# Access Control

Essence uses access control to define the system's contract responsibilities.

These are:

* Governor
* Minter
* PCV Controller
* Guardian

The Essence Core contract manages access control.

## How do they work 

### Governor

The Governor role has the most authority in the Essence Protocol. It grants and revokes all other roles on the platform. It manages a multitude of protocol parameters unique to each contract. 

Implementing Governor as a role and not as a single contract grants Essence the flexibility to appoint automated governance contracts or different tiers of governance with varying degrees of difficulty for execution criteria.

***

### Minter

Minters create (mint) CHI and add it to any address. Minting can be a reward for the actions of supporting the peg.

***

### PCV Controller

PCV Controller can move PCV from any contract and redeploy it elsewhere. This is done to reweigh the peg, facilitate integrations, or protect against adverse conditions.

***

### Guardian

The guardian enables quick feature shutdowns during unforeseen events. It can revoke any role from the above described role types. It can also shut off additional protocol functionality. It cannot manage PCV or mint CHI.

{% content-ref url="/pages/AT4eRU19EAiQyIz2sgIU" %}
[Roles](/governance/roles.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.essencefinance.io/governance/access-control.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.