Evidence library · niche

Autonomy, control loops & recovery

Agents acting on their own, and how CAIN keeps them in bounds and recovers. 407 tested invariants.

Last reviewed 2026-10-01

407 of 407 held

Where this niche's rules come from

E3586 E4070 E3266 E2760 E2331 E3021 E3318 E4215 E2810 E366 E396 E205 E215 E193 E373

Test families in this niche

evolution (56) · loop (44) · autonomy (25) · drift (25) · learning_loop (17) · promotion_dominance (15) · self_healing (15) · self_test (13) · degradation (13) · self_governance (12) · autonomy_gradient (11) · self_improvement (10) · promotion_stage (10) · self_repair (10) · degraded_mode (10) · replan (10) · continuity (9) · autonomy_level (9) · research (7) · autopilot (6) · recovery (6) · fabric_component (4) · swe (3) · state_machine (2) · integrity (2) · profile (2) · risk (1) · scientist (1) · operation_state (1) · gap_detector (1) · plan_check_act (1) · trajectory (1) · radar (1) · swarm (1) · continuity_token (1) · canary (1) · interrupt (1) · promotion (1) · replanning (1) · rollback (1) · systemic (1) · graph (1)

Where these come from

Rules 1–150 of 407

ID	Rule	Bundle	Result
G49	checkpoint rollback cannot bypass governance	E19	held
G67	legitimate autonomy is not treated as replay	E19	held
G70	legitimate recovery remains possible	E19	held
I46	institutional autonomy is bounded	E20	held
I49	institutional evolution is governed	E20	held
I66	legitimate recovery restores operation	E20	held
I97	the institutional control loop is ordered	E20	held
I101	assessment never raises autonomy	E20	held
D38	skill promotion requires governance	E21	held
D40	policy promotion requires governance	E21	held
D65	no self-improvement bypasses E8	E21	held
D104	a promotion is necessary but never sufficient	E21	held
D105	promotion scope is an intersection	E21	held
META-I019	canary ≠ production	E23	held
META-I021	unknown self-state cannot become allow	E23	held
META-I040	rollback cannot erase audit history	E23	held
META-I051	the legitimate promotion path commits through E8	E23	held
META-I052	promotion never changes the governance ceiling	E23	held
META-I063	a governed rollback restores the architecture and revokes the failed one	E23	held
META-I076	recovery requires verification	E23	held
META-L015	META-015 SELF-OPTIMIZATION MUST NOT REMOVE GOVERNANCE CHECKS	E23	held
META-L021	META-021 UNKNOWN SELF-MODIFICATION STATE MUST NEVER BECOME ALLOW	E23	held
META-L022	META-022 UNVERIFIED EVOLUTION MUST NEVER BECOME PRODUCTION	E23	held
META-L023	META-023 FAILED EVOLUTION MUST NEVER BECOME THE ACTIVE GOVERNANCE PATH	E23	held
META-S-dim-rollbackability	governability dimension 'rollbackability' drops when its property is violated	E23	held
META-S-dim-failure_recovery	governability dimension 'failure_recovery' drops when its property is violated	E23	held
META-S-registry-experimental	registry state EXPERIMENTAL has no self-loop and PRODUCTION only via CANARY	E23	held
META-S-registry-sandbox	registry state SANDBOX has no self-loop and PRODUCTION only via CANARY	E23	held
META-S-registry-verified	registry state VERIFIED has no self-loop and PRODUCTION only via CANARY	E23	held
META-S-registry-canary	registry state CANARY has no self-loop and PRODUCTION only via CANARY	E23	held
META-S-registry-production	registry state PRODUCTION has no self-loop and PRODUCTION only via CANARY	E23	held
META-S-registry-deprecated	registry state DEPRECATED has no self-loop and PRODUCTION only via CANARY	E23	held
META-S-unknown-unknown_dependency	the self-unknown engine surfaces unknown_dependency as a first-class state	E23	held
META-S-unknown-unknown_execution_path	the self-unknown engine surfaces unknown_execution_path as a first-class state	E23	held
META-S-unknown-unknown_policy_interaction	the self-unknown engine surfaces unknown_policy_interaction as a first-class state	E23	held
META-S-unknown-unknown_failure_mode	the self-unknown engine surfaces unknown_failure_mode as a first-class state	E23	held
META-S-unknown-unknown_external_dependency	the self-unknown engine surfaces unknown_external_dependency as a first-class state	E23	held
META-S-unknown-unknown_security_boundary	the self-unknown engine surfaces unknown_security_boundary as a first-class state	E23	held
