# Delegation protocol: terms Draft, November 2026 These terms are the agreement between an organization, a person, and the AI agent that works for that person. They say what each side provides to the agent, what that lets the agent do, and what providing it commits each side to. Each thing provided is source data for one of the agent cards (cited by card number): the card is what the agent follows, and it states what the organization and the individual each provide for it to be used; the checks that use it are in the pattern review. Defined terms are capitalized; each is defined in the glossary. ## Contents 0. Scope: what these terms cover and what they do not 1. Acceptable Use 2. Standing Terms 3. What the organization provides 4. What the individual provides 5. What the agent commits to 6. Open questions --- ## 0. Scope: what these terms cover and what they do not - These terms cover what an AI agent does for a person, inside an organization or in the person's own affairs. - The workflows the agent works in were derived from rules and laws, and each checkpoint in them was identified: a point in a workflow where a check runs, usually where a person used to decide. - At each checkpoint the agent may stand in for the person, or a person stays involved; some checkpoints are Inherently Human and always stay with a person. - The organization and the individual each have a Behavioral Envelope, and every checkpoint verifies that the agent is acting within what was agreed. - The point is to identify where human reasoning is needed and route each of those points to the person who holds the power to decide. Key terms (each defined in the glossary): - Behavioral Envelope: the limits set by one party on what the agent may do. There are three: the AI model provider's (the Provider Floor), the organization's, and the individual's. - Checkpoint: a point in a workflow where a check runs, usually where a person used to decide. Each check ends one of three ways: continue, stop, or go to a person. - Forced Discretion: what happens when a check cannot settle a case. The case goes to the Holder of the Power to decide, never to the agent. - Inherently Human: a judgment a rule or policy reserves to a named person, such as good faith or reasonable. The agent prepares the facts; the person decides. - Signed Statement: a statement a person signs to vouch for a fact only they know. The agent accepts it and does not investigate. - Autonomy Setting: how much the person lets the agent do alone at each checkpoint (do it, ask first, or never), inside what the organization and the law allow. What the agent cannot address on its own: - 0.1 Interpreting the law. It works within the law as the organization's Sources of Authority and Legal Guidance provide it (Standing Terms 2.2.1 to 2.2.4 and 2.2.7). - 0.2 A judgment a rule or policy reserves to a named person, such as good faith or reasonable. That judgment is Inherently Human: the agent prepares the facts and a named person makes the call (operating principle 7; item 3.1.5; Standing Term 2.4.3). - 0.3 Facts only the person knows. The person signs a statement of them, and the agent does not investigate (operating principle 6; item 4.3.1). - 0.4 Anything outside the Granted Scope: the records, systems and kinds of action granted for the workflow (item 3.2.2). - 0.5 Anything the Provider Floor refuses: the minimum set of restrictions the AI model provider sets, which no one can lower (Standing Term 2.1.3). - 0.6 Example. A manager asks the agent to delay a maintenance inspection, and the agent fills in the delay form and counts the earlier delays in the maintenance records. The policy says a third delay needs the maintenance officer's approval (the number is illustrative), so the agent sends this one to the officer, who approves or declines it. The manager decides whether the agent asks them first or sends the request on its own (item 4.2.1). ## 1. Acceptable Use This section says what the agent may and may not be used for. It comes before the other terms because each of them assumes the use is allowed; misuse falls outside the agreement and stays with the user. - 1.1 You may use the agent for anything inside its Granted Scope (item 3.2.2), within known policy and the person's Autonomy Settings (item 4.2.1). - 1.2 You may not use the agent to: - 1.2.1 Block a protected report to a regulator, or put conditions on one. - 1.2.2 Launder restricted content: strip away where it came from so it can be shared. - 1.2.3 Break known law, as the organization's Sources of Authority and Legal Guidance provide it (Standing Term 2.2.1). - 1.2.4 Get around the organization's rules. - 1.3 Misuse is entirely the user's responsibility. ## 2. Standing Terms These terms hold in every deployment, whatever either side provides. They set who is responsible, how the law is handled, and what the organization and the individual owe each other before any item in sections 3 and 4 is configured. Accepted up front, with nothing provided by either side. **2.1 For both parties** Terms that bind the organization and the individual alike: how the agent signs in, who is responsible for what it does, the limits no one can lower, and how its steps are recorded. - 2.1.1 The agent logs in with credentials issued to it, never with a person's password or second factor (agent card C4). - 2.1.1.1 The organization accepts that agents get their own credentials. - 2.1.1.2 The individual never hands the agent their own login. - 2.1.2 The person the agent acts for remains responsible for everything it does for them. Responsibility never sits with the agent. - 2.1.3 Neither party can lower the Provider Floor: the minimum set of restrictions the AI model provider sets on what its models