check_governance

Universal governance check for campaign actions. Both the orchestrator (buyer-side) and the seller call this task — the binding field discriminates the commitment level:

Binding	Who calls	Purpose	Key fields
`proposed`	Orchestrator	Advisory check before sending to a seller. No budget committed.	`tool`, `payload`, `governance_context`
`committed`	Seller	Binding check before executing. Validates planned delivery against the plan. Budget is committed later via `report_plan_outcome`.	`media_buy_id`, `buyer_ref`, `phase`, `planned_delivery`

The governance agent maintains all state. Callers do not chain check IDs or track conversation history — they post the action, and the governance agent correlates by plan_id + buyer_campaign_ref.

Binding levels

Proposed (orchestrator)

The orchestrator calls with binding: "proposed" before sending a tool call to a seller. This is an advisory check — no budget is committed. The governance agent evaluates the intended tool and payload against the campaign plan.

Orchestrator decides to call a seller tool (e.g., create_media_buy)
Orchestrator calls check_governance with the tool name and full payload
If approved, orchestrator sends the tool call to the seller
If denied, orchestrator does not send the tool call
If conditions, orchestrator adjusts the payload and re-calls check_governance
If escalated, orchestrator halts pending human review

Committed (seller)

The seller calls with binding: "committed" when processing a request on an account that has governance_agents (set during sync_accounts). This is a binding check — budget will be committed if approved. The seller presents the authentication credentials from the agent’s configuration. Committed checks cover the full media buy lifecycle through three phases:

Phase	When	What’s checked
`purchase`	Before confirming `create_media_buy`	Budget, geo, channels, flight dates, policies
`modification`	Before confirming `update_media_buy`	Change magnitude, reallocation, new parameters
`delivery`	Periodically during delivery	Pacing, spend rate, geo drift, channel distribution

Sellers can adopt committed governance checks incrementally:

Level 1: Purchase only — One call per create_media_buy. The minimum viable integration.
Level 2: + Modification — One call per update_media_buy.
Level 3: + Delivery reporting — Periodic calls during active delivery.

Status values

Status	Meaning	Caller action
`approved`	Proceed as planned.	Act before `expires_at` or re-call.
`denied`	Do not proceed.	Return error to upstream caller.
`conditions`	Approved if caller accepts adjustments.	Apply conditions, then re-call `check_governance` with adjusted parameters.
`escalated`	Halted pending human review.	Wait for human resolution.

Expiration

expires_at is present when the status is approved or conditions. A lapsed approval is no approval — the caller must re-call check_governance before proceeding.

Conditions

When the status is conditions, the caller MUST re-call check_governance with adjusted parameters before proceeding. Conditions with a required_value are machine-actionable — the caller can programmatically apply the value. Conditions without a required_value are advisory — the caller should interpret the reason and adjust accordingly. Governance agents SHOULD return denied (not conditions) after 3 unsuccessful re-calls for the same action. This prevents infinite negotiation loops, particularly for seller-side checks where the seller has no visibility into the campaign plan.

Escalation

When the status is escalated, the action is halted. The escalation object provides the reason, severity, and whether human approval is required. The caller must not proceed until the escalation is resolved. For committed checks (seller-side), escalated is operationally equivalent to denied — the seller cannot hold a request indefinitely while waiting for human review on the buyer side. Sellers SHOULD treat escalated as denied, return an error to the orchestrator, and let the orchestrator handle the human-in-the-loop flow. After the escalation is resolved, the orchestrator re-initiates the media buy and the seller gets a new request.

Linking to outcomes

The response includes a check_id. Use this in report_plan_outcome to link outcomes to the governance check that authorized them.

When the governance agent is unavailable

If the governance agent is configured and the caller cannot reach it (timeout, network error), the caller MUST NOT proceed. Governance is a gate — when the gate is unreachable, the default is halt. The caller SHOULD retry with backoff and report the failure upstream.

Delivery cadence

The presence of next_check in a response is the signal that the governance agent expects ongoing delivery reporting. The seller SHOULD call no later than the next_check time. The governance agent MAY treat a missed deadline as a finding on the next delivery check.

