---
title: "Policy Builder"
slug: "policy-builder"
status: "update"
updated: 2026-07-19T13:00:30Z
published: 2026-07-19T13:00:30Z
canonical: "docs.plainid.io/policy-builder"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.plainid.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Policy Builder

The **Policy Builder** is where Authorization intent becomes an enforceable **Policy**. Instead of requiring knowledge of a policy language or abstract access rules, the Policy Builder is designed around the agentic ecosystem itself, including users, **Agents**, tools, and data, as they exist in your **Environment**.

The experience is **visual, composable, and aligned with how AI systems operate**.


## Using the Policy Builder

Understanding OPA, Rego, or any underlying **Policy** syntax is not required. The **PlainID Authorization Platform** manages that complexity. You work with a purpose-built data model that reflects real-world AI workflows and enables intuitive access decision modeling.

### Visual and AI-Assisted Policies

The Policy Builder supports two complementary approaches for defining **Policies**, and you can switch between them at any time:

* **Structured visual modeling** using drag and drop components on the canvas.
* **AI-assisted authoring** using natural language to describe what you want to allow. See the [AI Policy Assistant](/v1/docs/policy-builder#ai-policy-assistant) section for more information.

Both approaches generate the same underlying **Policy** model. You can move between AI-assisted and visual policy creation without being restricted to a single method.

At every stage, the AI assistant can help you add components, clarify intent, or complete missing elements in the model. When you request additions such as Identities, **Agents**, or controls, the canvas updates immediately.


### Policy Structure

**Policies** are built from the top down, following the natural flow of an AI interaction:

* **Identities**: Who or what initiates the request
* **Agents**: Which AI **Agents** can be invoked
* **Controls and Guardrails**: What data, tools, constraints, or conditions apply
* **Conditions:**  What access is allowed or restricted based on environmental parameters


Each **Policy** defines:

* **Who**: A combination of **Identities** and **Agents**.
* **What**: The Actions, tools, or **Assets** that are allowed.
* **When**: When the **Who** and **What** have access.


### Policy Validity and Enforcement

To ensure that a **Policy** is meaningful and enforceable, it must include at least one of the following:
* **Identity**
* **Agent**
* **Control or Guardrail**, such as MCP controls, RAG controls, Asset Types, input guardrails, or output guardrails

A **Policy** that defines WHO without defining WHAT is not valid. Similarly, access to tools or data cannot be granted without clearly specifying which **Identities** and **Agents** the access applies to.

This structure ensures that every **Policy** represents a complete, least privileged Authorization decision.



## AI Policy Assistant

Each section of the Policy Builder includes an **AI Policy Assistant**. It is an embedded chat interface designed to help you efficiently build and refine Authorization **Policies**.

The AI Policy Assistant serves two primary purposes:

* **Contextual guidance and knowledge access**
  The assistant is aware of:

  * Available MCP tools
  * Supported **Policy** components and guardrails
  * Relevant **Policy** metadata and constraints
    This enables accurate, context-aware recommendations

* **Policy authoring and risk-aware creation**
  The assistant helps construct **Policies** directly within the MCP context, with attention to:

  * Appropriate guardrails and constraints for sensitive access scenarios
  * Best practices for structuring **Identities**, resources, **Actions**, and Conditions



### Using the AI Policy Assistant

1. Click a **Policy** component, such as **Identities**, **Resources**, or a **Guardrail**. The configuration panel opens.
2. In the upper corner of the panel, click the **AI Assistant** icon.
3. The AI Policy Assistant chat opens and is automatically scoped to the selected component.

This allows you to ask the assistant to generate or refine **Policy** logic for specific components, request explanations of how a component behaves, and iteratively build **Policies** using natural language.

In the following sections, you will explore each building block in detail, beginning with **Identities** and **Agents**, which together define who is permitted to initiate AI interactions in your **Application**.

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