For AI | Agentic use cases
Agent-to-agent reporting workflows
Agent-to-agent workflows need authorization that survives the handoff
Multi-agent workflows often involve one agent delegating work to another. A Reporting Agent may receive a request, call a BigQuery Agent to retrieve data, then use that result to generate a report.
The risk is permission expansion. A downstream agent may have access to far more data or systems than the original requester or upstream agent. If the downstream decision is based only on the acting agent’s own identity, the original requester’s limits can disappear as soon as the handoff occurs.
When agents delegate work, authorization has to travel with the work.
Where access gets tricky
magine a Reporting Agent asks a BigQuery Agent for forecast data.
The BigQuery Agent may have access to many datasets, while the person who requested the report may be authorized for only a subset. The downstream request therefore has to preserve the original requester, the upstream agent, the delegated task and the intended destination.
Policy needs to answer:
- Who originally requested the work?
- Which agent delegated the task?
- Which downstream agent is acting?
- What data is actually required?
- Is the requested action still within scope?
- Where is the result allowed to go?
Example actions and policies
| Example | Action | Example policy |
|---|---|---|
| Reporting → BigQuery | Reporting Agent requests forecast data | Allow only if the original requester, Reporting Agent and BigQuery Agent are all authorized for the requested dataset |
| Reporting → BigQuery | BigQuery Agent queries the approved data | Limit the query to the tables, fields or rows required for the reporting task |
| Reporting → BigQuery | BigQuery Agent attempts to query another dataset | Deny because it falls outside the original request |
| BigQuery → Storage | Agent writes the result to storage | Allow only to an approved location associated with the workflow |
| BigQuery → Storage | Agent writes the entire source dataset when only a summary is required | Restrict or deny the broader output |
| Reading Agent | Retrieves the generated output | Allow only if the original requester remains authorized to receive it |
| Any downstream agent | Attempts an unrelated or destructive action | Deny unless separately authorized |
Example policy
Originator: Revenue leader requesting a forecast report
Upstream agent: Reporting Agent
Downstream agent: BigQuery Agent
Request: Retrieve Q4 North America forecast data
Allow only when:
- The requester is authorized for the forecast data
- The Reporting Agent is approved to create this type of report
- The Reporting Agent is allowed to delegate data retrieval to the BigQuery Agent
- The BigQuery Agent is approved for the requested dataset
- The query is limited to the data required for the report
- The result is written only to an approved destination
Otherwise, deny the downstream request.
How enforcement works
The user starts by requesting a report, and the Reporting Agent receives the task with the original requester and purpose preserved. When the Reporting Agent delegates part of the work to a downstream agent, such as a BigQuery Agent, P0 carries that context forward rather than treating the downstream agent as a new, independent requester.
The downstream action is evaluated across the full delegation chain: the original requester, upstream agent, downstream agent, requested dataset, action and intended destination. Policy determines whether the delegation itself is allowed and whether the downstream agent is authorized to access the specific data required for the task.
If approved, access is scoped only to the necessary dataset, tables, fields or rows. The downstream agent can retrieve or write only the authorized result, which is then returned to the reporting workflow and used to generate the final output.
Once the task is complete, temporary delegated access expires. The full chain remains recorded from the original requester through each agent handoff, data access decision and final report destination.
P0 keeps authorization intact across every handoff
P0 preserves the original requester, upstream agent, downstream agent and delegated task as work moves through the chain. Each downstream action is evaluated against that full context, so broader agent permissions cannot silently expand what the original request was allowed to reach.
Access stays scoped to the approved data, action and destination, temporary delegated privilege expires when the task is complete and the entire chain remains attributable for audit.