Quick Start Guide

Field	Value
Document ID	ASCEND-START-004
Version	1.0.0
Last Updated	December 19, 2025
Author	Ascend Engineering Team
Publisher	OW-KAI Technologies Inc.
Classification	Enterprise Client Documentation
Compliance	SOC 2 CC6.1/CC6.2, PCI-DSS 7.1/8.3, HIPAA 164.312, NIST 800-53 AC-2/SI-4

Reading Time: 5 minutes | Skill Level: Beginner

Overview

This guide gets you from zero to governed AI agent in 5 minutes. You'll:

1. Get your API credentials
2. Install the SDK
3. Submit your first governed action
4. See the result in the dashboard

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

• An ASCEND account (sign up at ascend.owkai.app)
• Python 3.8+ or Node.js 16+ installed
• Basic familiarity with REST APIs

Step 1: Get Your API Key

Option A: Dashboard

1. Log in to your ASCEND dashboard
2. Navigate to Settings → API Keys
3. Click Generate New Key
4. Copy your API key (starts with owkai_)

Option B: CLI

# Using the ASCEND CLI
ascend auth login
ascend api-key create --name "my-first-key"

Keep Your Key Safe

Your API key provides full access to your ASCEND organization. Never commit it to version control or share it publicly.

Step 2: Install the SDK

Python

pip install ascend-sdk

Node.js

npm install @owkai/ascend-sdk

Verify Installation

# Python
import ascend
print(ascend.__version__)

// Node.js
const ascend = require('@owkai/ascend-sdk');
console.log(ascend.version);

Step 3: Configure the Client

Python

from ascend import AscendClient

# Initialize the client
# Source: sdk/ascend-sdk-python/ascend/client.py:324
client = AscendClient(
    api_key="owkai_your_api_key_here",
    agent_id="my-first-agent",
    environment="production"  # or "sandbox" for testing
)

# Test the connection
status = client.test_connection()
print(f"Connected: {status.connected}")
print(f"Organization: {status.organization}")

Node.js

const { AscendClient } = require('@owkai/ascend-sdk');

// Initialize the client
const client = new AscendClient({
    apiKey: 'owkai_your_api_key_here',
    agentId: 'my-first-agent',
    environment: 'production'
});

// Test the connection
const status = await client.testConnection();
console.log(`Connected: ${status.connected}`);
console.log(`Organization: ${status.organization}`);

Step 4: Submit Your First Action

Python

from ascend import AscendClient, AgentAction

client = AscendClient(
    api_key="owkai_your_api_key_here",
    agent_id="my-first-agent"
)

# Create an action to govern
# Source: sdk/ascend-sdk-python/ascend/client.py:368
action = AgentAction(
    action_type="database_read",
    description="Read customer list for report generation",
    parameters={
        "table": "customers",
        "operation": "SELECT",
        "columns": ["id", "name", "email"]
    }
)

# Submit for governance evaluation
result = client.submit_action(action)

# Check the decision
print(f"Decision: {result.decision}")  # APPROVED, DENIED, or PENDING
print(f"Risk Score: {result.risk_score}")
print(f"Risk Level: {result.risk_level}")

if result.decision == "APPROVED":
    # Safe to proceed with the action
    print("Action approved - proceeding...")
elif result.decision == "DENIED":
    # Action was blocked
    print(f"Action denied: {result.denial_reason}")
elif result.decision == "PENDING":
    # Needs human approval
    print(f"Waiting for approval from: {result.pending_approvers}")

Node.js

const { AscendClient } = require('@owkai/ascend-sdk');

const client = new AscendClient({
    apiKey: 'owkai_your_api_key_here',
    agentId: 'my-first-agent'
});

// Create an action to govern
const action = {
    actionType: 'database_read',
    description: 'Read customer list for report generation',
    parameters: {
        table: 'customers',
        operation: 'SELECT',
        columns: ['id', 'name', 'email']
    }
};

// Submit for governance evaluation
const result = await client.submitAction(action);

// Check the decision
console.log(`Decision: ${result.decision}`);
console.log(`Risk Score: ${result.riskScore}`);
console.log(`Risk Level: ${result.riskLevel}`);

if (result.decision === 'approved') {
    console.log('Action approved - proceeding...');
} else if (result.decision === 'denied') {
    console.log(`Action denied: ${result.denialReason}`);
} else if (result.decision === 'pending') {
    console.log(`Waiting for approval from: ${result.pendingApprovers}`);
}

Step 5: View in Dashboard

After submitting your action, you can see it in the ASCEND dashboard:

1. Navigate to Actions → Recent Activity
2. Find your action by agent ID or timestamp
3. View the full risk assessment and audit trail

Verification

To verify everything is working:

# Python: Run a quick test
python -c "
from ascend import AscendClient
client = AscendClient(api_key='$ASCEND_API_KEY', agent_id='test')
status = client.test_connection()
print('SUCCESS' if status.connected else 'FAILED')
"

Expected output:

SUCCESS

What's Happening Behind the Scenes

When you submit an action, ASCEND:

1. Receives the action via secure API
2. Identifies your agent from the API key
3. Assesses risk using CVSS, NIST, and MITRE frameworks
4. Evaluates policies — Smart Rules and Cedar policies
5. Routes for approval if required by policy
6. Returns decision with full risk assessment
7. Logs everything to immutable audit trail

Troubleshooting

Issue	Cause	Solution
401 Unauthorized	Invalid API key	Check your API key is correct
403 Forbidden	Key lacks permissions	Generate a new key with correct scopes
Connection timeout	Network issue	Check firewall allows HTTPS to pilot.owkai.app
Agent not found	Agent not registered	Register your agent first or use auto-registration

Next Steps

Now that you've submitted your first action:

• Core Concepts — Understand risk levels and approval workflows
• Your First Action — Deep dive into action submission
• Python SDK — Full SDK documentation

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Document Version: 1.0.0 | Last Updated: December 2025