---
title: "KYE™ Autonomy Tiers™ — A0/A1/A2/A3 · KYE Protocol™"
description: "KYE™ Autonomy Tiers™ — a 4-tier ladder (A0 Human-only / A1 Assist / A2 Scoped delegation / A3 Autonomous with Authority Finality™). Sharpens EC-Council ADG's HITL/HOTL/HOOTL ladder by naming the runtime-control floor at each step. Each tier names the KAC controls and the evidence schemas that must be operating."
url: https://kyeprotocol.com/autonomy-tiers/
lang: en
source: "KYE Protocol"
---

> KYE™ Autonomy Tiers™ — a 4-tier ladder (A0 Human-only / A1 Assist / A2 Scoped delegation / A3 Autonomous with Authority Finality™). Sharpens EC-Council ADG's HITL/HOTL/HOOTL ladder by naming the runtime-control floor at each step. Each tier names the KAC controls and the evidence schemas that must be operating.

KYE™ Autonomy Tiers™

# Four KYE™ Autonomy Tiers™. One runtime-control floor at each step.

EC-Council ADG names three autonomy tiers (HITL / HOTL / HOOTL). KYE™ Autonomy Tiers™ compresses those into a sharper four-tier ladder so the runtime-control floor at each step is unambiguous: A0 Human-only · A1 Assist · A2 Scoped delegation · A3 Autonomous with Authority Finality™. Each tier names the KAC™ controls and the evidence schemas that MUST be operating for an action to be admissible at that tier. The canonical set lives at `public/examples/autonomy-tiers/canonical-tiers.json`.

See the ladder Per-tier control matrix [KAC™-1..KAC™-12](https://kyeprotocol.com/authority-controls/)

The ladder

## A0 → A1 → A2 → A3 — sequenced, not parallel.

Each rung declares the runtime-control floor that must be operating for an action to be admissible at that tier. Authorised actions climb; refused or de-escalated actions slide back down.

Per-tier control matrix

## Which controls must be operating at which tier.

Twelve controls, four tiers. The runtime checks the row for your declared tier and denies any action whose control is not operating.

| Control | A0 | A1 | A2 | A3 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| KAC™-1 Entity Registry | — | required | required | required |
| KAC™-2 Delegation Envelope™ | — | — | required | required |
| KAC™-3 Chain of Authority Map | — | — | — | required |
| KAC™-4 Tool & MCP Authority Register | — | — | required | required |
| KAC™-5 Action Admissibility™ Gate | — | — | required | required |
| KAC™-6 Runtime Policy Resolution | — | — | required | required |
| KAC™-7 Evidence Capture at T=0 | — | — | required | required |
| KAC™-8 Replay Proof | — | — | required | required |
| KAC™-9 Authority Finality™ Record | — | — | — | required (A3 floor) |
| KAC™-10 Revocation and Expiry Control | — | — | required | required |
| KAC™-11 Human Oversight and Escalation | — | — | required | required |
| KAC™-12 KYE™ Seal™ — Assurance Record | — | — | required | required |

ADG mapping

## HITL / HOTL / HOOTL ↔ A0 / A1 / A2 / A3

An operator who already uses the ADG oversight vocabulary maps it onto the ladder without re-classifying a single agent.

- **HITL ↔ A1 / lower-A2.** Human-in-the-loop on every decision. KYE™ optional at A1; KYE™ required from A2 upward.
- **HOTL ↔ upper-A2.** Human-on-the-loop — approver on-call for critical-point reviews. KAC™-11 is the runtime gate that lifts the right action at the right moment.
- **HOOTL ↔ A3.** Human-out-of-the-loop except for declared exceptions. Authority Finality™ (KAC™-9) is the A3 floor — the action's chain is provably terminal before the supervisor learns it happened.

## Pick the tier. The control floor follows.

An agent deployment declares its tier; the runtime refuses to admit any action that requires a control the tier does not have. Honest by construction.

[KYE™ Minimum Authority Controls™ →](https://kyeprotocol.com/authority-controls/) [ADG ↔ KYE™ crosswalk](https://kyeprotocol.com/adg-crosswalk/) [Tool & MCP Register](https://kyeprotocol.com/tool-mcp-authority-register/)

Canonical KYE™ surfaces referenced on this page: [KYE Protocol™](https://kyeprotocol.com/).