Control access during agent runs

Choose how much native access an attended Session may request, then cap attended and autonomous work for each Machine. Cogno applies the more restrictive setting whenever a Session choice and a Machine maximum differ.

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Choose access for attended Sessions

Use the shield menu beside the composer to choose the Session access level. On first use, a Session starts with Auto unless the Machine maximum is lower. After you choose another level, Cogno remembers that choice for the same Machine in this browser. If the Machine maximum is lower the next time you open a Session, Cogno starts at the maximum instead of restoring a higher choice.

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Change access while the agent works

On an updated Engine, choose another access level from the composer while the agent works. Cogno saves your choice for the same Session. Some Claude Code changes take effect for subsequent tool requests without restarting work. When an attended conversation needs different process settings, including Codex changes and changes to or from Full access, Engine interrupts the current turn and continues the same conversation with your new choice. It uses any messages already waiting; otherwise it adds a continuation instruction. Running tools may be interrupted, and their unanswered approval cards are cancelled. Engine does not resend the original work request. Read-only turns and work started autonomously keep their existing execution constraints. Their saved choice applies to an eligible later turn. Changing Session access also updates messages already waiting in that Session’s queue. Those messages use the new choice when they run, within the Machine maximum. The Machine maximum continues to limit your choice. On an older Engine, changing access during a running turn stays unavailable; update Engine to use this control. On mobile, reopen the access menu after updating Engine. Opening it refreshes the available access controls without changing your selected level.

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Decide an approval in the conversation

When an action in a Session you started needs approval, its permission card stays pending until you choose Approve or Decline. The requested call waits for your decision. It does not return an unapproved result that lets the agent skip ahead, and the agent cannot approve that waiting card itself. Auto is a Session access level. A conversation you run on your Machine uses this same card wait at Auto when an action needs approval. Choosing Auto does not start autonomous work. The card has no timeout. Sending another message, reconnecting, or trimming older conversation history does not answer it. Stopping the turn, withdrawing the requested call, or restarting Engine cancels the pending request explicitly. For autonomous work, Cogno can ask in the source conversation and continue independent work while that request awaits your answer. This still does not allow the requested action without approval. For a local Task Session you started, if you answer a card after its original call has returned, Engine saves your decision before accepting it. If the Session is still being registered or its current turn is not ready to receive the notification, Engine keeps that same-Session notification across restarts and retries automatically when it can be delivered. A saved decision does not by itself confirm that the agent has received the notification. This recovery does not resume a cancelled native request or override a refusal to continue the Session.

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Set access limits for a Machine

If Cogno cannot save a setting, the page keeps the error visible and offers Try again.

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Confirm Full access once per Machine

The first time you choose Full access for a Machine in this browser, review and accept the warning. Cogno remembers the confirmation for that Machine, so changing a Session or Machine setting to Full access later does not open the same dialog again. Clearing browser storage or enrolling the computer as a new Machine removes the remembered confirmation. Cogno then asks again the next time you choose Full access. Full access requires Engine protocol 3 or later. On an older Engine, the option is disabled and the Machine settings explain that Engine must be updated.

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Understand what can stop tool access

Cogno checks tool access against the current Workspace, Project, Machine, and run. A token issued earlier does not preserve access after those relationships change. Tool access also depends on the member’s current permission for the requested operation. A tool’s presence in the catalog is not permission to execute it. External integrations still require their own connection and provider permission checks.

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Discover available Project sources

Source discovery separates connections even when they contain the same resource ID. It returns only selected targets still present in that connection’s current catalog. Personal connections are visible only to the trusted actor who owns them; without an actor, discovery returns shared connections only. Discovery does not replace the permission check performed when a tool reads the source.

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Keep the execution components updated

Queue claims and attended-run token requests require an explicit execution-policy acknowledgement. A Machine running an older Engine receives execution_policy_upgrade_required before a new queue run is claimed or a token is issued. Update the execution components together with the web and desktop application; do not disable the access checks to restore compatibility.

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Retry within the correct run

Attended writes require an execution-turn identity supplied by Engine. Read-only access can precede Session registration, but the absence of that turn identity does not authorize a write. A later explicit turn has a different identity even if the transport restarts its request numbering. Queue retries retain the same logical work identity. A new request identifier is not a new permission and does not make a previously uncertain external result safe to resend.

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Related docs

• Run an agent on a Task
• Set up Machines
• Work with Projects
• Troubleshooting