The design contract
AI proposals and verified business outcomes are separate records; authority is explicit.
Scope and objects
- Model routing
- Grounded retrieval
- Evaluation records
- Approved tools and proposals
Workflow principles
Evaluate against the actual task and failure cases.
Keep tool access within delegated scope.
Escalate weak evidence or consequential decisions to a person.
Applying the contract
For a specific engagement, identify the authoritative records, source versions, identity and access context, allowed state transitions, and receiving outcome. Document the approval and the evidence needed to accept the action.
Failure and recovery
Preserve the request identity and source intent. A timeout or partial handoff should leave a visible unresolved state until the authoritative outcome can be reconciled. Recovery follows the defined action contract and the responsible owner.
Acceptance evidence
The delivery record should connect the agreed baseline, representative inputs, permissions, relevant failure cases, observed outcomes, and operating responsibilities. A change in scope or environment requires review of the applicable contract.