Agent Self-Governance

Five protocols that prevent agent failure modes: losing context, false completion claims, persona drift, wasteful spending, and infrastructure amnesia.

1. WAL (Write-Ahead Log)

Rule: Write before you respond. If something is worth remembering, WAL it first.

# Write before responding
python3 scripts/wal.py append <agent_id> correction "Use Podman not Docker"

# Working buffer (batch, flush before compaction)
python3 scripts/wal.py buffer-add <agent_id> decision "Some decision"
python3 scripts/wal.py flush-buffer <agent_id>

# Session start: replay lost context
python3 scripts/wal.py replay <agent_id>

# After incorporating a replayed entry
python3 scripts/wal.py mark-applied <agent_id> <entry_id>

# Maintenance
python3 scripts/wal.py status <agent_id>
python3 scripts/wal.py prune <agent_id> --keep 50

Integration Points

• Session start → replay to recover lost context
• User correction → append BEFORE responding
• Pre-compaction flush → flush-buffer then write daily memory
• During conversation → buffer-add for less critical items

2. VBR (Verify Before Reporting)

Rule: Don't say "done" until verified. Run a check before claiming completion.

# Verify a file exists
python3 scripts/vbr.py check task123 file_exists /path/to/output.py

# Verify a file was recently modified
python3 scripts/vbr.py check task123 file_changed /path/to/file.go

# Verify a command succeeds
python3 scripts/vbr.py check task123 command "cd /tmp/repo && go test ./..."

# Verify git is pushed
python3 scripts/vbr.py check task123 git_pushed /tmp/repo

# Log verification result
python3 scripts/vbr.py log <agent_id> task123 true "All tests pass"

# View pass/fail stats
python3 scripts/vbr.py stats <agent_id>

When to VBR

• After code changes → check command "go test ./..."
• After file creation → check file_exists /path
• After git push → check git_pushed /repo
• After sub-agent task → verify the claimed output exists

3. ADL (Anti-Divergence Limit)

Rule: Stay true to your persona. Track behavioral drift from SOUL.md.

# Analyze a response for anti-patterns
python3 scripts/adl.py analyze "Great question! I'd be happy to help you with that!"

# Log a behavioral observation
python3 scripts/adl.py log <agent_id> anti_sycophancy "Used 'Great question!' in response"
python3 scripts/adl.py log <agent_id> persona_direct "Shipped fix without asking permission"

# Calculate divergence score (0=aligned, 1=fully drifted)
python3 scripts/adl.py score <agent_id>

# Check against threshold
python3 scripts/adl.py check <agent_id> --threshold 0.7

# Reset after recalibration
python3 scripts/adl.py reset <agent_id>

Anti-Patterns Tracked

• Sycophancy — "Great question!", "I'd be happy to help!"
• Passivity — "Would you like me to", "Shall I", "Let me know if"
• Hedging — "I think maybe", "It might be possible"
• Verbosity — Response length exceeding expected bounds

Persona Signals (Positive)

• Direct — "Done", "Fixed", "Ship", "Built"
• Opinionated — "I'd argue", "Better to", "The right call"
• Action-oriented — "Spawning", "On it", "Kicking off"

4. VFM (Value-For-Money)

Rule: Track cost vs value. Don't burn premium tokens on budget tasks.

# Log a completed task with cost
python3 scripts/vfm.py log <agent_id> monitoring glm-4.7 37000 0.03 0.8

# Calculate VFM scores
python3 scripts/vfm.py score <agent_id>

# Cost breakdown by model and task
python3 scripts/vfm.py report <agent_id>

# Get optimization suggestions
python3 scripts/vfm.py suggest <agent_id>

Task → Tier Guidelines

When to Check VFM

• After spawning sub-agents → log cost and outcome
• During heartbeat → run suggest for optimization tips
• Weekly review → run report for cost breakdown

5. IKL (Infrastructure Knowledge Logging)

Rule: Log infrastructure facts immediately. When you discover hardware specs, service configs, or network topology, write it down BEFORE continuing.

Triggers

Commands to Run on Discovery

# Hardware discovery
nvidia-smi --query-gpu=index,name,memory.total --format=csv
lscpu | grep -E "Model name|CPU\(s\)|Thread"
free -h
df -h

# Service discovery  
systemctl list-units --type=service --state=running
docker ps  # or podman ps
ss -tlnp | grep LISTEN

# Network discovery
ip addr show
cat /etc/hosts

The IKL Protocol

1. SSH to new server → Run hardware/service discovery commands
2. Before responding → Update TOOLS.md with specs
3. New service discovered → Log port, path, config location
4. Credentials obtained → Encrypt and store in memory/encrypted/

Anti-Pattern: "I'll Remember"

❌ "The GPU server has 3 GPUs" (only in conversation) ✅ "The GPU server has 3 GPUs" → Update TOOLS.md → then continue

Memory is limited. Files are permanent. IKL before you forget.