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Agent Authority & Safety Systems

The Rules That Prevent Catastrophe

Authority ceilings, escalation over hard blocks, a 4-level kill switch with CLI fallback, recovery protocols, and the non-negotiable 100% safety test coverage rule. Built for the 2am incident you hope never comes.

Recommended: Complete Building an A2A Message Broker first

7 lessons~76 min total

Lessons are shown in recommended order. Complete them in sequence for the best experience — or jump to any lesson.

Lesson 197·10 min read

The Authority Ceiling

Every agent in a real system needs a hard ceiling on what it can do autonomously. Financial limits, risk tiers, approval requirements — and what happens when an agent tries to exceed them.

Lesson 198·9 min read

Escalation Over Hard Block

When an agent exceeds its authority, the instinct is to reject the action. The Principal Broker converts it to an escalation instead. Here's why that design decision matters — and what it preserves.

Lesson 199·11 min read

Hard Blocks: The Absolute No List

22 blocked actions across 6 categories that no agent can take regardless of authority, approval, or directive. The append-only rule — why this list can never shrink.

Lesson 200·14 min read

Kill Switch Levels 1–4

Asset halt. Trading halt. Agent freeze. Nuclear. Four levels of response for four classes of emergency — and the real implementation behind each one.

Lesson 201·10 min read

The CLI Fallback

principal-halt works without the broker. Zero-dependency design — pure bash, direct launchctl, raw SQLite. When your safety infrastructure fails, your safety system cannot depend on it.

Lesson 202·10 min read

Recovery Protocol

principal-start enforces a pre-restart checklist before any service comes back up. The recovery sequence, the precondition gates, and why quarterly drills are non-negotiable.

Lesson 203·12 min read

100% Safety Test Coverage

The kill switch tests are non-negotiable. 100% coverage, not 90%. Here's why the floor is higher for safety code, what the test suite actually covers, and the 2am test that makes it real.