The builder's path
For: Developers can't give a coding agent read-only access to a server or database without approving every command by hand.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
ὁ δὲ ἀνεξέταστος βίος οὐ βιωτὸς ἀνθρώπῳ
Routes to a solution
Each route is a different kind of journey, with real people and organisations to contact at each step, starting with those in every country.
Step 1
Build in the open
Publish the code and invite contributors from the community.
Let the people a free tool helps fund its maintainer directly.
Raise and spend money in the open for a community project.
Grants for open source that makes the internet better.
Network of civic tech groups in many countries; find the one near the problem.
Step 2
Fund the maintainers
Sponsors, collectives and open source grants.
Let the people a free tool helps fund its maintainer directly.
Raise and spend money in the open for a community project.
Grants for open source that makes the internet better.
Network of civic tech groups in many countries; find the one near the problem.
Step 3
Get it adopted
Civic tech groups and public bodies take it up.
Y Combinator's free course and co-founder matching.
Raise and spend money in the open for a community project.
Network of civic tech groups in many countries; find the one near the problem.
Volunteer data scientists working with social-sector organisations.
Ideas, sources and tools for this problem, from first interviews to funding.
how to give a role read-only access to specific tables
example of allow and deny rules for an agent's commands
maintains the Excessive Agency guidance and collects mitigations
Starter prompt
Built from this problem's brief. Paste it into Claude or any AI assistant.
Help me design and build a first working prototype for this problem in Anywhere. Problem: Developers can't give a coding agent read-only access to a server or database without approving every command by hand. Who it hurts: People who use an AI coding agent to read logs, inspect files and query databases on real systems. The moment it hurts: During routine debugging, when the agent asks permission for the tenth repetitive read command in a row. What people do today: People either approve each command, or rely on lists of allowed command names, which an agent can get around with other tools. Why it is still unsolved: Filtering command text is fragile. The safer answer, separate accounts and database roles, takes setup most people skip. What solved looks like: A small, documented setup (script or container image) that gives an agent a shell and a PostgreSQL connection where reads run without prompts and every write is refused by account permissions, not by text matching. Checkable with a test list of 30 commands and queries (15 reads, 15 writes, including tricky ones like find -delete or SELECT ... INTO) where every write fails and every read works. Where: Anywhere First, list what you would need to learn from the people affected before building, as interview questions. Then propose the simplest version that would help, the screens or messages it needs, and the data it would use. Keep it cheap to run, accessible, and respectful of people's privacy. Flag anything you are unsure about instead of guessing.
Talk to the people who live it before you build.
“In the fields of observation chance favours only the prepared mind.”
Dans les champs de l'observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés.
Get a working version in front of people fast.
Using AI is not cheating. Every tool carries the work of the people who made it, and using it well is how knowledge has always moved forward. The thinking, the care for the people who live the problem, and the judgement are still yours.
“The Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves.”
Open data that fits this problem.
“When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it: this is knowledge.”
Tools matched to what this problem needs.
“Act, keeping in view the welfare of the world.”
लोकसंग्रहमेवापि सम्पश्यन्कर्तुमर्हसि
lokasaṅgraham evāpi sampaśyan kartum arhasi
Ship it responsibly, and find help and funding.
“Give me a place to stand, and I will move the earth.”
δός μοι πᾶ στῶ καὶ τὰν γᾶν κινάσω
Kit written for this problem from its brief; every link was checked. Links go to each provider's own site. Zetema is not paid for any listing.