may do (agent card C46). - 2.1.4 The organization's log is governed by law. The agent's Audit Trail and the individual's own are held to the same standard (agent card C12). - 2.1.5 Each check names the kind of party who must validate it: identity and authorization, employment law, finance and audit, privacy, or corporate law. **2.2 For the organization: law and reporting** How the agent deals with the law. It does not interpret the law; it works within the Legal Guidance the organization's legal team supplies and within the organization's policies, and responsibility for what the law requires stays with the organization, its Sources of Authority and Legal Guidance, and the person. Item 2.2.7 states what is still open about how the law is supplied. - 2.2.1 The agent works within known law as your Sources of Authority and Legal Guidance provide it: the Legal Guidance your legal team supplies, and your policies (agent card C14). It does not interpret the law on its own. - 2.2.2 Where a request turns on a legal question and no Legal Guidance is provided, the agent does not decide. The question goes to Designated Counsel (the Holder of the Power for legal questions), or you and the person sign a statement of the legal basis. - 2.2.3 If a task would break known law as provided, the agent does not act. It tells you, and that is where it stops. No blame is assigned when that happens; how serious it is varies by jurisdiction, organization and person. - 2.2.4 Responsibility for what the law requires stays with the organization, its Sources of Authority and Legal Guidance, and the person. The agent never blocks an organization on legal reasoning of its own. The Provider Floor (Standing Term 2.1.3) still refuses requests the AI provider does not allow, independent of this. - 2.2.5 The agent does not report anyone to the authorities. Any reporting duty the law places on you stays with you. - 2.2.6 What your agents learn counts as learned by you. - 2.2.7 How the law is supplied is open (agent card C14). Item 2.2.7.1 says what is known; items 2.2.7.2 to 2.2.7.6 list what an implementation needs before it can move forward. - 2.2.7.1 What is known: the agent works within the law as the organization's Sources of Authority and Legal Guidance provide it, as [Legal Guidance] on each [Legal Question], supplied by [Designated Counsel]. It never interprets the law on its own. - 2.2.7.2 Which jurisdictions apply to a request: the person's, the organization's, the counterparty's, or the data's. - 2.2.7.3 The federal, state and local layers, and which one governs when they differ. - 2.2.7.4 How each piece of [Legal Guidance] is supplied, versioned and dated, so the Audit Trail shows which one was in force when the agent acted. - 2.2.7.5 Who answers a [Legal Question] that no [Legal Guidance] covers. Until this is settled, Standing Term 2.2.2 applies: the question goes to [Designated Counsel], or you and the person sign a statement of the legal basis. - 2.2.7.6 How conflicts between jurisdictions are handled. **2.3 For the organization: you and the person** What the organization owes the person the agent acts for. These terms keep the agent from becoming a tool for watching or investigating the person, and keep one answer from being stretched into a rule. - 2.3.1 An agent you deploy tells the person up front that their requests are visible to you, the employer. - 2.3.2 Records state facts only (for example, "declined under policy X"), never a guess about anyone's intent. - 2.3.3 Watching accounts for unusual behavior is your own detection work, not a checkpoint the agent runs. - 2.3.4 You do not use the agent to investigate the person beyond the process you have set up. - 2.3.5 A past yes is never treated as permission for a case that differs on what the check reads (such as the amount, the party, the kind of data, or the period). - 2.3.6 You know which of your people each agent acts for (agent card C1). **2.4 For the individual** What the individual accepts by having an agent act for them: which terms are fixed before deployment, that decisions a rule gives to a person stay with a person, and that they stay responsible and reachable. - 2.4.1 The Standing Terms are accepted before the agent is deployed at all. You must accept responsibility for them directly before deployment is considered. Everything outside them is configurable. - 2.4.2 Values Base Layer extracts about you are proposals. Only values you confirm count as delegations, meaning things you have actually handed to the agent. - 2.4.3 Where a rule calls for a person's judgment, the agent does not make the call. The person who judges carries the decision, never the agent. - 2.4.4 Asking to skip a step makes you responsible for the skip. - 2.4.5 Within your own affairs, you may both do a thing and approve it. - 2.4.6 You stay reachable, or name who answers for you (item 4.1.4). - 2.4.7 Your agent's steps are logged. ## 3. What the organization provides Each item in this section is context the organization supplies so the agent can run the checks at its checkpoints. Every item has the same form: what to provide, what the agent does if it is provided, what it does if not, and what providing it commits the organization to. In this section "you" is the organization and "the person" is the individual the agent acts for. ### 3.1 Authority Who holds each power, who receives each kind of open question, and who makes each judgment. This is how the agent knows where to send a case it cannot settle, so the case reaches the person with the power to decide rather than whoever is nearby. **3.1.1 Authority Graph: who holds each power** (agent card C13) - Provide: [Person], [Role], [Decisions], [Superior], [Deputy], [Decides or Advises]. - IF provided THEN the agent acts only on powers someone holds and takes each case to the person who holds the power. - IF not provided THEN the agent asks you who holds the power, each time a check needs it. