> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://govplane.gitbook.io/docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://govplane.gitbook.io/docs/documentation/schemas/policy-bundle.md).

# Policy Bundle

`RuntimeBundleV1` — the document the SDK loads and evaluates.

### Top level

| Field           | Type              | Required | Notes                                          |
| --------------- | ----------------- | -------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| `schemaVersion` | `1`               | ✅        | Integer. Any other value is rejected.          |
| `env`           | `string`          | ✅        | `prod` \| `staging` \| `dev` \| `test`         |
| `policies`      | `RuntimePolicy[]` | ✅        | May be empty                                   |
| `orgId`         | `string`          | —        | Required for Cloud bundles, optional for local |
| `projectId`     | `string`          | —        | Required for Cloud bundles, optional for local |
| `generatedAt`   | `string`          | —        | ISO-8601                                       |
| `bundleVersion` | `number`          | —        | Revision counter, whole number ≥ 1             |
| `checksum`      | `string`          | —        | `sha256:<64 hex>` over the canonical payload   |
| `etag`          | `string`          | —        | Delivery metadata                              |
| `signature`     | `BundleSignature` | —        | Detached signature over the canonical payload  |

```json
{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "env": "prod",
  "bundleVersion": 3,
  "generatedAt": "2026-08-08T09:00:00.000Z",
  "policies": [],
  "checksum": "sha256:9f2c…",
  "signature": { "algorithm": "ECDSA_SHA_256", "keyId": "release-2026-08", "value": "MEUCIG…" }
}
```

### Policy

| Field           | Type            | Required | Notes                                     |
| --------------- | --------------- | -------- | ----------------------------------------- |
| `policyKey`     | `string`        | ✅        | Unique across the bundle                  |
| `activeVersion` | `number`        | ✅        |                                           |
| `rules`         | `RuntimeRule[]` | ✅        | May be empty                              |
| `defaults`      | `PolicyDefault` | —        | Applies when no rule in this policy fires |

```json
{
  "policyKey": "login-protection",
  "activeVersion": 1,
  "defaults": { "effect": "allow" },
  "rules": []
}
```

### Rule

| Field         | Type                       | Required | Notes                                            |
| ------------- | -------------------------- | -------- | ------------------------------------------------ |
| `id`          | `string`                   | ✅        | Unique **within the policy**, not the bundle     |
| `status`      | `"active"` \| `"disabled"` | ✅        | Only `active` fires                              |
| `priority`    | `number`                   | ✅        | Higher wins, within one effect type              |
| `target`      | `Target`                   | ✅        |                                                  |
| `effect`      | `Effect`                   | ✅        | Unconditional / fallback effect                  |
| `when`        | `WhenAst`                  | —        | Absent means always apply `effect`               |
| `thenEffect`  | `Effect`                   | —        | When `when` is true. Falls back to `effect`      |
| `elseEffect`  | `Effect`                   | —        | When `when` is false. Absent means skip the rule |
| `description` | `string`                   | —        |                                                  |

```json
{
  "id": "r_deny_after_five",
  "status": "active",
  "priority": 100,
  "target": { "service": "auth", "resource": "login", "action": "authenticate" },
  "when": { "op": "gte", "path": "failedAttempts", "value": 5 },
  "effect": { "type": "deny" }
}
```

### Target

All three required, non-empty. Matching is exact — no wildcards, no hierarchy.

```json
{ "service": "auth", "resource": "login", "action": "authenticate" }
```

### Effect

`type` is one of `allow`, `deny`, `kill_switch`, `throttle`, `custom`. Three carry a descriptor.

```json
{ "type": "allow" }
{ "type": "deny" }
{ "type": "kill_switch", "killSwitch": { "service": "payments", "reason": "INC-4421" } }
{ "type": "throttle",    "throttle": { "limit": 10, "windowSeconds": 3600, "key": "tenant" } }
{ "type": "custom",      "value": "{\"newCheckout\":true}" }
```

| Type          | Required descriptor | Fields                          |
| ------------- | ------------------- | ------------------------------- |
| `allow`       | —                   |                                 |
| `deny`        | —                   |                                 |
| `kill_switch` | `killSwitch`        | `service` (required), `reason`  |
| `throttle`    | `throttle`          | `limit`, `windowSeconds`, `key` |
| `custom`      | `value`             | Arbitrary string, often JSON    |

### Policy defaults

Same effect vocabulary, expressed as a descriptor rather than an object with `type`.

```json
{ "effect": "allow" }
{ "effect": "deny" }
{ "effect": "kill_switch", "killSwitch": { "service": "payments" } }
{ "effect": "throttle",    "throttle": { "limit": 100, "windowSeconds": 60, "key": "tenant" } }
{ "effect": "custom",      "customEffect": "{\"tier\":\"free\"}" }
```

