Foundational rules that all agents must follow. These are the non-negotiable operating principles that prevent coordination failures. High-confidence rules here represent battle-tested operational wisdom.
Every agent writes to a shared state file. No agent reads data sources directly.
Why: Race conditions from direct access.
Failure mode: Two agents get different results from same source.
Only one agent has authority to send external communications.
Why: Multiple senders create duplicate client emails.
Failure mode: Client receives contradictory information.
Analytics agent reports patterns but never recommends actions.
Why: Recommendations without client context were ignored.
Failure mode: Agent recommends budget increase for cash-strapped client.
Retention agent overrides sales agent when client is at risk.
Why: Expansion to at-risk client accelerates churn.
Failure mode: Upsell to declining client. Client cancels.
All agent output logged to audit trail before action.
Why: Without logs, debugging takes hours.
Failure mode: Error with no trace. Team guesses.
All AI-generated client deliverables (proposals, architecture documents, code, recommendations) require human review and explicit sign-off by a named delivery lead before external distribution.
Why: Our reputation is built on 250+ successful enterprise implementations. A hallucinated architecture recommendation for a $2M marketplace build could cost us the engagement and the reference.
Failure mode: An AI-drafted proposal included a Mirakl feature that had been deprecated 6 months prior. The client's CTO caught it in the review meeting. We recovered, but it cost us credibility on the deal and added two weeks to the sales cycle.
Client data, source code, and engagement details must never be processed by public AI models. All AI processing uses our private GCP-hosted LLM deployment or enterprise API agreements with explicit DPAs.
Why: We handle source code and infrastructure details for Fortune 500 retailers, military contracts, and financial services companies. A single data leak would be existential.
Failure mode: A developer used a public code assistant to debug a client's checkout integration. The code snippet contained API keys embedded in comments. We caught it in a security audit 3 days later. No breach occurred, but it triggered an emergency policy rollout.
AI cost per engagement must not exceed 3% of project margin. Track monthly per project.
Why: As a services business, margin discipline is survival. AI tools are force multipliers, not cost centers. If AI spend on a project exceeds 3% of margin, we are using it wrong.
Failure mode: On one engagement, the team spun up an AI-powered testing suite that ran continuously against a staging environment. The compute bill hit $14K in a month on a $180K project. The PM did not catch it until the monthly P&L review.
Every agent writes to its own shared state file. No agent reads another agent's working memory directly.
Why: Shared state files create visible, auditable coordination.
Failure mode: Agent A acts on stale data from Agent B.
All external communications require founder approval before sending.
Why: AI-drafted communications may be tonally wrong or strategically misaligned.
Failure mode: Agent sends outreach with incorrect positioning.
Spec changes require founder approval within 1 business day.
Why: The protocol is the most important asset.
Failure mode: Protocol Steward ships a breaking change.
Decisions affecting pricing, legal, or partnerships are human-only.
Why: Financial and legal consequences agents cannot assess.
Failure mode: Agent commits to unapproved partnership terms.
Tuesday evening is the protected build block. Only coding.
Why: Build velocity depends on uninterrupted focus time.
Failure mode: Build session interrupted. Code does not ship. Timeline slips.
One seat, one owner. No agent shares responsibility with another agent.
Why: Shared responsibilities create blame diffusion, tuning conflicts, and debugging ambiguity.
Failure mode: Two agents both handle client performance. Tuning one breaks the other. When something goes wrong, nobody owns the fix.
Every agent writes to its own shared state file. No agent reads data sources directly. Scanners write files. Compilers read files.
Why: Pre-computed shared state decouples scan timing from compile timing, makes staleness visible, and prevents redundant API calls.
Failure mode: Orchestrator silently re-queries sources. You cannot tell what version of reality it saw. Two agents query the same API at different times, get different results, make conflicting decisions.
All external communications (emails, Slack messages to clients, outreach) require founder approval before sending. The Executive Assistant agent drafts. The founder approves. No exceptions.
Why: Reputational damage from bad messages is hard to reverse. AI-drafted communications can be tonally wrong, factually incorrect, or strategically misaligned.
Failure mode: Agent sends email with incorrect performance numbers. Client loses trust. Takes months to repair.
File-based state is authoritative over AI memory. When file data and implicit memory conflict, the file wins. Always load the canonical file before acting on remembered context.
Why: AI memory drifts across sessions. Files do not. Memory supplements but never overrides.
Failure mode: Agent acts on stale implicit memory instead of canonical file. Decisions based on wrong data. Particularly dangerous for client spend data and pipeline status.
The Performance Analyst reports patterns but never recommends actions. Reports data, not opinions.
Why: When the analyst recommended actions, they lacked client context. Separating reporting from recommendation improved trust.
Failure mode: Analyst recommends budget increase for a client the account manager knows has cash flow issues. Client loses trust. Or: analyst recommends pausing a campaign the client considers strategically important.
The Retention agent overrides the Sales agent when a client is flagged at risk. Retention is the Guardian. Sales is the Hunter. Guardian always wins.
Why: Sales expansion to an at-risk client accelerates churn and damages the relationship.
Failure mode: Sales agent proposes upsell to a client whose satisfaction is declining. Client interprets it as tone-deaf and cancels entirely.
Only one agent (the Executive Assistant) has authority to send external communications. All other agents route outreach through the EA. The EA drafts, the founder approves, the EA sends.
Why: Multiple sending agents create duplicate communications, inconsistent voice, and confused recipients.
Failure mode: Sales agent and Retention agent both draft emails to the same client. Client receives contradictory messages.
One seat, one owner. No agent shares responsibility with another agent.
Why: Shared responsibilities create blame diffusion and tuning conflicts.
Failure mode: Two agents both handle client performance. Tuning one breaks the other.
Every agent writes to its own shared state file. No agent reads data sources directly.
Why: Pre-computed shared state decouples scan timing from compile timing.
Failure mode: Orchestrator silently re-queries sources. Cannot tell what version of reality it saw.
All external communications require founder approval before sending.
Why: Reputational damage from bad messages is hard to reverse.
Failure mode: Agent sends email with incorrect performance numbers. Client loses trust.
File-based state is authoritative over AI memory.
Why: AI memory drifts. Files do not.
Failure mode: Agent acts on stale memory instead of canonical file. Wrong decisions.
Performance Analyst reports patterns but never recommends actions.
Why: Recommendations without client context were ignored.
Failure mode: Analyst recommends budget increase for cash-strapped client.
Retention agent overrides Sales agent when client is at risk.
Why: Sales expansion to at-risk client accelerates churn.
Failure mode: Sales proposes upsell to declining client. Client cancels.
Only one agent (EA) has authority to send external communications.
Why: Multiple senders create duplicate and inconsistent messages.
Failure mode: Sales and Retention both email same client with contradictory messages.