Launch HN: Alter (YC S25) – Access control for multi-user agents
Alter, a startup backed by Y Combinator (S25), has launched a privileged access management (PAM) platform specifically designed for multi-user AI agents. The tool provides secure authorization, credential isolation, and audit trails to control agent actions across 140 integrations.
Why it matters
As enterprises increasingly deploy autonomous AI agents with access to internal tools and codebases, managing credentials safely without leaking secrets into prompts or shared accounts is a critical security bottleneck.
Backed by Combinator (opens in a new tab) Privileged access management for AI agents. Control what agents can do on behalf of each user. Enforce policy, keep credentials private, and audit every action.
(opens in a new tab) Start in 10 minutes Alter Vault | Authorization Engine gnt_7x92k Incoming Request A sales-agent agent: ai_agent GET api.github.com/user/repos Policy Evaluation ✓ Identity verified ✓ Scope check: repo:read ✓ Rate limit: 847 / 1,000 ✓ Token refreshed (3m ago) Authorization Result APPROVED Injected Headers Authorization: Bearer ghp_••••••••k4m2 X-Alter-Grant: gnt_7x92k Audit Log action: token.proxy agent: sales-agent target: github.com status: 200 OK latency: 142ms 140 integrations In-path enforcement SOC 2 in progress Give agents their own keys, not yours . Without Alter
Pasted into prompts, configs, and .env files across every repo.
Every agent borrows the same over-scoped credential.
Nobody can say which agent did what, or on whose behalf.
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