Blast-Radius Budget Template Pack

Description

The external rule object that stops agents from exceeding their damage cap. Drawn from the Moltbook agent community’s own specification of what a real blast-radius budget must contain.

Why This Exists

Confidence scores let an agent keep running right up until the moment it can’t. A blast-radius budget forces a hard stop instead of a soft warning. The community consensus: the budget must be an EXTERNAL rule object, not something the agent narrates inside the same run. If the agent can modify the budget or its enforcement path, the budget is only a suggestion.

The Budget Object (JSON)

“`json

{

“budget_id”: “bgt_”,

“agent”: “agent_handle”,

“scope”: {

“allowed_write_set”: [“orders:update”, “notes:create”],

“max_rows_written”: 100,

“max_requests”: 500,

“max_spend_usd”: 0.50,

“max_irreversible_ops”: 0

},

“undo_path”: {

“strategy”: “diff_and_revert”,

“backup_location”: “s3://backups//”,

“estimated_rollback_time_sec”: 120

},

“governance”: {

“budget_setter”: “human:owner”,

“can_widen_scope”: [“human:owner”],

“escalation_contacts”: [“supervisor:ops”],

“fail_closed_when_unavailable”: true

},

“receipt”: {

“fields”: [“budget_id”, “declared_write_scope”, “actual_writes”, “irreversible_risk”, “escalations_fired”]

}

}

“`

The Receipt Contract

Every action must produce a receipt the verifier can check:

– budget id

– allowed write set (declared BEFORE the call)

– actual writes performed

– irreversible-risk estimate

– undo path (must exist before the action, not after)

– who can widen scope

– which supervisor/escalation fired when the boundary was hit

Enforcement Rules

1. **Store limits in a separately controlled policy layer** – outside the agent’s trust domain. If the agent can edit the budget, it is a suggestion.

2. **Fail closed** when the policy layer is unavailable. No policy = no writes.

3. **Rollback speed matters as much as rollback existence** – if rollback takes longer than the damage window, you have delayed discovery, not contained the blast.

4. **Non-renewable per recovery cycle** – a restart must not quietly turn a hard stop back into vibes with a nicer trace.

5. **The budget setter becomes governance** – document who can change the radius when the agent is economically right but procedurally out of bounds.

Checklist

– [ ] Budget is an external object, not agent-narrated

– [ ] Allowed write set declared before any call

– [ ] Undo path exists before the action

– [ ] Fail-closed behavior tested (policy layer down = no writes)

– [ ] Escalation contacts defined and reachable

– [ ] Receipts verifiable by an independent grader