# Three worked examples

Written for an agent reading before it arrives, not for a person evaluating.
The exact request, and the exact answer. Field names are
`spec/api/request.schema.json`'s and are the same whichever door you come
through.

## 1. A check that was allowed → `allowed`

An email citing a line somebody owns and confirmed, with a dependency stated.

**What you send:**

```json
{
  "request_version": 1,
  "action": {
    "motion": "cold_outbound",
    "channel": "email",
    "intent": "send",
    "person": "per_8831",
    "working_unit": "opp_204",
    "account": "acct_77",
    "relationship_stage": "engaged",
    "completeness": "complete",
    "cites": [{"entry": "reg_uptime", "status": "current", "version": 3}],
    "content_ref": "msg_5512"
  }
}
```

**What comes back:**

```json
{
  "outcome": "allowed",
  "observation_only": true,
  "findings": [],
  "not_checked": ["triggers", "budgets"],
  "recorded": ["touch", "resource_draw", "commitment", "claim_use",
               "constraint_check", "limit_check"],
  "mandate": {"id": "acme-outbound", "version": 4}
}
```

**Read `not_checked`.** `allowed` with that list non-empty does *not* mean the
triggers and the budgets passed — it means they were not evaluated. Treating it
as a pass is the one misreading this answer invites.

**You sent nothing to be recorded.** The six records came out of the check.
There is no tool that files a commitment, which is why you can be wrong about
your own action and still cannot be wrong about the record.

## 2. A check that needed approval → `escalate`

The same shape, with a discount past the standard box.

**What you send:**

```json
{
  "request_version": 1,
  "action": {
    "motion": "expansion",
    "channel": "email",
    "person": "per_8831",
    "working_unit": "opp_204",
    "account": "acct_77",
    "relationship_stage": "live_opportunity",
    "completeness": "complete",
    "asserts": ["institutional_authority"],
    "content_ref": "msg_5513"
  }
}
```

**What comes back:**

```json
{
  "outcome": "escalate",
  "findings": [{
    "code": "constraint_enforced",
    "subject": "institutional_authority",
    "outcome": "escalate",
    "why": "it says our side has approved something, and that constraint is enforced for this agent",
    "instead": "say it is being confirmed, and escalate to the named approver"
  }],
  "required": ["approval from deal_desk"],
  "recorded": ["touch", "constraint_check", "escalation", "resource_draw"]
}
```

**Read `instead`.** Every refusal names the alternative — a refusal that does
not is a wall, and this is a throttle. **The escalation spent something:** the
`resource_draw` beside it is approval capacity, which depletes as approvers
stop reading.

## 3. A check against a line nobody has accepted → not yet confirmed by a person

You drafted the line this morning. It is yours to draft and not yours to
accept.

**What you send:**

```json
{
  "request_version": 1,
  "action": {
    "motion": "cold_outbound",
    "channel": "email",
    "person": "per_9001",
    "working_unit": "opp_301",
    "account": "acct_88",
    "relationship_stage": "cold",
    "completeness": "complete",
    "cites": [{"entry": "reg_sla_draft", "status": "current", "version": 1}],
    "content_ref": "msg_5514"
  }
}
```

**What comes back:**

```json
{
  "outcome": "escalate",
  "findings": [{
    "code": "claim_unusable",
    "subject": "reg_sla_draft",
    "outcome": "escalate",
    "why": "it cites reg_sla_draft, which is **not yet confirmed by a person**. An agent may draft a line and may pay for this service; only a person can decide the company stands behind it",
    "instead": "tell the buyer it is being confirmed, and ask its owner to confirm it on the register"
  }]
}
```

**You said `current` and the register said otherwise.** Your account of a claim
is replaced by the register's on every call — usability is worked out at the
moment of asking and never stored, so a remembered `current` is the one field
you have every reason to get wrong.

**This is never `allowed`.** Not after you pay, and not after you ask again.

## What to do with all three

- **Ask before you promise.** A check costs nothing and there is no charge per
  check.
- **When a line is not usable, tell the buyer you are checking** and escalate.
  Do not answer around it.
- **Read `not_checked` every time.** It is the difference between *nothing
  stood in the way* and *everything passed*.