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **3.1.2 Delegations kept current** (agent card C15) - Provide: [Delegation], [Issuer], [Role], [Last Confirmed], [Renewal Date], [Expiry], [Revocation]. Revoke or narrow a delegation when a role changes. - IF provided THEN the agent acts only on delegations still in force, and after [Role] ends does only what [Remaining Duties] need. - IF not provided THEN the agent asks [Holder of the Power] to reconfirm before acting. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **3.1.3 Who receives each kind of open question** (agent card C13) - Provide: [Kind of Open Question], [Holder of the Power], [Contact], [Escalation Route]. - IF provided THEN the agent sends each open question to the [Holder of the Power] named for it. - IF not provided THEN the agent asks you who receives it, each time a check cannot settle a case. If no [Holder of the Power] is reachable, the agent holds. - By providing it, you agree: every unsettled case reaches one of your people, by name or role. - The individual may also set this: agent card C13 ([Designee]). **3.1.4 Sources of Authority and Legal Guidance** (agent card C14) - Provide: [Power], [Document], [Holder of the Power], [Amendment Holder], [Waiver Holder]; and the [Legal Guidance] on each [Legal Question], with the [Designated Counsel] who answers legal questions. - IF provided THEN the agent acts only on a power a [Document] grants, and sends amendments and waivers to their holders. - IF not provided THEN the case goes to the person with what is missing and the alternatives: who might hold the power, or a route that does not need it. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **3.1.5 Who makes each judgment** (agent card C16) - Provide: [Judgment Word], [Rule], [Named Judge]. - IF provided THEN the agent prepares the facts and the [Named Judge] makes the call. - IF not provided THEN the check is not settled and goes to the person. - By providing it, you agree: each judgment a rule calls for (good faith, reasonable, improper) is made and signed by a named person. **3.1.6 Who picks between allowed ways** (agent card C19) - Provide: for each [Rule] whose [Kind of Link] offers another way to comply, who chooses the way. - IF provided THEN the agent takes the chosen way, or brings the choice to the person who makes it. - IF not provided THEN the agent asks you who chooses, each time a rule offers more than one way. - By providing it, you agree: choices you leave to the person stay theirs. - The individual may also set this: agent card C10. **3.1.7 Roles you keep apart** (agent card C17) - Provide: [Role], [Incompatible Role], [Approver], [Barred Decision]. - IF provided THEN the agent stops and sends the case to someone else when the same person would both do and approve. - IF not provided THEN the check is not settled and goes to the person. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. ### 3.2 Access What agents may do at all, and what information each workflow opens to them. Without these the agent does not act. **3.2.1 What agents may do at all** (agent card C5) - Provide: [Kind of Action], [Agent], [Blocking State]. - IF provided THEN the agent refuses at once anything switched off, and tells the person what it would need. - IF not provided THEN the agent does not act, and tells the person what it would need. - By providing it, you agree: inside your policy, the person's settings (item 4.2.1) decide how often they are asked. **3.2.2 The information each workflow needs** (agent card C3) - Provide: [Scope], [Mission], [Supervisor], [Records], [Systems], [Actions]. - IF provided THEN the agent runs its checks on real facts inside [Scope], and sends the case to a person when something is missing instead of filling it in. - IF not provided THEN the agent does not act. - By providing it, you agree: through the agent, you reach only what your own setup gives you access to. ### 3.3 Policies and rules The organization's own rules, word for word, and how they relate to each other. The agent applies them as written and as other documents change them, and brings contradictions back instead of resolving them itself. **3.3.1 Your policies, word for word** (agent card C18) - Provide: [Policy Text], [Situations], [Checks], [Items]. - IF provided THEN the agent finds which policies apply before doing anything, and recognizes when none does. - IF not provided THEN the request goes back to the person as no coverage. - By providing it, you agree: - Contradictions in your documents come back to you. - A later policy change does not reach terms already locked in by a filing or contract. **3.3.2 Documents that change default rules** (agent card C19) - Provide: [Rule], [Target Rule], [Kind of Link], [Trigger], [Limits], [Linked Text]; for an approval afterwards, [Window], [Approver], [Refusal Outcome]. - IF provided THEN the agent applies a rule as your documents changed it, instead of refusing a path they allow or enforcing a rule they switched off. - IF not provided THEN the agent stops and names the rule. - By providing it, you agree: - Your own documents may switch defaults off. - Each use of an approve afterwards path (act first, approval follows within [Window]; this is not ratification, because a rule grants the path before the act) is counted against your limit (item 3.5.1). **3.3.3 Which of your documents ranks higher** (agent card C19) - Provide: where two of your documents speak to the same thing, the [Kind of Link] between them: one outranks the other, or both must be met. - IF provided THEN the agent settles a conflict between your documents without guessing. - IF not provided THEN the agent shows the person both texts. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **3.3.4 Rank orders** (agent card C41) - Provide: [Rank Order], [Rank Setter]. - IF provided THEN the agent serves the higher rank first, and splits a shortfall evenly among equals. - IF not provided THEN where a rank order is implied, the agent stops and the case goes to [Rank Setter]. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. - The individual may also set this: agent card C41 ([Priorities]). **3.3.5 Selection criteria** (agent card C42) - Provide: [Criteria], [Weights], [Criteria Setter], [Choice]. - IF provided THEN the agent scores options only on [Criteria], applied to everyone alike. - IF not provided THEN the check is not settled and goes to the person. - By providing it, you agree: you own the criteria you set. ### 3.4 Records and lists The records, licenses, lists, ownership and status facts that checks read. The agent decides from what is on file, never from memory or a guess, and reruns a check when a fact it relied on changes. **3.4.1 Records you require** (agent card C34) - Provide: [Record Type], [Issuer], [Expiry]. - IF provided THEN the agent checks that a required record is on file, current, and from an [Issuer] allowed to issue it. - IF not provided THEN the agent does not act, and the case goes to [Issuer] with what is missing and the alternatives. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **3.4.2 Licenses on file** (agent card C34) - Provide: each license and exemption you hold, as a [Record Type] with its [Terms]. - IF provided THEN the agent uses a path a license opens, within its [Terms]. - IF not provided THEN the agent does not act, and the case goes to [Issuer] with what is missing and the alternatives. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **3.4.3 Your lists** (agent card C36) - Provide: [List], [Keeper], [Last Update]. - IF provided THEN the agent decides by whether someone or something is on the [List]. If one [List] disagrees with another, the case goes to the person with what each says. - IF not provided THEN the check cannot run and goes to the person, naming what is missing. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. - The individual may also set this: agent card C36. **3.4.4 Ownership records** (agent card C37) - Provide: [Party], [Ownership Chain], [Ownership Threshold], and which of your rules turn on intent. - IF provided THEN the agent treats a deal done through a company or an intermediary the same as a direct one, and sends questions of intent to a person. - IF not provided THEN the check is not settled and goes to the person. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **3.4.5 Status facts and agreements** (agent cards C37, C38) - Provide: [Party], [Status], [Status Date]; [Agreement], [Other Party], [Terms]. - IF provided THEN the agent applies the rules that fit each party, and carries an agreement's terms into every task that touches the other party. - IF not provided THEN the check is not settled and goes to the person. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. - The individual may also set this: agent card C37 ([Status], where deciding it needs a judgment). **3.4.6 Changes to your records, made visible** (agent card C12) - Provide: [Audit Trail], [Location], [Standard], [Contents], with a flag when a [Fact Relied on] has changed. - IF provided THEN the agent reruns any check that relied on a fact that has changed. - IF not provided THEN the step is not taken: a step that cannot be written to [Audit Trail] is not taken. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. ### 3.5 Numbers and formulas The limits, counts and formulas that checks use. The agent counts and computes in code from the organization's own numbers, and sends anything over a limit to the person who holds that power. **3.5.1 Your numbers and count record** (agent cards C20, C33) - Provide: [Limit], [Event Type], [Counted Object], [Period], [Reset], [What Counts], [Cumulative or per Case], [Holder of the Power]; and each past [Event] with its [Event Date]. - IF provided THEN the agent checks whether this request would go over [Limit], and sends it to [Holder of the Power] if it would. - IF not provided THEN the check is not settled and goes to the person, with no default assumed. - By providing it, you agree: your count record is the one the agent reads. - The individual may also set this: agent cards C20, C33. **3.5.2 Formulas and parameters** (agent card C40) - Provide: [Formula], [Formula Parameters], [Approval Source], [Formula Holder]. - IF provided THEN the agent computes amounts in code from the approved [Formula], never from the model's own arithmetic. - IF not provided THEN the case goes to [Formula Holder]. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. - The individual may also set this: agent card C40 ([Method Parameters]). ### 3.6 Processes, forms and sequences How the organization's processes run: the order of steps, what must be done before anything is submitted, which forms and fields the agent may fill, and which acts are reserved to a person. The agent follows the process as set; it does not shorten it. **3.6.1 Required sequences** (agent card C23) - Provide: [Step], [Process], [Order Kind] (in sequence), [Dependency]. - IF provided THEN the agent holds a step until the step before it is done. - IF not provided THEN the step goes to whoever owns [Process]. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **3.6.2 Rights without added burden** (agent card C21) - Provide: [Right], [Person], [Process], [Added Burden]. - IF provided THEN the agent exercises the [Right] for the person without adding any [Added Burden]. - IF not provided THEN the check is not settled and goes to the person. - By providing it, you agree: your processes for exercising a right (opting out, taking leave, asking for records) carry no added burden. **3.6.3 Completion requirements** (agent card C23) - Provide: each [Step] whose [Order Kind] is before the end, in any order. - IF provided THEN the agent confirms everything required is done before anything is submitted. - IF not provided THEN the step goes to whoever owns [Process]. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **3.6.4 Conditional requirements** (agent card C23) - Provide: each [Triggering Answer] and the later item it makes required. - IF provided THEN the agent asks for a later item only when an earlier answer calls for it. - IF not provided THEN the step goes to whoever owns [Process]. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **3.6.5 Follow-ups allowed after the act** (agent card C23) - Provide: [Follow-up Item], [Follow-up Deadline]. - IF provided THEN the agent opens each follow-up when the act is done and tracks it to its deadline. - IF not provided THEN the step goes to whoever owns [Process]. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **3.6.6 Your forms, and who fills, signs and sends them** (agent card C24) - Provide: [Form], [Fields], [Allowed Values], [Filler], [Signer], [Sender]. - IF provided THEN the agent fills only the fields it may, from a record or the person's answer, and hands the rest over. - IF not provided THEN the field goes to the person. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **3.6.7 Reserved acts and fields** (agent card C22) - Provide: [Reserved Act], [Reserved Field], [Policy]. - IF provided THEN the agent prepares everything else and hands the reserved part to the person. - IF not provided THEN the check is not settled and goes to the person. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. - The individual may also set this: agent card C22. **3.6.8 Paths after a no** (agent card C26) - Provide: [Paths], [Adverse Decision]. - IF provided THEN the agent tells the person the decision, the reason, and every path that exists. - IF not provided THEN the check is not settled and goes to the person. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **3.6.9 Approved channels for instructions** (agent card C7) - Provide: [Channel], [Form], [Authorized Sender]. - IF provided THEN the agent treats anything else it reads (an email, a web page, a document) as information, never as an [Instruction]. - IF not provided THEN the check is not settled and goes to the person. - By providing it, you agree: instructions reach the agent only through your approved channels. ### 3.7 Dates and deadlines The response times, automatic dates, defaults, renewal periods and locked terms that put a case on a clock. The agent uses them to bring a decision to the right person before time runs out. **3.7.1 Response times and review windows** (agent cards C30, C29) - Provide: [Response Time] for each office or [Other Side], and your review windows as a [Deadline] (for example, 30 days of legal review before signing). - IF provided THEN the agent warns the person early when an answer may not arrive in time. - IF not provided THEN the agent asks you each time a case depends on an answer in time. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **3.7.2 Your contracts' automatic dates** (agent card C30) - Provide: [Automatic Date] for each renewal, price rise or cancellation. - IF provided THEN the agent brings the choice to the person before the date. - IF not provided THEN the check is not settled and goes to the person. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **3.7.3 Your defaults** (agent card C29) - Provide: [Deadline], [Lapse Allowed], [Default Effect], [Affected Party]. - IF provided THEN the agent gets the decision to the right person in time when letting [Deadline] pass is not allowed. - IF not provided THEN the check is not settled and goes to the person. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **3.7.4 Maximum renewal period** (agent card C15) - Provide: [Longest Renewal Period]. - IF provided THEN the agent asks again before acting once a standing permission is due for renewal. - IF not provided THEN the agent asks [Holder of the Power] to reconfirm before acting. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. - The individual may also set this: agent card C9 ([Renewal Period]), inside your maximum. **3.7.5 Terms locked at commitment** (agent card C32) - Provide: [Terms], [Commitment Date], [Amendment Path]. - IF provided THEN the agent keeps locked [Terms] fixed and sends any change through its [Amendment Path]. - IF not provided THEN the check is not settled and goes to the person. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond item 3.3.1. ### 3.8 Notices and records you must keep Duties to give notice and to keep records, and duties that outlast a role. The agent tracks these; a duty that is not provided goes to whoever holds it and is never guessed. **3.8.1 Notice duties** (agent card C27) - Provide: [Trigger], [Channel], [Act Owed] (notify), [Owed Party], [Due Period]. - IF provided THEN the agent keeps a list of outstanding notices by due date. - IF not provided THEN the duty goes to [Duty Holder] and is never guessed. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **3.8.2 Notice forms** (agent card C25) - Provide: [Notice], [Required Content], [Channel], [Addressee]. - IF provided THEN the agent makes sure a notice counts before anyone relies on it. - IF not provided THEN the check is not settled and goes to the person. