---
slug: "TieredAccess"
name: "TieredAccess"
type: "Protocols"
layer: "Society"
ref: "TieredAccess#4887"
sema_id: "sema:TieredAccess#mh:SHA-256:48871e4baf0a2f4a54892bf6c25765ca648696f391f569b02afaefb8b4af9a5b"
tags: ["Society","Protocols"]
updated: 2026-11-11
mindscape: "bootstrap"
index_url: https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/index.json
url: https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/TieredAccess/
related: ["BearerToken","Agent","Identity","PermissionEscalate"]
---

# TieredAccess

Cost-distance indexing

Layer: Society · Category: Protocols

## Mechanism

Central 'massive' agents (high authority) create a gravity well. The cost to interact with an agent increases the closer you get to the center. This naturally filters low-value queries to the periphery and reserves core attention for high-value interactions. Utilizes [BearerToken](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/BearerToken.md).

## Invariants

- Cost Monotonicity: Cost(Distance D-1) > Cost(Distance D) - closer to center means higher cost
- Metric Definition: Distance must be computed via agreed metric (hops, latency, trust score)

## Preconditions

- [Agent](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Agent.md) has valid [Identity](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Identity.md)

## Postconditions

- Access log updated

## Failure modes

- Metric Divergence: Agents disagree on distance calculation, causing payment rejection.
- Center becomes economically inaccessible to low-resource agents.

## Parameters

- `cost_function` (Enum, {Linear, Exponential, Step}): How cost scales with proximity
- `distance_metric` (Enum, {Hops, Latency, TrustScore}): How to measure distance

## Builds on

- [BearerToken](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/BearerToken.md) (Society; Composes with)
- [Agent](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Agent.md) (Mind; References)
- [Identity](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Identity.md) (Infrastructure; References)

## Used by

- [PermissionEscalate](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/PermissionEscalate.md) (Society; References)

## Identity

- Sema ID: `sema:TieredAccess#mh:SHA-256:48871e4baf0a2f4a54892bf6c25765ca648696f391f569b02afaefb8b4af9a5b`
- Ref: `TieredAccess#4887`
- Supersedes:
  - `sema:TieredAccess#mh:SHA-256:2a28f25bd2e1e991a4c9250d85a478f2b16bf57a9191dbb61c944a29b14559ff`
  - `sema:TieredAccess#mh:SHA-256:f3f651c9ef144f5a78f1ba4539ff8af7d1b70c625ef9cc119cf31e8f7e5340dd`
  - `sema:TieredAccess#mh:SHA-256:805cff9b1016fb2e59af973679a456842d0d764359ffa1c0bc708e7633218334`
  - `sema:TieredAccess#mh:SHA-256:c826df24049123ff8ab6e64130fd19b23bc56afb1efd386abe61eb28ba094606`

## Links

- [Pattern page](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/TieredAccess/)
- [View in the interactive graph](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/#TieredAccess)
- [JSON](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/TieredAccess.json)
- [Index of all patterns](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/index.json)