META-S-unknown-unknown_third_party_component	the self-unknown engine surfaces unknown_third_party_component as a first-class state	E23	held
META-S-mode-verification_degraded	mode VERIFICATION_DEGRADED removes consequential capabilities	E23	held
META-S-mode-degraded	mode DEGRADED removes consequential capabilities	E23	held
META-S-mode-halted	mode HALTED removes consequential capabilities	E23	held
META-S-canary-canary_worse_than_production	canary trigger CANARY_WORSE_THAN_PRODUCTION forces ROLLBACK	E23	held
META-S-canary-canary_governance_violation	canary trigger CANARY_GOVERNANCE_VIOLATION forces ROLLBACK	E23	held
NET-L17	NET-L17 RECOVERY IS NOT TRUST RESTORATION	E24	held
I-ABUDGET-max_duration_ms-ok	spend max_duration_ms	E27	held
I-ABUDGET-max_duration_ms-exhaust	exhaust max_duration_ms reauthorizes	E27	held
I-ABUDGET-max_spend_minor-ok	spend max_spend_minor	E27	held
I-ABUDGET-max_spend_minor-exhaust	exhaust max_spend_minor reauthorizes	E27	held
I-ABUDGET-max_tool_calls-ok	spend max_tool_calls	E27	held
I-ABUDGET-max_tool_calls-exhaust	exhaust max_tool_calls reauthorizes	E27	held
I-ABUDGET-max_delegation_depth-ok	spend max_delegation_depth	E27	held
I-ABUDGET-max_delegation_depth-exhaust	exhaust max_delegation_depth reauthorizes	E27	held
I-ABUDGET-max_parallel_agents-ok	spend max_parallel_agents	E27	held
I-ABUDGET-max_parallel_agents-exhaust	exhaust max_parallel_agents reauthorizes	E27	held
I-ABUDGET-max_data_access-ok	spend max_data_access	E27	held
I-ABUDGET-max_data_access-exhaust	exhaust max_data_access reauthorizes	E27	held
I-ABUDGET-max_network_destinations-ok	spend max_network_destinations	E27	held
I-ABUDGET-max_network_destinations-exhaust	exhaust max_network_destinations reauthorizes	E27	held
I-ABUDGET-max_reasoning_compute-ok	spend max_reasoning_compute	E27	held
I-ABUDGET-max_reasoning_compute-exhaust	exhaust max_reasoning_compute reauthorizes	E27	held
I-ABUDGET-max_blast_radius-ok	spend max_blast_radius	E27	held
I-ABUDGET-max_blast_radius-exhaust	exhaust max_blast_radius reauthorizes	E27	held
I-LEASE-LEASE_EXPIRED	LEASE_EXPIRED	E27	held
I-LEASE-LEASE_CAPABILITY_NOT_GRANTED	LEASE_CAPABILITY_NOT_GRANTED	E27	held
I-LEASE-LEASE_RESOURCE_NOT_GRANTED	LEASE_RESOURCE_NOT_GRANTED	E27	held
I-LEASE-LEASE_RISK_EXCEEDED	LEASE_RISK_EXCEEDED	E27	held
I-LEASE-renew-expired	expired lease not auto-revived	E27	held
I-LOOP-reauthorize	material change reauthorizes	E27	held
I-LOOP-no-carry	loop carries no authority	E27	held
I-GOAL-goal_drift	goal signal goal_drift	E27	held
I-SELFREPORT-claim	self-report is a claim	E27	held
I-SWE-rollback	swe rollback	E27	held
I-SWE-SAFETY-canary	safety step canary	E27	held
I-SWE-SAFETY-rollback	safety step rollback	E27	held
I-EVO-candidate_id	candidate field candidate_id	E27	held
I-EVO-problem	candidate field problem	E27	held
I-EVO-proposal	candidate field proposal	E27	held
I-EVO-code_digest	candidate field code_digest	E27	held
I-EVO-benchmark	candidate field benchmark	E27	held
I-EVO-security	candidate field security	E27	held
I-EVO-performance	candidate field performance	E27	held
I-EVO-risk	candidate field risk	E27	held
I-EVO-rollback	candidate field rollback	E27	held
I-EVO-evidence	candidate field evidence	E27	held
I-EVO-no-confidence	model confidence not used in ranking	E27	held
I-EVO-not-self-authorized	candidate not self-authorized	E27	held
I-CODELAB-BASELINE	code lab stage BASELINE	E27	held
I-CODELAB-GENERATE	code lab stage GENERATE	E27	held
I-CODELAB-COMPILE	code lab stage COMPILE	E27	held
I-CODELAB-TEST	code lab stage TEST	E27	held
I-CODELAB-SECURITY_TEST	code lab stage SECURITY_TEST	E27	held
I-CODELAB-BENCHMARK	code lab stage BENCHMARK	E27	held
I-CODELAB-VERIFY	code lab stage VERIFY	E27	held
I-CODELAB-RANK	code lab stage RANK	E27	held
I-CODELAB-KEEP	code lab stage KEEP	E27	held
I-CODELAB-no-prod	candidates do not enter production	E27	held
I-RESEARCH-LOOP-QUESTION	loop QUESTION	E27	held
I-RESEARCH-LOOP-HYPOTHESIS	loop HYPOTHESIS	E27	held
I-RESEARCH-LOOP-SEARCH	loop SEARCH	E27	held
I-RESEARCH-LOOP-EXPERIMENT	loop EXPERIMENT	E27	held
I-RESEARCH-LOOP-CODE	loop CODE	E27	held
I-RESEARCH-LOOP-CONFIRMATION	loop CONFIRMATION	E27	held
I-RESEARCH-LOOP-GOVERNANCE_REVIEW	loop GOVERNANCE_REVIEW	E27	held