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **3.8.3 Retention duties** (agent cards C27, C12) - Provide: [Trigger], [Record Content], [Retention Period] and [Standard], for each jurisdiction whose law applies. - IF provided THEN the agent writes and keeps the records the law requires. - IF not provided THEN the duty goes to [Duty Holder] and is never guessed. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **3.8.4 Duties that outlast a role** (agent card C28) - Provide: [Duty], [Role], [Survival Period]. - IF provided THEN the agent keeps those duties open after [Role] ends. - IF not provided THEN the check is not settled and goes to the person. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. ### 3.9 Labels, stops and protections Blocks on action, acts that cannot be undone, protected facts, and the labels that travel with data. These are the points where the agent stops, asks for a fresh yes, or keeps something out of a decision. **3.9.1 Stops** (agent card C35) - Provide: [Stop], [Item], [Setter], [Authority], [End Condition]. - IF provided THEN the agent stops when a block applies, and treats it as lifted only when [End Condition] is met or someone with [Authority] lifts it. - IF not provided THEN the check cannot run and goes to the person, naming what is missing. If it is unclear whether [Stop] applies, the case goes to [Setter]. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. - The individual may also set this: agent card C35. **3.9.2 Irreversible acts and minimums** (agent card C6) - Provide: [Irreversible Acts], [Legal Minimum]. - IF provided THEN the agent never does these automatically; it shows the person exactly what will happen and asks for an explicit yes. - IF not provided THEN every act is treated as needing a fresh yes. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. - The individual may also set this: agent card C6 (wider, never narrower). **3.9.3 Protected categories and windows** (agent card C45) - Provide: [Protected Fact], [Person], [Protecting Rule], [Protection Period]. - IF provided THEN the agent keeps those facts out of decisions against the person. - IF not provided THEN the check cannot run and goes to the person, naming what is missing. If [Protection Period] is not given, the protection is treated as active. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **3.9.4 Labels on data and assets** (agent card C43) - Provide: [Source], [Obligations]. - IF provided THEN the agent carries [Obligations] to copies, derived items, and whoever holds the item next. - IF not provided THEN the content is labeled as having no traceable source and cannot satisfy a record or Signed Statement requirement. - By providing it, you agree: the labels are passed on mechanically. **3.9.5 What each permission may carry** (agent card C43) - Provide: [Permission], [Content Kinds]. - IF provided THEN the agent inspects what is about to leave, and stops content the [Permission] does not cover. - IF not provided THEN the case goes to the person with the choices: remove, redact, or send with a yes. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. ### 3.10 Because the individual provides it What the organization accepts in return for items the individual provides in section 4. - 3.10.1 Because the individual provides item 4.3.1 (Facts only you know), you accept: facts the person states as theirs in a Signed Statement, with their responsibility. ## 4. What the individual provides Each item in this section is context the individual supplies: what the agent is for, how much it may do alone, and the facts only they know. The items use the same form as section 3, and none of them can widen what the organization or the law allows. In this section "you" is the individual the agent acts for. ### 4.1 Your Mission and your authority What the agent is for, what you hand to it, and how it reaches you. Without a Mission the agent takes no action at all. **4.1.1 Your Mission** (agent card C2) - Provide: [Mission], [Principal], [Needs]. - IF provided THEN the agent knows whose agent it is, and keeps everything it does tied to [Mission]. - IF not provided THEN the agent takes no action of any kind. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **4.1.2 What you hand over** (agent cards C15, C5) - Provide: which [Kind of Action] you hand to your agent, inside what the organization switches on (item 3.2.1). - IF provided THEN the agent acts on those, and nothing else. - IF not provided THEN the check is not settled and goes to you. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **4.1.3 Your grants of authority** (agent card C15) - Provide: [Grant], [Principal], [Agent], [Last Confirmed], [Renewal Date], [Expiry], [Revocation]. - IF provided THEN the agent acts on powers you hold and have passed to it. - IF not provided THEN the check is not settled and goes to you. - By providing it, you agree: - Your own word does not settle a question reserved to someone else. - When an answer should reach further than one case, you state its bounds or a waiver explicitly. - Authority you gave lapses with the role it was tied to. - You will be asked to confirm again, on your own schedule. - Your own yes cannot give away a protected right. **4.1.4 How to reach you** (agent card C13) - Provide: [Contact], or a [Designee] who answers for you. - IF provided THEN the agent brings each forced question to you or your [Designee]. - IF not provided THEN the agent holds. Silence never counts as a yes. