Context governance is the set of rules that controls what information an AI system can see, keep, and use while it works. In enterprise systems, “context” may include documents, customer records, tickets, policies, and tool permissions. Governance defines which sources are allowed, how long data may be retained, what must be redacted, and which actions require review.
This matters because an AI agent is only as safe as the context around it. If it can read too broadly or act too freely, it may expose sensitive data, combine unrelated records, or trigger unauthorized changes. Good context governance helps limit damage from prompt injection, overbroad retrieval, and excessive tool access. Defenses usually include least privilege, scoped retrieval, data filtering, audit logs, and human approval for risky actions. In practice, it turns AI from an open-ended assistant into a controlled system with bounded inputs and predictable outputs.