---
name: guard-inference
description: 'Finds and evidences the guards that gate surfaces and transitions (permissions, roles, feature flags, auth and data states) and how each is satisfied, never inventing protection the code does not enforce. Use when modeling is done, beside transition-tracing.'
metadata:
  model_tier: reasoning
  cacheable: 'false'
  output_format: json
  paqad-meta: skill.meta.yaml
---

## What It Does

Adds the access-control layer: the guards that decide who may reach a surface or take a
transition, and the `satisfy_via` that says how a guard is met. Runs in parallel with
`transition-tracing` over the same modeled surfaces. A guard is recorded only where the code
enforces it: an inferred guard the code does not check is a false sense of security.

## Use This When

After modeling, alongside `transition-tracing`. It only adds guards and their
satisfaction; edges are the other skill's job.

## Inputs

- The modeled surfaces and traced transitions.
- The enforcement points in the code: middleware, decorators, route metadata, policy checks,
  feature-flag reads.
- Read `references/guard-evidence.md` before recording a guard.

## Procedure

The graph's guard-coverage analysis is the engine's; your job is to propose evidenced guards.

1. For each surface, area, and transition, find the enforcement that gates it: a middleware, a
   decorator, a policy, a flag read.
2. Record the guard's kind (`permission | role | feature-flag | auth-state | data-state |
capability | environment`), what it requires, and its `satisfy_via`, each with a `file:line`.
3. Re-run `paqad-ai sitemap run` so its guard-coverage analysis flags backstage surfaces left
   guard-less.

## Output Contract

- A JSON object `{ guards: [{ id, kind, requires, satisfy_via, evidence }], applied: [{ surface_or_edge, guard }] }`.
- Every guard carries a resolving `file:line` that shows the enforcement.
- Every `satisfy_via` names how the guard is met (an actor, a role, a flag variant).

## Escalate / Stop Conditions

- Do not record a guard the code does not enforce. An intended-but-unchecked guard is a finding
  about missing enforcement, not a guard on the map.
- Flag a backstage surface with no guard rather than assuming an inherited one that is not
  evidenced.
- Never expose a secret or credential value in guard evidence: cite the `file:line` and the
  enforcement, not the secret's bytes.

## Resources

- `references/guard-evidence.md`
- `agents/openai.yaml`