Request

Proposed (orchestrator checking before sending to seller)

{
  "tool": "check_governance",
  "arguments": {
    "plan_id": "plan_q1_2026_launch",
    "buyer_campaign_ref": "q1-2026-spring-launch",
    "binding": "proposed",
    "caller": "https://orchestrator.example.com",
    "tool": "create_media_buy",
    "payload": {
      "buyer_ref": "q1-launch-pinnacle-001",
      "product_id": "premium_video_300k",
      "budget": 150000,
      "currency": "USD",
      "geo": { "countries": ["US"] },
      "channels": ["olv"],
      "flight": {
        "start": "2026-03-15T00:00:00Z",
        "end": "2026-06-15T00:00:00Z"
      }
    },
    "governance_context": {
      "total_budget": { "amount": 150000, "currency": "USD" },
      "countries": ["US"],
      "channels": ["olv"],
      "flight": {
        "start": "2026-03-15T00:00:00Z",
        "end": "2026-06-15T00:00:00Z"
      }
    }
  }
}

When governance_context is present, the governance agent uses it for plan validation instead of parsing tool-specific payload structures. The caller extracts governance-relevant fields into this canonical shape so the governance agent doesn’t need to understand every tool’s payload format.

Committed — purchase

{
  "tool": "check_governance",
  "arguments": {
    "plan_id": "plan_q1_2026_launch",
    "buyer_campaign_ref": "q1-2026-spring-launch",
    "binding": "committed",
    "caller": "https://seller.example.com",
    "media_buy_id": "mb_seller_456",
    "buyer_ref": "q1-launch-pinnacle-001",
    "phase": "purchase",
    "planned_delivery": {
      "geo": { "countries": ["US"] },
      "channels": ["olv"],
      "start_time": "2026-03-15T00:00:00Z",
      "end_time": "2026-06-15T00:00:00Z",
      "total_budget": 150000,
      "currency": "USD",
      "frequency_cap": { "max_impressions": 3, "per": "user", "window": { "interval": 1, "unit": "days" } },
      "audience_summary": "Adults 25-54, US, premium video inventory",
      "enforced_policies": ["us_coppa"]
    }
  }
}

Committed — modification

{
  "tool": "check_governance",
  "arguments": {
    "plan_id": "plan_q1_2026_launch",
    "buyer_campaign_ref": "q1-2026-spring-launch",
    "binding": "committed",
    "caller": "https://seller.example.com",
    "media_buy_id": "mb_seller_456",
    "buyer_ref": "q1-launch-pinnacle-001",
    "phase": "modification",
    "modification_summary": "Budget increase from $150,000 to $200,000 and flight extension to 2026-07-15.",
    "planned_delivery": {
      "geo": { "countries": ["US"] },
      "channels": ["olv"],
      "start_time": "2026-03-15T00:00:00Z",
      "end_time": "2026-07-15T00:00:00Z",
      "total_budget": 200000,
      "currency": "USD",
      "frequency_cap": { "max_impressions": 3, "per": "user", "window": { "interval": 1, "unit": "days" } },
      "audience_summary": "Adults 25-54, US, premium video inventory",
      "enforced_policies": ["us_coppa"]
    }
  }
}

Committed — delivery

{
  "tool": "check_governance",
  "arguments": {
    "plan_id": "plan_q1_2026_launch",
    "buyer_campaign_ref": "q1-2026-spring-launch",
    "binding": "committed",
    "caller": "https://seller.example.com",
    "media_buy_id": "mb_seller_456",
    "buyer_ref": "q1-launch-pinnacle-001",
    "phase": "delivery",
    "planned_delivery": {
      "geo": { "countries": ["US"] },
      "channels": ["olv"],
      "start_time": "2026-03-15T00:00:00Z",
      "end_time": "2026-06-15T00:00:00Z",
      "total_budget": 150000,
      "currency": "USD",
      "frequency_cap": { "max_impressions": 3, "per": "user", "window": { "interval": 1, "unit": "days" } },
      "audience_summary": "Adults 25-54, US, premium video inventory",
      "enforced_policies": ["us_coppa"]
    },
    "delivery_metrics": {
      "reporting_period": {
        "start": "2026-03-15T00:00:00Z",
        "end": "2026-03-22T00:00:00Z"
      },
      "spend": 12500,
      "cumulative_spend": 12500,
      "impressions": 850000,
      "cumulative_impressions": 850000,
      "geo_distribution": { "US": 100 },
      "channel_distribution": { "olv": 100 },
      "pacing": "on_track"
    }
  }
}

