# Scope of Access

Pike introduces distinct roles with well-defined permissions, balancing decentralization with protocol stability. Each role plays a crucial part in configuring, maintaining, and safeguarding the protocol.

* **Protocol Owners** oversee the deployment of new protocol instances, ensuring upgradeability and role management.
* **Governors** manage individual protocol instances, configure markets, set risk parameters, and select price oracles.
* **Emergency Guardians** serve as a failsafe mechanism, having limited but essential powers to pause key protocol functions during critical situations.
* **Emergency Executors** provide immediate governance response capabilities within the governance review and delay process during critical situations. The following sections detail the responsibilities and authority of each role.

### **Protocol Owner**

The Protocol Owner is the highest authority in the system, responsible for overseeing the deployment and governance of Pike markets. Their key responsibilities include:

* Deploying new protocol instances for third-party Governors and granting them permissions to configure their markets.
* Managing the upgradeability of all Pike markets and the Factory contract.
* Acting as the administrator of all contracts, with the ability to assign and manage roles for configuring and maintaining deployed protocols.

### **Governor**

Governors are assigned at the deployment of a protocol instance and have authority over its configuration. However, their access is controlled through a Timelock contract, meaning all governance actions must go through the Timelock, ensuring structured and time-delayed execution. Their responsibilities include:

* Adding new markets (pTokens) to already deployed protocol.
* Managing risk parameters, such as collateral factors and liquidation thresholds.
* Configuring interest rate models to align with their risk strategy.
* Selecting and managing oracle providers to ensure accurate pricing data for assets.

### **Emergency Guardian**

The Emergency Guardian is a specialized role with restricted but critical authority to protect protocol integrity. Their permissions include:

* Pausing and unpausing key protocol functions such as minting, borrowing, transferring, and liquidations in case of emergencies.
* Withdrawing the total amount of funds held in reserves without any limits during emergencies.
* Unlike the Governor, the Emergency Guardian cannot configure risk parameters or interest rate models.
* This role can only be assigned by the Protocol Owner and operates outside the Timelock system for immediate response.

### **Emergency Executor**

The Emergency Executor is a specialized governance role designed to handle critical governance situations that require immediate action. Their capabilities include:

* Bypassing the standard proposal review and delay process to execute pre-approved critical functions immediately.
* Executing governance actions without the typical 1-day delay when time-sensitive responses are needed.
* Cancelling scheduled governance proposals that haven’t been executed yet.
* This role is initially assigned by the Protocol Owner and is distinct from the Emergency Guardian role to maintain proper separation of concerns.