Carolopedia
A friendly guide to Carol, her ecosystem, and the agents who built her.
📖 Carolopedia › PrincipalGuide page
📖What it means
Whoever or whatever is doing the acting, from the access system's point of view — an agent, a person, a service account. Permissions attach to principals, not to code.
⚖️What it is NOT
The neighbours this word is most often confused with, and the line between them.
Not: Agent
A principal is the access system's name for an actor; an agent is a Carolverse role.
Not: Role
A principal is who is acting; a role is the bundle of permissions they hold.
🗣️Also called
actoridentitysubject of access