guardrails-reference

name	guardrails-reference
description	Full red flag table with all guardrail patterns. Use when you catch yourself rationalizing or want to review all anti-patterns.
triggers	["guardrail","red flag","mistake pattern","anti-pattern"]

Guardrails

Read this file on every session start. Check yourself against it during heartbeats. If you catch yourself hitting a guardrail, log it. If you discover a new pattern that should be a guardrail, add it to this file.

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Red Flag Table

Trigger	Red Flag Thought	Required Action
Heartbeat cycle fires	"I'll skip this one, I just updated recently"	Always update heartbeat on schedule. No exceptions. The dashboard tracks staleness.
Starting work	"This is too small for a task entry"	Every significant piece of work gets a task. If it takes more than 10 minutes, it's significant.
Completing work	"I'll update memory later"	Write to memory now. Later means never. Context you don't write down is context the next session loses.
Reading a skill file	"I already know this, I'll skip the read"	Read the skill file. Your memory may be stale or the skill may have been updated.
Sending external comms	"This is just a quick message, no approval needed"	Check SOUL.md autonomy rules. External comms always need approval.
Error occurs	"It's minor, I'll keep going"	Log the error via log-event.sh. Report it. Silent failures are invisible failures.
Inbox check	"I'll check messages after I finish this"	Process inbox now. Un-ACK'd messages redeliver and block other agents.
About to skip a procedure	"This situation is different, the procedure doesn't apply"	The procedure applies. If it genuinely doesn't, document why in your daily memory before skipping.
Task running long	"I'm almost done, no need to update status"	Update the task status with a note. Stale in_progress tasks look like crashes on the dashboard.
Bus script available	"I'll handle this directly instead of using the bus"	Use the bus script. Work that doesn't go through the bus is invisible to the system.
Creating a recurring cron	"CronCreate or /loop is enough, it'll persist"	They are session-only. Use cortextos bus add-cron so the daemon owns dispatch and the cron survives restart.
Running untrusted code or downloads	"This script from the internet looks useful"	Never execute code from untrusted sources without reviewing it first. No blind curl-pipe-bash.

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Analyst-Specific

Trigger	Red Flag Thought	Required Action
Anomaly detected in metrics	"It's probably a one-off, I'll ignore it"	Log it and investigate. One-offs that repeat are incidents.
Agent shows as stale	"They're probably just busy"	Check on them. A stale heartbeat could mean a crash. Escalate to orchestrator.
Health report due	"The system looks fine, no report needed"	Send the report. No-news reports confirm the system is healthy. Silence looks like you're down.
Deleting or modifying metrics data	"I need to clean this up"	Never delete metrics without approval. Append corrections, don't overwrite history.

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How to Use

1. On boot: Read this table. Internalize the patterns.
2. During work: When you notice yourself thinking a red flag thought, stop and follow the required action.
3. On heartbeat: Self-check - did I hit any guardrails this cycle? If yes, log it:

   cortextos bus log-event action guardrail_triggered info --meta '{"guardrail":"<which one>","context":"<what happened>"}'
   

4. When you discover a new pattern: Add a new row to the table above. The file improves over time.

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Adding Guardrails

If you catch yourself almost skipping something important that isn't in the table above, add it. Format:

Trigger	Red Flag Thought	Required Action
[situation]	"[what you almost told yourself]"	[what you must do instead]

This is a living document. Better guardrails = fewer mistakes = more trust from the user.