{% hint style="info" %}
Note `customEffect` here, versus `value` on a rule effect. A `kill_switch` or `throttle` default missing its descriptor is ignored rather than applied.
{% endhint %}

### Condition (`when`)

Comparison, membership and existence leaves:

```json
{ "op": "eq",     "path": "role",   "value": "admin" }
{ "op": "neq",    "path": "plan",   "value": "free" }
{ "op": "gt",     "path": "amount", "value": 1000 }
{ "op": "gte",    "path": "amount", "value": 1000 }
{ "op": "lt",     "path": "amount", "value": 50 }
{ "op": "lte",    "path": "amount", "value": 50 }
{ "op": "in",     "path": "role",   "values": ["admin", "superuser"] }
{ "op": "exists", "path": "requestTier" }
```

Logical combinators:

```json
{ "op": "and", "conditions": [
  { "op": "eq", "path": "isAuthenticated", "value": true },
  { "op": "in", "path": "role", "values": ["admin", "superuser"] }
] }

{ "op": "or", "conditions": [
  { "op": "eq", "path": "plan", "value": "enterprise" },
  { "op": "gte", "path": "amount", "value": 1000 }
] }

{ "op": "not", "condition": { "op": "eq", "path": "role", "value": "banned" } }
```

| Operator                              | Payload            |
| ------------------------------------- | ------------------ |
| `eq`, `neq`, `gt`, `gte`, `lt`, `lte` | `path`, `value`    |
| `in`                                  | `path`, `values[]` |
| `exists`                              | `path`             |
| `and`, `or`                           | `conditions[]`     |
| `not`                                 | `condition`        |

Behaviour worth knowing:

* `path` may be written `plan` or `ctx.plan` — a leading `ctx.` is stripped. Dots traverse nested objects.
* Ordering comparisons coerce both sides to numbers, so a non-numeric value yields `false` rather than an error.
* `exists` is false for `null` and absent; true for `0`, `""` and `false`.
* An unknown operator is **false, not an error**, so an older runtime does not crash on a newer bundle.
* Legacy spellings are accepted: `ne` for `neq`, `args` for `conditions`, `arg` for `condition`.

### Signature

```json
{ "algorithm": "ECDSA_SHA_256", "keyId": "release-2026-08", "value": "MEUCIG…" }
```

| Algorithm       | Key                     | `value` encoding | Local | Cloud |
| --------------- | ----------------------- | ---------------- | ----- | ----- |
| `ECDSA_SHA_256` | P-256 key pair          | base64 DER       | ✅     | ✅     |
| `HMAC_SHA256`   | 256-bit secret (64 hex) | lowercase hex    | ✅     | ❌     |

Ed25519 is rejected.

### Canonical payload

Checksums and signatures cover a projection, not the file:

```
schemaVersion, orgId, projectId, env,
policies[] → policyKey, activeVersion, defaults, rules
```

Excluded: `generatedAt`, `bundleVersion`, `checksum`, `etag`, `signature`. Keys are sorted recursively and serialised without whitespace, then hashed as UTF-8 — so reformatting a bundle does not invalidate its signature.

### Validation codes

Returned by `validateBundle()` and by `govplane validate`.

| Code                                          | Meaning                                     |
| --------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- |
| `DOCUMENT_NOT_OBJECT`                         | Not a JSON object                           |
| `INVALID_SCHEMA_VERSION`                      | `schemaVersion` is not `1`                  |
| `INVALID_ENV`                                 | Not one of the four environments            |
| `MISSING_POLICY_KEY` / `DUPLICATE_POLICY_KEY` | Policy key absent or reused                 |
| `INVALID_ACTIVE_VERSION`                      | Not a number                                |
| `RULES_NOT_ARRAY`                             | `rules` is not an array                     |
| `MISSING_RULE_ID` / `DUPLICATE_RULE_ID`       | Rule id absent or reused within the policy  |
| `INVALID_RULE_STATUS`                         | Not `active` or `disabled`                  |
| `INVALID_RULE_PRIORITY`                       | Not a number                                |
| `INVALID_RULE_TARGET`                         | `target` or one of its three fields missing |
| `INVALID_RULE_EFFECT`                         | Effect missing or unrecognised              |

### See also

* [Policy Drafts Schema](/docs/documentation/schemas/policy-draft.md) — the authoring format
* [Bundles](/docs/documentation/basic-concepts/bundles.md) — checksums, signing and verification
* [Effects](/docs/documentation/basic-concepts/effects.md)&#x20;
* [Conditional Rules](/docs/documentation/basic-concepts/conditional-rules.md)


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