Glossary entry

Grant state

Definition

The current status of a system's recorded permission to act, drawn from a closed set: allowed, review_required, suspended, or revoked. Every action is checked against the state in force at the time it is taken, and every transition is recorded with its cause.

It matters because states are what triggers can move. Without an explicit grant state there is nothing for a review trigger to change, and monitoring stays decorative rather than governing.

Structural

Tests that show it is in place

  • The set of legal states and the legal transitions between them are declared, not implied.
  • Every transition record names the trigger, the actor, and the timestamp.
  • Replaying the state history reproduces the authorization status at any past moment.

Evidence to keep

  • Artifact: A state machine definition for grants, with legal transitions and their triggers.
  • Behavior: A grant moving to review_required automatically when a dependency lapses.
  • Metric: Share of state transitions with a recorded cause, and median dwell time in review_required.

Related terms

Continuity of state Safe pause / status quo during pendency Justified delegation Bounded autonomy Earned autonomy Proxy privilege Policy record

References

Cite this glossary entry · v1.17.1 · updated Oct 6, 2026 · CC BY-SA 4.0

APA

Ethotechnics Institute. (2026). Grant state. Ethotechnics glossary. https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/grant-state

MLA

Ethotechnics Institute. "Grant state." Ethotechnics glossary, 2026, https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/grant-state.

Chicago

Ethotechnics Institute. "Grant state." Ethotechnics glossary. Oct 6, 2026. https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/grant-state.

BibTeX

@misc{glossary_grant-state,
  title={Grant state},
  author={Ethotechnics Institute},
  year={2026},
  howpublished={Ethotechnics glossary},
  url={https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/grant-state},
  version={v1.17.1}
}

RIS

TY  - WEB
TI  - Grant state
AU  - Ethotechnics Institute
PY  - 2026
UR  - https://ethotechnics.org/glossary/grant-state
ER  -

Authorship

Contact: hello@ethotechnics.org

Publication details

  • Published: Dec 3, 2025
  • Last updated: Oct 6, 2026
  • Version: v1.17.1

License: CC BY-SA 4.0

Credit Ethotechnics Institute, include the term title and version, and link to the glossary permalink.

Archive: Wayback Machine history

Latest change

v1.17.1 · Oct 6, 2026 — Editorial revision. Titles are in sentence case. Pasted spec blocks are replaced with prose and worked examples, 79 operational tests are rewritten as pass conditions, 22 origin notes are rewritten or sourced, and unsourced superlatives are cut. No terms were added or removed, and permalinks are unchanged.

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