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Governance by Default

Reviewed 19 July 2026 Canonical definition Part of: Agent Reliability & Deployment Terms →

Governance by default is the design principle that AI agents are governed from the moment they are created, rather than having governance added retrospectively. It means every new agent is automatically enrolled in the identity, policy, and audit systems, no opt-in required, no exceptions for early-stage or experimental deployments.

§01 / QUESTIONSterm: Governance by Default
Questions

Common questions.

What is Governance by Default?

Governance by default is the design principle that AI agents are governed from the moment they are created, rather than having governance added retrospectively.

How is Governance by Default used in production?

It means every new agent is automatically enrolled in the identity, policy, and audit systems, no opt-in required, no exceptions for early-stage or experimental deployments.

Which terms are related to Governance by Default?

Closely related concepts include Enterprise AI Strategy, Agent CI/CD, Agent Deployment, Agent Discovery. Each is defined in the Prefactor glossary.

§02 / RELATEDnext: where this fits

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