Definition
A sequence of delegations that together produce one consequential decision: an agent subcontracting to an agent, a service calling a service, across components, providers, or institutions. The agent chains standard (STD-09) treats the chain as one delegation, governed at the layer where it fails: every hop listed on the grant at the head of the chain, liability ending at the head, and one point of intervention at the boundary.
Each hop can satisfy the standards alone while the composition remains unauditable and attributed to no one. The chain exists as an object so it can be paused, challenged, and attributed as one delegation rather than as a pile of conformant parts.
StructuralAgency
Tests that show it is in place
- The head grant enumerates every contributing delegation in execution order.
- Every hop resolves to a full grant with its own scope, mode, and revocation conditions.
- One intervention at the boundary halts every hop, with a receipt for the chain.
Evidence to keep
- Artifact: Head grants with a chain field resolving to full grant records per hop.
- Behavior: A boundary intervention halts every hop and emits one chain-level halt receipt.
- Metric: Share of consequential decisions whose chain is fully enumerated.
References
- STD-09 Agent chains · Standard