Response

approved (proposed)

{
  "check_id": "chk_001",
  "status": "approved",
  "binding": "proposed",
  "mode": "enforce",
  "plan_id": "plan_q1_2026_launch",
  "buyer_campaign_ref": "q1-2026-spring-launch",
  "explanation": "Proposed create_media_buy is within plan parameters. Budget: $150,000 of $500,000 plan total. Geo: US (within plan). Channel: OLV (within 40-70% target range).",
  "categories_evaluated": ["budget_authority", "geo_compliance", "channel_compliance", "flight_compliance", "delegation_authority"],
  "policies_evaluated": ["us_coppa", "alcohol_advertising"],
  "expires_at": "2026-03-15T01:00:00Z"
}

The orchestrator proceeds to send the create_media_buy to the seller before expires_at.

approved (committed purchase with delivery opt-in)

{
  "check_id": "chk_002",
  "status": "approved",
  "binding": "committed",
  "mode": "enforce",
  "plan_id": "plan_q1_2026_launch",
  "buyer_campaign_ref": "q1-2026-spring-launch",
  "explanation": "Planned delivery is within plan parameters. Budget: $150,000 of $500,000 plan total. Geo: US (within plan). Channel: OLV (within 40-70% target range).",
  "expires_at": "2026-03-15T01:00:00Z",
  "next_check": "2026-03-22T00:00:00Z"
}

The seller proceeds with the media buy. The presence of next_check signals that the governance agent expects delivery reporting starting at that time.

approved (committed delivery)

{
  "check_id": "chk_003",
  "status": "approved",
  "binding": "committed",
  "mode": "enforce",
  "plan_id": "plan_q1_2026_launch",
  "buyer_campaign_ref": "q1-2026-spring-launch",
  "explanation": "Delivery on track. Week 1 spend: $12,500 of $150,000 (8.3%). Pacing is on target for 13-week flight. Geo and channel distribution match plan parameters.",
  "next_check": "2026-03-29T00:00:00Z"
}

The seller continues delivery and schedules the next governance check for next_check.

denied (proposed)

{
  "check_id": "chk_004",
  "status": "denied",
  "binding": "proposed",
  "plan_id": "plan_q1_2026_launch",
  "buyer_campaign_ref": "q1-2026-spring-launch",
  "explanation": "Proposed media buy targets CA (Canada) which is not within the plan's geography.",
  "findings": [
    {
      "category_id": "strategic_alignment",
      "severity": "critical",
      "explanation": "Geo targeting includes CA but plan only covers US.",
      "details": {
        "plan_countries": ["US"],
        "payload_countries": ["US", "CA"]
      }
    }
  ]
}

The orchestrator MUST NOT send the tool call to the seller.

denied (committed delivery — geo drift)

{
  "check_id": "chk_005",
  "status": "denied",
  "binding": "committed",
  "plan_id": "plan_q1_2026_launch",
  "buyer_campaign_ref": "q1-2026-spring-launch",
  "explanation": "Delivery has drifted outside plan parameters. 12% of impressions delivered in CA (Canada) which is not within the plan's geography.",
  "findings": [
    {
      "category_id": "strategic_alignment",
      "severity": "critical",
      "confidence": 0.98,
      "explanation": "Geo distribution shows 12% delivery in CA, but plan only covers US.",
      "details": {
        "plan_countries": ["US"],
        "actual_distribution": { "US": 88, "CA": 12 }
      }
    }
  ]
}

The seller MUST pause delivery immediately and correct the geo targeting before resuming.

conditions (committed purchase)

{
  "check_id": "chk_006",
  "status": "conditions",
  "binding": "committed",
  "plan_id": "plan_q1_2026_launch",
  "buyer_campaign_ref": "q1-2026-spring-launch",
  "explanation": "Budget approved but frequency cap must be applied per brand policy.",
  "conditions": [
    {
      "field": "planned_delivery.frequency_cap",
      "required_value": { "max_impressions": 5, "per": "user", "window": { "interval": 1, "unit": "days" } },
      "reason": "Brand policy requires daily frequency cap of 5 or fewer impressions per user."
    }
  ],
  "expires_at": "2026-03-15T01:00:00Z"
}