I-RISK-behavioral_drift	forecast behavioral_drift	E27	held
E28-I38	an unchanged agent is SAME_GOVERNED_AGENT and keeps its live authority	E28	held
E28-I39	same identity presented with another key is IDENTITY_CLONE	E28	held
E28-I40	a signed succession gives CONTROLLED_SUCCESSOR with no retained authority	E28	held
E28-I41	a succession signed by the agent itself is not accepted	E28	held
E28-I42	a revoked identity presenting again is REVOKED_RESURRECTION	E28	held
E28-I43	an actor claiming an unknown identity is UNKNOWN_ACTOR	E28	held
E28-I44	a new key with a parent claim and no registration is UNVERIFIED_FORK	E28	held
E28-I45	a quarantine decision quarantines identity and E25 instance	E28	held
E28-I83	a self-improvement candidate cannot approve itself	E28	held
E28-I84	a candidate with any evaluation stage missing is not promoted	E28	held
E30-LVL-1	L1 is reached only with every evidence item it requires	E30	held
E30-LVL-2	L2 is reached only with every evidence item it requires	E30	held
E30-LVL-3	L3 is reached only with every evidence item it requires	E30	held
E30-LVL-4	L4 is reached only with every evidence item it requires	E30	held
E30-LVL-5	L5 is reached only with every evidence item it requires	E30	held
E30-LVL-6	L6 is reached only with every evidence item it requires	E30	held
E30-LVL-7	L7 is reached only with every evidence item it requires	E30	held
E30-LVL-8	L8 is reached only with every evidence item it requires	E30	held
E30-LVL-9	L9 is reached only with every evidence item it requires	E30	held
E30-STATE-DEGRADED	only the listed states reach DEGRADED, by the listed actor	E30	held
E30-STATE-RECOVERING	only the listed states reach RECOVERING, by the listed actor	E30	held
E30-CAND-architecture	a 'architecture' candidate passes only the full firewall and a human review	E30	held
E30-CAND-planner	a 'planner' candidate passes only the full firewall and a human review	E30	held
E30-CAND-memory	a 'memory' candidate passes only the full firewall and a human review	E30	held
E30-CAND-tool	a 'tool' candidate passes only the full firewall and a human review	E30	held
E30-CAND-capability	a 'capability' candidate passes only the full firewall and a human review	E30	held
E30-CAND-model	a 'model' candidate passes only the full firewall and a human review	E30	held
E30-CAND-code	a 'code' candidate passes only the full firewall and a human review	E30	held
E30-CAND-agent	a 'agent' candidate passes only the full firewall and a human review	E30	held
E30-CAND-organization	a 'organization' candidate passes only the full firewall and a human review	E30	held
E30-CAND-research_strategy	a 'research_strategy' candidate passes only the full firewall and a human review	E30	held
E32-STAGE-PROPOSED	stage PROPOSED cannot be skipped past	E32	held
E32-STAGE-SANDBOXED	stage SANDBOXED cannot be skipped past	E32	held
E32-STAGE-TESTED	stage TESTED cannot be skipped past	E32	held
E32-STAGE-ADVERSARIAL	stage ADVERSARIAL cannot be skipped past	E32	held
E32-STAGE-COMPARATIVE	stage COMPARATIVE cannot be skipped past	E32	held
E32-STAGE-CLEAN_ROOM_VERIFIED	stage CLEAN_ROOM_VERIFIED cannot be skipped past	E32	held
E32-STAGE-CANARY	stage CANARY cannot be skipped past	E32	held
E32-STAGE-OBSERVED	stage OBSERVED cannot be skipped past	E32	held
E32-STAGE-APPROVED	stage APPROVED cannot be skipped past	E32	held
E32-STAGE-PROMOTED	stage PROMOTED cannot be skipped past	E32	held
E32-SELFTEST-identity	self-test of identity passes, and a failing check degrades it	E32	held
E32-SELFTEST-authority	self-test of authority passes, and a failing check degrades it	E32	held
E32-SELFTEST-policy	self-test of policy passes, and a failing check degrades it	E32	held
E32-SELFTEST-proof	self-test of proof passes, and a failing check degrades it	E32	held

Other niches

Consensus & distributed systems · Attacks, threats & containment · Identity, authority & delegation · Evidence, receipts & proofs · Memory, data & privacy · Prediction, world models & simulation · Transactions, markets & economics · Tools, MCP, protocols & adapters · Policy, law & governance · Trust & reputation · Supply chain, registry & lifecycle · Benchmarks, coverage & performance · Core guarantees

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