Skip to main content
The domain field in attesta.yaml activates one or more registered domain profiles. Domain profiles add industry-specific risk patterns, compliance rules, escalation policies, and challenge templates on top of the base Attesta configuration.
Domain profiles must be registered as presets before they can be referenced in attesta.yaml. See Custom Domains for how to create and register profiles.

​
Quick Activation

attesta.yaml
domain: my-industry

​
What Activation Does

When you activate a domain profile, Attesta layers domain-specific behavior on top of the base configuration:

​
1. Risk Patterns

Domain-specific regex patterns are added to the risk scorer: 
# Example: a custom profile might add patterns like:
# - "confidential|restricted|internal_only" → high risk contribution
# - "delete_record|export_data" → elevated risk

​
2. Sensitive Terms

A dictionary of domain-specific terms with risk weights is loaded into the scorer: 
# Example sensitive terms (term → weight):
# "confidential": 0.8, "restricted": 0.9, "secret": 0.95

​
3. Critical and Safe Actions

Actions that are always CRITICAL or always LOW are registered: 
# Critical actions (always CRITICAL): delete_records, export_all_data
# Safe actions (always LOW): check_status, list_items

​
4. Escalation Rules

Domain-specific escalation rules define when additional approvers or notifications are required.

​
5. Review Time Overrides

Domains can override the base minimum_review_seconds per risk level.

​
6. Risk Floor and Production Multiplier

Domains set a base_risk_floor (minimum risk for any action) and production_multiplier (applied when the environment is production).

​
Combining Multiple Domains

When you activate multiple domains, Attesta merges them using the DomainRegistry.merge() method. The merge strategy is conservative — it takes the highest (safest) value for scalar settings.

​
Merge Behavior

FieldMerge Strategy
risk_patternsUnion of all patterns from both domains
sensitive_termsUnion; if same term exists, take highest weight
critical_actionsUnion of both lists
safe_actionsUnion of both lists
escalation_rulesUnion of both lists
min_review_overridesPer-level max
base_risk_floorTake the higher floor
production_multiplierTake the higher multiplier
The conservative merge strategy means that combining domains always results in stricter policies, never weaker ones.

​
Programmatic Activation

You can activate domains programmatically without a YAML file: 
from attesta.domains import DomainProfile, DomainRiskScorer
from attesta import Attesta

# Create a profile
profile = DomainProfile(
    name="my-industry",
    display_name="My Industry",
    description="Custom compliance profile.",
    base_risk_floor=0.15,
    production_multiplier=1.5,
)

# Wrap it in a DomainRiskScorer
scorer = DomainRiskScorer(profile)

# Pass to Attesta
attesta = Attesta(risk_scorer=scorer)

​
Strict Mode

By default, Attesta fails fast if a domain profile name referenced in attesta.yaml has not been registered. Set domain_strict: false if you prefer a warning and fallback to non-domain scoring:
attesta.yaml
domain: my-industry
domain_strict: false   # Warn and continue without domain scoring
Fail-fast is recommended for production deployments where a missing domain profile likely indicates a misconfiguration.

​
Domain + Config Interaction

Domain settings and explicit attesta.yaml settings work together. Explicit config values take precedence for overlapping fields:
attesta.yaml
domain: my-industry

policy:
  # Overrides the domain's default review times
  minimum_review_seconds:
    critical: 90

risk:
  # Added on top of domain patterns
  amplifiers:
    - pattern: ".*production.*"
      boost: 0.2

  # Overrides domain risk levels for specific actions
  overrides:
    read_summary: low
The evaluation order is:
  1. Base Attesta defaults
  2. Domain profile settings are applied
  3. Explicit attesta.yaml policy, risk, and trust sections override domain defaults

​
Next Steps

Domain Overview

Architecture and structure of domain profiles

Custom Domains

Build your own domain profile