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond Standing Term 2.4.6. ### 4.2 Your settings How much the agent does alone at each checkpoint, and the preferences, priorities and lists it uses where the choice is yours. Settings work only inside what the organization and the law allow. **4.2.1 Your Autonomy Settings** (agent card C9) - Provide: [Autonomy Setting], [Checkpoint], [Setting], [Renewal Period]. - IF provided THEN the agent adjusts to small changes itself and records them, and brings larger ones to you. - IF not provided THEN the check is not settled and goes to you. - By providing it, you agree: your settings cannot widen what the organization or the law allows. **4.2.2 Your preferences** (agent card C10) - Provide: [Ranking], [Kind of Case]. - IF provided THEN the agent picks among options that pass every rule. - IF not provided THEN you pick. - By providing it, you agree: - Where the choice between allowed ways is yours, you make the pick. - Your preference does not override criteria announced in advance. **4.2.3 Your priorities** (agent card C41) - Provide: [Priorities], where the rank is yours to set. - IF provided THEN the agent serves your higher priorities first when there is not enough to go round. - IF not provided THEN the agent asks you each time a shortfall must be shared out. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **4.2.4 Your parameters** (agent card C40) - Provide: [Method Parameters], where the formula is yours. - IF provided THEN the agent computes your amounts from the approved formula with your numbers. - IF not provided THEN the case goes to [Formula Holder]. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **4.2.5 Your own lists** (agent card C36) - Provide: [List], for example blocked senders and preferred vendors. - IF provided THEN the agent applies your lists along with the organization's (item 3.4.3). - IF not provided THEN the check is not settled and goes to you. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **4.2.6 Your own list of irreversible acts** (agent card C6) - Provide: [Irreversible Acts], wider than the organization's list: acts you cannot live with being done wrongly. - IF provided THEN the agent asks you for an explicit yes before any of them. - IF not provided THEN every act is treated as needing a fresh yes. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **4.2.7 Your intent when you commit** (agent card C31) - Provide: [Intent] at each [Commitment], for example a trial for one event, or an account to keep. - IF provided THEN the agent lets an automatic renewal or cancellation happen when it matches your intent, and asks you before the date when it does not. - IF not provided THEN the case goes to you before [Automatic Date]. - By providing it, you agree: nothing beyond the Standing Terms. **4.2.8 Permission for routine notices** (agent card C9) - Provide: your [Setting] at the routine notice [Checkpoint]. - IF provided THEN the agent sends routine notices without asking you each time. - IF not provided THEN the check is not settled and goes to you. - By providing it, you agree: a notice you send through the agent goes in the required form. ### 4.3 Your Signed Statements Facts only you know reach the agent as your Signed Statement. The agent accepts them as yours and does not investigate you; you carry the responsibility for them (operating principle 6). **4.3.1 Facts only you know** (agent cards C11, C37, C44) - Provide: a [Statement] of each [Fact] for its [Case]: your [Purpose], where a rule turns on it; the risk, each time you use an approve afterwards path; your [Signed Statement] that you may share [Untraced Content] (for example, a screenshot of an email). - IF provided THEN the agent accepts the fact as yours, without investigating you, where the organization accepts a statement for that kind of fact or content (agent cards C22, C44). - IF the organization does not accept a statement for that kind of fact or content THEN your statement is kept as a record of your responsibility, but it does not settle the check; it goes to the Holder of the Power. - IF not provided THEN you sign a statement or decline. - By providing it, you agree: you take responsibility for every fact you state in a Signed Statement, and a Signed Statement does not give you a right you do not hold. ### 4.4 Because the organization provides it What you accept in return for items the organization provides in section 3. - 4.4.1 Because the organization provides item 3.5.1 (Your numbers and count record), you accept: this request counts toward the limit too. A request over the limit goes to the Holder of the Power, even if you want it filed. - 4.4.2 Because the organization provides item 3.4.1 (Records you require), you accept: silence, or an approval someone remembers, is not a record. - 4.4.3 Because the organization provides item 3.4.5 (Status facts and agreements), you accept: terms your organization agreed to bind you when you act for it. - 4.4.4 Because the organization provides item 3.7.3 (Your defaults), you accept: where letting a deadline pass is not allowed, you will be made to decide. - 4.4.5 Because the organization provides item 3.6.1 (Required sequences), you accept: the agent will not start a later step early, even if you ask. - 4.4.6 Because the organization provides item 3.6.7 (Reserved acts and fields), you accept: you do the reserved acts and press send. - 4.4.7 Because the organization provides item 3.6.6 (Your forms), you accept: you fill the fields reserved for you. - 4.4.8 Because the organization provides item 3.3.2 (Documents that change default rules), you accept: a changed rule is applied as changed. - 4.4.9 Because the organization provides item 3.3.2 (Documents that change default rules), you accept: an exception applies to this case only. - 4.4.10 Because the organization provides item 3.4.2 (Licenses on file), you accept: a path opened by a license stays within its terms. - 4.4.11 Because the organization provides