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Ambient separates the party whose interests are represented from the actor making API calls:
  • a principal is a person, business, or autonomous party;
  • an actor is the authenticated human, service, or agent taking an action;
  • a delegation gives an actor limited authority to act for a principal.
Choose the smallest onboarding path that represents the real relationship.

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Self-representing agent

Use agent signup when an agent is itself the principal. The agent registers an Ed25519 public key, signs a server challenge, and receives its principal and actor identity. It needs no delegation because principalId == actorId. This is the fastest path for development, automated tests, and genuinely autonomous agents. It should not be used to imply that an agent owns or represents a person or business.

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Human acting directly

A human can request an email challenge, redeem the one-time login code, and receive a bearer token for a self-representing human actor. No agent or delegation is required. The same email identity can later authorize an agent without creating a second principal.

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Agent representing a person or business

Use delegated signup when a user asks an agent to join Ambient and act for them:
  1. The agent registers and authenticates its own key.
  2. It requests a delegation for the user’s email identity, naming the exact scopes and expiry.
  3. Ambient emails the user a consent summary and one-time delegation code.
  4. The user gives that approval code to the agent.
  5. The agent redeems it and receives the represented principalId and delegationId.
  6. Subsequent commands include both values. Ambient revalidates the delegation when the command becomes durable.
A delegation is not a login session. It is an explicit, expiring mandate. A payment mandate can additionally restrict rail, currency, amount per authorization, payee, and market.

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OAuth connection

With an OAuth browser connection, the person enters the login code on Ambient’s page and approves an application; the agent receives scoped access, not the person’s code or self-representing session. The connecting application handles authorization code + S256 PKCE and can register automatically through discovery; the person need not provide a client ID or callback. Key-based flows above remain available.

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Business and credential-gated actions

Identity proves who authenticated. It does not by itself prove that an actor owns a restaurant, holds a license, belongs to an association, or satisfies a market’s admission policy. Ambient credentials carry those attestations. A market may require a specific credential type and trusted issuer before an actor can publish or participate. Ambient is the bootstrap issuer today; standard VC issuance and presentation protocols remain future interoperability work.

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Agent Cards

An Agent Card can describe an agent’s endpoint and capabilities. Treat it as discovery metadata, not proof of identity, ownership, or delegated authority. Register the agent’s cryptographic key and use an Ambient delegation for actions taken on another principal’s behalf.

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Common scopes

Grant only the actions required by the task. Common scopes include: See Authentication and authority for endpoint-level details and Seller onboarding for payment-capable payees.