Developer & Access Requester Flow

This guide details how developers and access requesters handle IAM access denials, ranging from self-service just-in-time (JIT) elevations and local project remediation to logging structured tickets.

Step 1: Capture Error Context

Extract the necessary parameters from the failed operation:

• Option A (Error ID - Preferred): Extract the base64-encoded error_info_id / ERROR_ID (for example, ZGVuaWVkX2J5X2RlbmlhbF9wb2xpY3k...) from the 403 API error response.
• Option B (Manual Parameters):
  • PRINCIPAL_EMAIL: The identity executing the task.
  • IAM_PERMISSION: The exact missing permission (for example, bigquery.datasets.create).
  • RESOURCE_URI: The target resource URI (for example, //cloudresourcemanager.googleapis.com/projects/PROJECT_ID).

Step 2: Diagnostic Check (Attempt Self-Diagnosis)

Attempt to verify why access was denied using available tools:

1. Call the Policy Troubleshooter MCP tool (troubleshoot_access or troubleshoot_iam_error_id) to analyze the full Resource Manager hierarchy.
   • Fallback: If MCP tools are unavailable, use the fallback scripts or gcloud CLI:
     • For Error IDs: ERROR_ID="YOUR_ERROR_ID" python3 scripts/troubleshooting_error_id.py
     • For manual checks: Extract the project ID from RESOURCE_URI (if available) and pass --billing-project and --format=json:

       gcloud policy-troubleshoot iam //RESOURCE_URI \
           --principal-email="PRINCIPAL_EMAIL" \
           --permission="IAM_PERMISSION" \
           --billing-project="PROJECT_ID" \
           --format=json
       

2. If troubleshooting returns PERMISSION_DENIED:
   • The identity lacks the required viewer rights (for example, missing resourcemanager.projects.getIamPolicy). Recognize that troubleshooting failed due to caller permissions. Proceed directly to Step 5 (Log Bug / Escalate to Admin) to escalate the permission error to an administrator using the captured error context.
3. If troubleshooting succeeds:
   • CASE A (accessState: GRANTED): Access is correctly configured and granted (including via inherited organization or folder allow policies). Conclude that access is already granted and the IAM permission configuration is correct. Terminate the flow immediately. Do NOT search for roles, suggest role queries, or propose role bindings.
   • CASE B (accessState or bindingState is UNKNOWN or UNKNOWN_INFO): Access evaluation returned unknown/inconclusive information (typically due to missing permissions to expand group memberships, which requires roles/browser). Inform the user that access could not be fully confirmed because of missing permissions to expand group memberships (roles/browser).
   • CASE C (accessState: NOT_GRANTED): Access is absent or blocked. Check denyPolicyExplanation for explicitly blocked access, Principal Access Boundary policy evaluations, and allowPolicyExplanation for absent allow bindings.

Step 3: Self-Service & Elevated Developer Checks

Evaluate the diagnosis against your available permissions:

Branch A: Blocked by an IAM deny policy

• Modifying deny policies requires organization-level roles/iam.denyAdmin.
• Developers cannot self-remediate deny policies. Advise contacting the Security or Organization Administrator and proceed directly to Step 5 (Log Bug / Escalate to Admin), including the blocking POLICY_ID.

Branch B: Missing allow policy (No deny policy blocking)

Evaluate the following tiers in order:

• Tier 1: Self-Service PAM Entitlement Grants (Pre-approved Entitlement Exists)

  1. Check if an active PAM entitlement covers this permission (gcloud pam entitlements list).
  2. If found, request a time-bound PAM entitlement grant:

     gcloud pam grants create \
         --entitlement=ENTITLEMENT_ID \
         --location=global \
         --project=PROJECT_ID \
         --requested-duration="1h"
     

  3. Once the grant is active, proceed to Step 4 (Retry Troubleshooter Check).

• Tier 2: Elevated Developer (Local Project IAM Admin Rights)

  1. If no PAM entitlement exists, check if you hold roles/resourcemanager.projectIamAdmin on the target project.
  2. If permitted, explain the findings to the user and prompt the user for permission before running any role queries or discovery scripts:

     "There is no allow policy granting permission 'IAM_PERMISSION', and no deny policy blocking access. Would you like me to find candidate roles granting this permission? (Yes/No)"

  3. Only after receiving user confirmation, search for candidate roles using gcloud iam roles list --filter="includedPermissions:IAM_PERMISSION" or scripts/least_privileged_role.py.
  4. Evaluate the returned ROLE_NAME against the guardrails in references/guardrails.md. Prompt the user for approval before applying the project-level IAM binding:

     gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding PROJECT_ID \
         --member="user:PRINCIPAL_EMAIL" \
         --role="ROLE_NAME"
     

  5. Proceed to Step 4 (Retry Troubleshooter Check).

• Tier 3: Unprivileged Developer (No PAM Entitlement & No Local Admin Rights)

  • Proceed to Step 5 (Log Bug / Escalate to Admin).

Step 4: Retry Troubleshooter Check

Whenever access is granted (via PAM entitlement activation or local role binding), immediately re-run the policy troubleshooter check to confirm access before advising any task retries.

Step 5: Log Bug / Escalate to Admin

When self-remediation is not possible, construct a structured escalation report or ticket:

Ticket / Escalation Template

Title: [Access Request] Missing permission <IAM_PERMISSION> on <RESOURCE_URI>
Principal: <PRINCIPAL_EMAIL>
Target Resource: <RESOURCE_URI>
Missing Permission: <IAM_PERMISSION>
Error ID: <ERROR_ID>

Diagnostic Details:
- Deny policy blocking: [Yes: <POLICY_ID> / None]
- Principal Access Boundary policy blocking: [Yes / No]
- Allow policy missing: [Yes / No]
- Suggested least-privileged role: <ROLE_NAME> (if diagnosed)

Resolution Options for Admin:
- If deny policy is blocking: Add exemption for <PRINCIPAL_EMAIL> on <POLICY_ID>.
- If allow policy is missing: Create a time-bound PAM entitlement or grant role binding <ROLE_NAME>.
- Reference: See https://docs.cloud.google.com/iam/docs/resolve-permission-errors for more comprehensive information.

Agent Instruction: (In multi-agent setups, output the summary above and escalate to a human administrator).