- [Instructor] Now that your agent works
and you know how to observe it,
it's time to make sure it behaves responsibly.
This is where governance and compliance come in.
They define who controls what, how decisions are logged,
and which rules your agent must follow.
Why should you care about governance from day one?
Well, governance makes sure that your agent
doesn't go off script.
It's essentially about accountability,
knowing who configured what, what data it can touch,
and how its actions are recorded for later review.
When we say governance,
we mean the policies, processes, and ownership
that keep your system safe and accountable.
Every AI agent needs clear ownership,
someone responsible for maintaining it,
reviewing its actions, and improving changes,
and being held accountable for the outcomes.
You can't just say the AI did that.
Governance also defines who can modify prompts,
who adds or removes tools,
and how those changes are documented.
Without ownership, no policy or audit log really matters
because no one is accountable for following them.
Let's contrast that to compliance.
Compliance means your agent
respects internal and external rules, privacy laws,
retention policies,
and any standard your organization must follow.
Even if you're just prototyping,
it's smart to design with these in mind.
Even if you cancel them right now,
you should be aware of what's coming down the road.
N8n already includes some key building blocks
for governance.
For example, you can manage who accesses what,
keep credentialed separate from logic,
and use version history to track prompt or workflow changes.
The execution log then serves as an audit trail,
showing exactly what the agent did and when.
Good governance also means environment separation,
develop safely, and then promote to production,
review workflows before they go live,
keep sensitive API keys out of reach,
and treat prompts as code,
version and approve them just like any software change.
Most importantly, governance isn't just policy,
it's human judgment.
For critical actions like sending quotes, payments,
or emails, always include a human in the loop step,
especially at the very beginning.
That keeps accountability clear
while still letting the agent handle the repetitive work.
Governance builds trust inside your organization.
Compliance protects you.
Together they go hand in hand and ensure that your agent
turns into something you and your team
can truly stand behind.
And if you are wondering where to start,
do two simple things today.
First, assign clear ownership.
Make one person or small team
responsible for your agent's health and updates.
And second, start an audit trail.
Version your prompts and workflows
so you can see what changed and when.
Those two steps alone set you off on a great path.