> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.changeguard.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Local Executor
> The same Permit model from inside your cluster, for environments that ChangeGuard cannot reach centrally or where policy requires local presence. One generated install, one environment, least privilege.
**Status: Supported.** Use the Local Executor where your topology or policy requires local presence. For reachable EKS environments the [Cloud Executor](/execute/cloud-executor) is preferred — nothing to install, and nothing in your cluster holds a credential. The Local Executor is never required for autonomy, and installing ChangeGuard Edge (the optional evidence collector) is not a prerequisite for either.
The Local Executor runs the same `executor` package as the Cloud Executor, inside your cluster, under a service account you scope. It speaks the same protocol (`permit-v1`), verifies the same signed [Permits](/govern/permit), consumes each one exactly once with ChangeGuard before writing, records the pre-state, applies exactly the signed patch with the field manager `changeguard-executor`, and reports under the Permit and attempt id.
## Installing it
Open the environment in **Connected environments → Execution** and choose **Install Local Executor**. ChangeGuard generates a complete manifest for **this environment only**:
* a dedicated namespace, ServiceAccount, Secret and Deployment, all named `changeguard-local-executor-`;
* a ClusterRole of the same name that only defines `get`, `list` and `patch` on Deployments, StatefulSets and DaemonSets;
* a RoleBinding of the same name in each namespace you chose — and nowhere else;
* a new agent credential for the Executor, embedded in the manifest and shown once.
Apply it with your own credentials:
```bash theme={null}
kubectl apply -f changeguard-local-executor-.yaml
```
Applying it *is* the grant. Nothing in ChangeGuard can give itself write access. Then click **Verify execution access** in the Execution section: the Executor proves it holds the verbs it needs in your namespaces and not the ones it must never have, and verifies a signed probe Permit — without reading or changing any workload.
Every object the install creates carries the environment's instance label and annotation, so regenerating the install updates this environment's Executor in place, another environment's install never touches it, and `kubectl delete -f` of the file removes this environment's Executor and nothing else. A cluster can safely carry several environments' Executors side by side.
## What it may and may not do
| May | May never |
| - | - |
| `get`, `list`, `patch` Deployments, StatefulSets and DaemonSets in the namespaces you granted | delete, create, exec into pods, read or list Secrets, write RBAC, impersonate, patch nodes, use wildcards or cluster-admin |
| apply exactly the patch signed into a consumed Permit | apply anything else, retry a failed patch, or act without a consumed Permit |
| report the result under the Permit and attempt id | mark anything VERIFIED — verification comes from independent observation |
An Executor installed before per-environment names, or one that does not speak `permit-v1`, is served nothing and the environment reads **Local Executor · upgrade required**. Reinstall it from the Execution section; the old objects can then be removed by deleting exactly its own Deployment, ServiceAccount, credential Secret and bindings, and revoking its API key. Never delete a namespace the evidence collector shares.
## Stopping it
Scale the Deployment to zero or delete the manifest, revoke its API key, shrink its RoleBindings, or disable execution for the environment in ChangeGuard. Queued work simply holds; nothing executes without a consumed Permit, and a silent attempt is recorded as unreported and fails to a human — it is never assumed to have worked.
The preferred Executor for reachable EKS environments.
The identity model behind both Executors.
This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.