Overview
How might we design granular consent so people can trust and act on AI output?
When this pattern fits
- Essential for AI assistants, enterprise agents, and connector ecosystems where least-privilege permissions reduce risk and let users tailor scope to the specific task without losing the rest of the integration.
When to skip or lighten it
- Tiny prototypes with a single harmless capability where toggles add clutter.
- Environments that only support coarse OAuth scopes and cannot honor fine toggles.
- One-shot local tools with no persisted permissions.
States
State model coming soon
Key UX elements
Key UX elements coming soon
Anti-patterns to avoid
A single “Allow all” default that collapses granularity.
Toggles that look independent but still require re-auth of everything on change.
No plain-language description of what each capability can do.
Hiding previously granted scopes so users cannot audit them later.
How products use it
| Product | Implementation |
|---|---|
| GitHub Apps | Fine-grained repository and permission scopes at install time. |
| Google Workspace add-ons | Per-API scopes rather than blanket account access. |
| iOS / macOS privacy panes | Per-capability access to photos, mic, and screen recording. |
| ChatGPT / Claude connectors | Connector permissions broken into discrete actions where platforms allow. |
Real-world examples
How shipped products implement granular consent, from our teardown guides.
Implementation
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Generate a production-ready implementation of the "Granular Consent" AI interface design pattern.
Pattern Definition:Frequently asked questions
What is granular consent for AI agents?
Granular consent lets users grant or revoke individual agent capabilities instead of one bundled allow-all permission, matching least-privilege security to how people think about risk.
How does granular consent relate to scope disclosure?
Scope disclosure explains what the agent can reach in plain language. Granular consent is the control surface to change those capabilities. Strong agent UX needs both explanation and toggles.
Why avoid bundled agent permissions?
Bundled grants over-authorize “just in case,” expand blast radius on mistakes or compromise, and make revoke all-or-nothing. Per-capability toggles keep access tied to the current task.