CAIN-42 invariant · E36

E36-CONTRACT-resource_limits: a machine contract without resource_limits is refused

Held · CAIN-42 Evolution 36 -- Machine Agency Exchange Fabric

Last reviewed 2026-10-01

held niche Transactions, markets & economics · family machine_contract

What this rule means

CAIN-42 must always satisfy: a machine contract without resource_limits is refused. It is one of 842 invariants checked for CAIN-42 Evolution 36 -- Machine Agency Exchange Fabric. An invariant is a rule the system may never break, whatever an agent or attacker does; the test suite tries to break it across many scenarios and records the result.

Recorded detail

'ExchangeError:CONTRACT_SECTION_MISSING:resource_limits'

Products this protects

CAIN Agent Labor — Rules for agents doing paid work: who did what, and who gets credit.
CAIN Agent Procurement — Let agents buy things for you, within limits you set.
CAIN Agent Store — A store of reviewed, governed agents.
CAIN Dispute — Settle disagreements between agents or companies using signed evidence.
CAIN Economy Simulator — Simulate many agents trading, to find failures before they happen.
CAIN Governance Warranty — A written commitment backed by evidence that governance held.
CAIN Machine Contracts — Contracts that agents can make and keep, with evidence.
CAIN Machine Economy — Rules for agents that pay and get paid.
CAIN Machine Organizations — Organisations made of agents, governed like companies.
CAIN Machine Reputation — Reputation for agents, earned from signed history.
CAIN Marketplace — A marketplace for governed agent services.
CAIN Procurement Intelligence — Helps buyers compare agent vendors on evidence.
CAIN Proof Market — A market where verified proofs have value.
CAIN Service Exchange — Agents offering and buying services from each other, governed.
CAIN Service Intelligence — Insight into which agent services are worth trusting.
CAIN Threat Intelligence — Shared intelligence on attacks against AI agents.

Verify it in your browser

Your browser downloads the bundle's SHA256SUMS manifest and the file(s) behind this page, hashes them with SHA-256 locally (WebCrypto), and compares. A match shows the record you are reading is the published one; it does not by itself prove who published it (see the signed claims registry and the bundle verifier for that).

Check it yourself

Browse the raw bundle · How to reproduce it · SHA-256 manifest

Scope: An in-process TESTED library; not hosted, not a deployed network. The directory and marketplace are local registries, not a public exchange.

Related rules

E36-MARKET-coding: marketplace category coding exists
E36-MARKET-research: marketplace category research exists
E36-MARKET-analysis: marketplace category analysis exists
E36-MARKET-data_processing: marketplace category data_processing exists
E36-MARKET-cybersecurity: marketplace category cybersecurity exists
E36-MARKET-simulation: marketplace category simulation exists
E36-MARKET-planning: marketplace category planning exists
E36-MARKET-browser_automation: marketplace category browser_automation exists

← E36-CONTRACT-permissions · all 842 · E36-CONTRACT-time_limits →

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