API Security

Executive Summary

API Security defines the security architecture expectations for Algosure APIs. All APIs must be secure-by-design, multi-tenant by design, auditable, and aligned to Identity, Organization, Billing, and Administration ownership.

Why This Exists

Algosure APIs handle procurement, compliance, documents, bids, contracts, funding, payments, analytics, and AIOS workflows. API boundaries must enforce authentication, authorization, tenant context, organization context, role and permission checks, entitlement checks, and audit.

Owner

The owner is the Chief Product Officer and Enterprise Architect.

Business Value

Strong API security protects customer data, prevents cross-tenant access, supports compliance, and creates trust in AI-assisted workflows.

Security Flow

flowchart LR
    Client[API Consumer]
    Authn[Authentication]
    Tenant[Tenant and Organization Context]
    Authz[Authorization]
    Roles[Role and Permission Checks]
    Entitlements[Entitlement Checks]
    API[Domain-Owned API]
    Audit[Audit Trail]

    Client --> Authn
    Authn --> Tenant
    Tenant --> Authz
    Authz --> Roles
    Roles --> Entitlements
    Entitlements --> API
    API --> Audit

Security Responsibilities

Concern	Owning Area
Authentication interpretation	Identity.
Membership, roles, permissions	Identity.
Tenant and organization context	Organization with Identity enforcement.
Entitlements, limits, subscription access	Billing.
Platform policy and feature flags	Administration.
Domain-specific authorization	Owning Domain.
Audit evidence	Owning Domain with security and audit governance.

API Security Rules

Rule	Requirement
Authenticate before business work	APIs must establish caller identity before material processing.
Validate tenant context	Tenant context must be verified and must not be trusted from client claims alone.
Validate organization context	Organization-scoped APIs require organization membership and access checks.
Enforce authorization	Access is based on roles, permissions, policies, ownership, workflow state, and approval rules.
Check entitlements	Plan, subscription, feature, and limit checks must happen before entitlement-controlled behavior.
Audit material actions	Commands, approvals, AIOS tool calls, integration calls, and sensitive reads require audit evidence.
Separate integration credentials	Integration API credentials must not be treated like user-session credentials.
Least privilege by default	APIs expose only what the caller is authorized and entitled to access.

AIOS Tool Call Security

AIOS tool calls must use governed internal APIs, not direct repository or database access.

Rule	Meaning
AIOS receives scoped access	Tool calls receive only the tenant, organization, Domain, and task scope needed.
AIOS does not bypass authorization	AI tool access follows the same or stricter authorization and policy controls as human access.
AIOS writes through application services	AIOS outputs become state only through owning Domain APIs or application services.
AIOS actions are auditable	Tool calls, context access, generated outputs, and approvals are traceable.

Non-Implementation Boundary

This document does not define identity provider selection, OAuth scopes, token format, RBAC schema, policy engine implementation, or security middleware code.