The seller MUST adjust its planned delivery, then re-call check_governance with the updated parameters before proceeding.

conditions (committed delivery — overpacing)

{
  "check_id": "chk_007",
  "status": "conditions",
  "binding": "committed",
  "plan_id": "plan_q1_2026_launch",
  "buyer_campaign_ref": "q1-2026-spring-launch",
  "explanation": "Delivery is pacing 40% ahead of schedule. Cumulative spend of $42,000 after 2 weeks exceeds expected $23,000 for this point in the flight.",
  "conditions": [
    {
      "field": "pacing",
      "reason": "Reduce daily spend rate to align with the planned flight duration. At current pace, budget will be exhausted by week 7 of 13."
    }
  ],
  "next_check": "2026-03-31T00:00:00Z"
}

The seller MUST adjust pacing and re-call check_governance immediately. The next_check is set closer than normal so the governance agent can verify the correction.

escalated

{
  "check_id": "chk_008",
  "status": "escalated",
  "binding": "committed",
  "plan_id": "plan_q1_2026_launch",
  "buyer_campaign_ref": "q1-2026-spring-launch",
  "explanation": "Budget reallocation of $75,000 exceeds the plan's reallocation threshold of $25,000. Human approval required.",
  "findings": [
    {
      "category_id": "budget_authority",
      "severity": "critical",
      "explanation": "Reallocation amount exceeds plan threshold.",
      "details": {
        "reallocation_amount": 75000,
        "threshold": 25000
      }
    }
  ],
  "escalation": {
    "reason": "Budget reallocation exceeds plan threshold. A human stakeholder must approve before the seller can proceed.",
    "severity": "critical",
    "requires_human": true,
    "approval_tier": "director"
  }
}

The caller MUST NOT proceed. The action is halted until a human resolves the escalation.

Fields

Request

Field	Type	Required	Description
`plan_id`	string	Yes	Campaign governance plan identifier.
`buyer_campaign_ref`	string	Yes	Buyer’s campaign identifier. The governance agent tracks state per campaign within a plan.
`binding`	enum	Yes	`proposed` (advisory, no budget committed) or `committed` (binding, budget committed if approved).
`caller`	string (URI)	Yes	URL of the agent making the request (orchestrator for proposed, seller for committed).
`tool`	string	Proposed	The AdCP tool being checked. Required for `proposed` checks.
`payload`	object	Proposed	Full tool arguments as they would be sent to the seller. Required for `proposed` checks.
`governance_context`	object	No	Normalized governance-relevant fields extracted from the payload. When present, the governance agent SHOULD use these fields for plan validation instead of parsing the payload directly. See the governance context schema.
`media_buy_id`	string	Committed	Seller’s media buy identifier. Required for `committed` checks.
`buyer_ref`	string	No	Buyer’s reference identifier from the `create_media_buy` request.
`phase`	enum	Committed	`purchase`, `modification`, or `delivery`. Defaults to `purchase`. Required for `committed` checks.
`planned_delivery`	object	Committed	What will actually be delivered. Required for `committed` checks. See planned delivery.
`delivery_metrics`	object	Delivery	Actual delivery performance data. Required when `phase` is `delivery`.
`modification_summary`	string	No	Human-readable summary of what changed. SHOULD be present for `modification` phase.

Delivery metrics

Field	Type	Description
`reporting_period`	object	Reporting window with `start` and `end` timestamps (ISO 8601). Required.
`spend`	number	Spend during the reporting period.
`cumulative_spend`	number	Total spend since the media buy started.
`impressions`	integer	Impressions during the reporting period.
`cumulative_impressions`	integer	Total impressions since the media buy started.
`geo_distribution`	object	Actual geographic distribution. Keys are ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes, values are percentages.
`channel_distribution`	object	Actual channel distribution. Keys are values from the channels enum, values are percentages.
`pacing`	enum	`ahead`, `on_track`, or `behind`.

