Glossary
Write intent
A typed proposal to change a record. Agents and Decide may produce one; only Govern turns it into an allow.
Read the termGlossary · Term 03 of 39
Allow
An allow is elan1 Govern's decision that a proposed write may happen. Only elan1 Govern can produce one; a model, an agent or elan1 Decide never does. An allow is reached by climbing the Right Path, from identity and pre-gates to rules, a guardrail, an autonomy check and, where required, a named approver.
In one sentence: Govern's decision that a write may happen. Only elan1 Govern produces one; a model never does.
01In more detail
What it means in practice
An allow is the end of a climb, not a single check. The write intent passes STOP, IDENTITY and the WRITE DOOR, the nine pre-gates, evaluate() with versioned rules, the blast-radius guardrail and the autonomy check. Where the autonomy level asks for it, a named person who is not the asker says yes.
No model sits on the allow path. A model may draft the change; Decide may propose the answer; a Run guard verdict may be an input. None of them is the allow. If Decide and Govern disagree, Govern wins.
02Where this shows up in elan1
Rungs 0b to 6 of the Right Path in elan1 Govern; every allowed write ends in a proof record.
04Questions
Allow: common questions
No. A model may draft a change or produce a write intent, but only elan1 Govern produces an allow, after the write climbs the Right Path. No model sits on the allow path, so no model can approve its own change.
Govern wins. elan1 Decide may propose an answer, and that answer is an input to the write intent, but only elan1 Govern decides whether the write may happen. If Govern refuses, the write does not happen and the refusal is recorded.
Defined in the elan1 glossary · Last reviewed 10 Oct 2026. Definitions change only with a dated note.
// SEE IT
See the term in a governed action.
The walkthrough follows one write from intent to proof record, using the words in this glossary.