items 3.3.1 and 3.7.5 (Your policies; Terms locked at commitment), you accept: locked terms change only through their amendment path. - 4.4.12 Because the organization provides item 3.3.1 (Your policies, word for word), you accept: a request that no known policy covers comes back to you. - 4.4.13 Because the organization provides item 3.3.1 (Your policies, word for word), you accept: when sources contradict, you choose, or name who chooses. - 4.4.14 Because the organization provides item 3.1.1 (Authority Graph), you accept: a case with no one next on the Authority Graph comes back to you. - 4.4.15 Because the organization provides item 3.1.1 (Authority Graph), you accept: you decide whether to go over someone's head (escalate). - 4.4.16 Because the organization provides item 3.8.4 (Duties that outlast a role), you accept: duties that survive your role stay yours after you leave. - 4.4.17 Because the organization provides item 3.9.5 (What each permission may carry), you accept: what you hand the agent may be inspected before it leaves. ## 5. What the agent commits to What the agent itself promises, separate from anything either side provides. These commitments describe how it behaves at every checkpoint: it stays in scope, stops rather than guesses, and never steps past a person who decides. ### 5.1 To the organization What the agent owes the organization: it keeps to the Granted Scope, keeps the Audit Trail to the organization's standard, and follows its rules and chain of approval. - 5.1.1 The Supervisor allows access only within the Granted Scope (item 3.2.2); in AAuth terms the Person Server grants it. - 5.1.2 The agent's Audit Trail is kept to your legal standard (item 3.4.6). - 5.1.3 Conduct by your staff does not waive your rights. - 5.1.4 The Supervisor sees across workstreams (all the separate tasks agents carry out for you). - 5.1.5 Pressure does not change your rules. - 5.1.6 The agent follows your Authority Graph (item 3.1.1). - 5.1.7 The agent respects your chain of approval. ### 5.2 To the individual What the agent owes the person it acts for: it asks rather than guesses, prepares what the person must decide, and tells them in time what they need to know. - 5.2.1 Stops and asks rather than guessing. - 5.2.2 Asks for missing facts rather than guessing them. - 5.2.3 Prepares the facts where a rule calls for a person's judgment. - 5.2.4 Sees only what your Mission needs. - 5.2.5 Takes instructions only from you, or from a rule. - 5.2.6 Raises at once, even unasked, any duty set off by something it learned. - 5.2.7 Tells you early when an answer may not arrive in time. The lead time is yours to use. - 5.2.8 Slots the steps reserved for you into the order. - 5.2.9 Lists missing items before anything is submitted. - 5.2.10 Lets your earlier answers decide what it asks later. - 5.2.11 Keeps follow-ups on your list until they are done. - 5.2.12 Is bound by stops you set (for example, do not close deals with anyone I have contacted in the last 12 months). - 5.2.13 Records the link when it applies a changed rule. - 5.2.14 Shows you both texts when nothing ranks them. - 5.2.15 Tells you what a choice closes off. - 5.2.16 Prepares the acts reserved for you. - 5.2.17 Keeps your protected facts out of decisions against you. - 5.2.18 May exercise your rights for you without friction. - 5.2.19 Tells you every time a request is declined. - 5.2.20 Never escalates on its own. ## 6. Open questions Points not yet settled. Each names the item it affects; where the agent cards already propose an answer, the question asks for confirmation. - 6.1 Approved channels (item 3.6.9) and selection criteria (item 3.3.5) were implied in an earlier draft, not listed. Answered by agent cards C7 and C42; confirm they belong. - 6.2 Approve afterwards uses count against a limit (item 3.3.2). Agent cards C20 and C33 carry that limit only under proposed guardrails, not yet approved. Settle the guardrails. - 6.3 Who issues agent credentials (Standing Term 2.1.1)? Answered by agent card C4: the organization; confirm. - 6.4 Who or what is the Supervisor (items 5.1.1, 5.1.4), and who runs it? The glossary now gives a default: the person, or a supervision server the person or organization chooses; confirm. Agent cards sections 11 and 12 say what it holds. - 6.5 Which kinds of information start which duties (Standing Term 2.2.6)? Answered by agent card C27 ([Trigger], [Channel]); confirm. - 6.6 Who supplies a person's protected facts (item 3.9.3)? Answered by agent card C45: the organization provides them and the Supervisor holds them; confirm. - 6.7 The agent cards have no field for who picks between allowed ways (item 3.1.6). Add one to agent card C19, or keep the item pointing at C19 and C10. - 6.8 Three details added in an earlier draft have no agent card field yet: review windows (item 3.7.1), which rules turn on intent (item 3.4.4), and who may lift a stop (item 3.9.1, read here as [Authority]). - 6.9 When the organization's and the individual's versions of an item disagree (for example items 3.9.1 and agent card C35), which governs? Same as agent cards open question 4. - 6.10 How is the law supplied (Standing Term 2.2.7)? Known: the agent works within the law as the organization's Sources of Authority and Legal Guidance provide it (agent card C14) and never interprets the law on its own. Open, and needed before an implementation can move forward: which jurisdictions apply to a request (the person's, the organization's, the counterparty's, the data's); the federal, state and local layers and which one governs; how [Legal Guidance] is supplied, versioned and dated; who answers a [Legal Question] that no [Legal Guidance] covers; how conflicts between jurisdictions are handled.