---
title: "Mint a one-time protection-write capability (the CISO grant)"
method: POST
path: "/agents/{agent_id}/protection-capability"
tags: ["Agents"]
---

# Mint a one-time protection-write capability (the CISO grant)

`POST /agents/{agent_id}/protection-capability`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://api.mnemom.ai/v1`
- URL: `https://api.mnemom.ai/v1/agents/{agent_id}/protection-capability`
- Auth: one of:
  - HTTP bearer
  - API key in header `X-Mnemom-Api-Key`
  - API key in cookie `mnemom_session`

Issues a SINGLE-USE, short-lived (15-minute) capability authorizing ONE subsequent protection-card write for the caller + agent. The protection card is the 'locked door' surface, so its write is gated behind an explicit, operator-approved grant rather than a standing one (the alignment card, by contrast, is standing). The caller MUST be a human operator that org-co-manages the agent (ADR-062). A human is recognised by capability, not transport: session, JWT, API-key, and OAuth principals carrying the broad `api:write` user capability (an `mcp:write` grant, e.g. the CLI's `mnemom login`) may mint; an OAuth principal carrying only per-agent resource scopes (`agent:<id>:<action>`) is rejected — an agent can never mint its own protection grant. Idempotent: a re-mint within the window refreshes the single live grant. No token is returned — the capability is a server-side record keyed to the caller; the agent then publishes its protection card via its own connection and the server consumes the live grant on a successful write.

## Path parameters

- `agent_id` string, required

## Response `201`

One-time protection capability minted

- object
  - `minted` boolean, required
  - `agent_id` string, required
  - `action` 'cards:write:protection', required: The action this one-time capability authorizes.
  - `expires_at` string, date-time, required: When the grant lapses if unused (15 minutes from mint).

## Other responses

- `400`: Bad request
- `401`: Authentication required
- `403`: Forbidden — the caller is an agent principal (an OAuth token without the `api:write` user capability; `agent_principal_cannot_mint`), or is not a member of the org that governs the agent.
- `404`: Resource not found
- `429`: Rate-limit exceeded. The global per-IP limiter (100 requests/minute, applied to every `/v1/*` route) rejected this request. Back off until the window resets — `Retry-After` carries the cooldown in seconds and `X-RateLimit-Reset` the absolute reset time.
- `500`: Server error — request was well-formed but the server failed to fulfill it. Typically a downstream dependency (DB / RPC / external API) returned an unexpected error.

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/mnemom/apis/mnemom-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/mnemom/apis/mnemom-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/mnemom/apis/mnemom-api/revisions/274b7a6ea182?raw)