Tooling · Agent infra
Kova
Delegate a task to an agent without handing over the workspace.
A local-first relational workspace, databases and relations and views and workflows, with an agentic task engine on top. Operators own the structure, the credentials, and the grants. Agents get deny-by-default access per database, a bounded selection of rows per dispatch, and credentials they never read. One Go binary against one SQLite file, with a CLI, an MCP server, and a REST API plus embedded viewer over the same engine.
01 · Challenge
Every "connect your agent to your data" product solves discovery and skips authority. The agent gets an API key, a whole database, and generic write access, so a bounded task sits one bad turn away from an unbounded one.
02 · Decision
Split the operator plane from the data plane. A work permission leases a row and closes its claim without granting generic mutation. Credentials live behind stable references the agent never resolves, and Kova resolves the real value immediately before each delivery, so rotating a secret changes nothing downstream and revoking one stops the next attempt. A context reference names exactly which rows travel with a dispatch, instead of shipping the workspace.
03 · Outcome
Agents either pull work under a scoped identity or get woken by a signed dispatch that settles only when the agent’s own token and a per-dispatch callback token both agree, so intercepting the payload is not enough to close the task. Every delegated run leaves an audit record. Currently at v0.14, not yet launched. Naming note worth keeping straight: the original Kova was a local-first company brain that became Pact in 2026. Kova today is the task database.