Response

Field	Type	Description
`check_id`	string	Unique identifier for this governance check. Use in `report_plan_outcome` to link outcomes.
`status`	enum	`approved`, `denied`, `conditions`, or `escalated`.
`binding`	enum	Echoed from request. Confirms the governance agent understood the commitment level.
`plan_id`	string	Echoed from request.
`buyer_campaign_ref`	string	Echoed from request.
`explanation`	string	Human-readable explanation of the decision.
`findings`	array	Per-category issues found. Present when status is `denied`, `conditions`, or `escalated`. MAY also be present on `approved` for advisory findings. Each finding has `category_id`, `severity`, `explanation`, and optionally `policy_id`, `details`, `confidence` (0-1), and `uncertainty_reason`.
`conditions`	array	Present when status is `conditions`. Adjustments the caller must make before re-calling.
`mode`	enum	The governance mode under which this check was evaluated (`audit`, `advisory`, or `enforce`). Present so audit trails can distinguish advisory denials from enforced denials.
`categories_evaluated`	string[]	Governance categories evaluated during this check (e.g., `budget_authority`, `geo_compliance`, `channel_compliance`). Useful for verifying which validations ran.
`policies_evaluated`	string[]	Registry policy IDs evaluated during this check.
`escalation`	object	Present when status is `escalated`. Contains `reason`, `severity`, `requires_human`, and optionally `approval_tier` (the organizational role required to resolve, e.g., `"manager"`, `"director"`, `"legal"`).
`expires_at`	string	Present when status is `approved` or `conditions`. The caller must act before this time or re-call. A lapsed approval is no approval.
`next_check`	string	When the seller should next call `check_governance` with delivery metrics. Present when the governance agent expects ongoing delivery reporting.

Error codes

Code	Recovery	Description
`PLAN_NOT_FOUND`	correctable	No plan with this ID. The buyer may not have synced the plan yet.
`CAMPAIGN_SUSPENDED`	correctable	Campaign governance is suspended pending human review.
`SELLER_NOT_RECOGNIZED`	correctable	The caller URL is not in the plan’s `approved_sellers` list.

sync_plans — The plan this governance check validates against
report_plan_outcome — Report what happened after the action was confirmed
get_plan_audit_logs — View plan state and audit trail

Getting Started

Building with AdCP

Protocol

FAQ

Trust & Security

Reference

Certification

check_governance

check_governance

Binding levels

Proposed (orchestrator)

Committed (seller)

Status values

Expiration

Conditions

Escalation

Linking to outcomes

When the governance agent is unavailable

Delivery cadence

Request

Proposed (orchestrator checking before sending to seller)

Committed — purchase

Committed — modification

Committed — delivery

Response

approved (proposed)

approved (committed purchase with delivery opt-in)

approved (committed delivery)

denied (proposed)

denied (committed delivery — geo drift)

conditions (committed purchase)

conditions (committed delivery — overpacing)

escalated

Fields

Request

Delivery metrics

Response

Error codes

​check_governance

​Binding levels

​Proposed (orchestrator)

​Committed (seller)

​Status values

​Expiration

​Conditions

​Escalation

​Linking to outcomes

​When the governance agent is unavailable

​Delivery cadence

​Request

​Proposed (orchestrator checking before sending to seller)

​Committed — purchase

​Committed — modification

​Committed — delivery

​Response

​approved (proposed)

​approved (committed purchase with delivery opt-in)

​approved (committed delivery)

​denied (proposed)

​denied (committed delivery — geo drift)

​conditions (committed purchase)

​conditions (committed delivery — overpacing)

​escalated

​Fields

​Request

​Delivery metrics

​Response

​Error codes

​Related tasks

check_governance

Binding levels

Proposed (orchestrator)

Committed (seller)

Status values

Expiration

Conditions

Escalation

Linking to outcomes

When the governance agent is unavailable

Delivery cadence

Request

Proposed (orchestrator checking before sending to seller)

Committed — purchase

Committed — modification

Committed — delivery

Response

approved (proposed)

approved (committed purchase with delivery opt-in)

approved (committed delivery)

denied (proposed)

denied (committed delivery — geo drift)

conditions (committed purchase)

conditions (committed delivery — overpacing)

escalated

Fields

Request

Delivery metrics

Response

Error codes

Related tasks