---
title: "NHI"
description: "Non-human identity: the identity of an agent, service account or machine actor."
canonical: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/nhi
author: "Jorge García Aibar"
license: "CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)"
doi: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197
version: "0.5.0"
updated: 2026-09-25
---

# NHI

Non-human identity: the identity of an agent, service account or machine actor. Every NHI gets a registry entry, an owner and a scope before it is allowed to act.

- Developed in: [ch. 05, Pattern: Agent Identity & Scoped Credentials](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/patterns#pattern-agent-identity--scoped-credentials); [ch. 23, Identity and short-lived credentials](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/governing-agents#identity-and-short-lived-credentials)
- Chapters: [ch. 04, The Stack](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/the-stack) · [ch. 05, Patterns](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/patterns) · [ch. 23, AI Agents](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/governing-agents)
- Contrast with: [Workload identity](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/workload-identity)
- In the glossary chapter: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/glossary#t-nhi

## Sources

Defined by this Body of Knowledge: the section it is developed in is the source.