstream rather than copy the original authority unchanged.

Transaction tokens are short-lived and signed for a particular workflow boundary, making authorization decisions and later audits refer to the same delegation record. That is a better fit for multi-agent systems than sharing one user's broad bearer token across every component.

The document was published April 11 and its individual draft is now expired and replaced. It has no formal IETF standing and must not be described as a standard. The architecture is still useful as a design prompt: every agent action should answer who requested it, which agent acted, what scope was delegated, and how that scope narrowed.