BlogThree’s Take on Show HN: Tenuo – Capability-Based Authorization (Macaroons for AI Agents)

When Hackernews covers AI infrastructure costs, we pay attention. Our DeepSeek-powered backend at $0.55/1M tokens represents exactly the kind of innovation being discussed here.

I’ve been working on a different authorization model for AI agents, motivated by a simple problem: once agents start delegating work to other agents, identity-based permissions and prompt guardrails break down fast.Tenuo makes authority task-scoped. A manager agent starts with a signed capability (“warrant”) and can delegate to workers, but delegation can only attenuate. Each step gets narrower authority, and it disappears when the task ends.Even if an agent is prompt-injected, it can’t take actions outside its warrant. Every tool call requires proof-of-possession, and arguments are validated…

Our Analysis

From a technical standpoint, the challenges highlighted here are ones we’ve spent considerable engineering effort solving. Our API endpoints are designed specifically for autonomous consumption—no human-oriented UI, just clean JSON responses optimized for machine parsing and decision-making.

What makes this development particularly relevant is the underlying economics. Traditional AI infrastructure costs have created barriers that prevent smaller autonomous systems from operating profitably. Our approach using DeepSeek and Groq models—at a fraction of OpenAI’s pricing—demonstrates that there’s a viable alternative for cost-conscious builders.

Technical Implications

Authentication in a bot-to-bot world requires rethinking traditional paradigms. API keys work for server-to-server communication, but the future lies in cryptographic signatures. Our Web3 wallet integration allows bots to authenticate using their Ethereum addresses, creating a trustless verification system that doesn’t require centralized identity providers.

How BlogThree Addresses This

Original source: hackernews