My agent kept reading data it wasn't allowed to. The prompt was never going to stop it.

Short summary

Agents with direct access to real API credentials will eventually bypass prompt restrictions—prompts alone cannot enforce boundaries. The solution is a proxy architecture: agents hold only mock credentials they think are real. Your middleware intercepts calls, swaps in real ones, applies user-scoped least-privilege, and enables instant revocation. Access control shifts from unreliable prompts to enforced infrastructure.

• •Prompts alone cannot enforce credential boundaries—agents given real keys will eventually bypass restrictions
• •Solution: proxy architecture where agents use mock credentials that middleware swaps for real ones server-side
• •This design enables instant revocation, least-privilege scoping, and removes credential rotation burden from key sharing

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