Chain enumeration
The head grant's chain field, each id resolving to a grant record with mode and liability.
Chain-boundary intervention
Give a chain of automated systems one halt control that reaches every step, so the chain is halted, measured, and held to account as one system.
- 1 Evidence
- 2 Authority
- 3 Decision
- 4 Consequence
- 5 Challenge
- 6 Reconsideration
- 7 Correction acts here
Where it acts
At Correction, one of the seven stages every consequential decision passes through. One halt control reaches every step, so the chain halts as one system instead of one step at a time.
Steps
Put the mechanism in motion
4 steps, in order. Check each one off as it is done; the records show the work was done.
0 of 4 steps complete
Records this mechanism keeps
What a team running this mechanism keeps, and what each record is for.
Chain halt receipt
One receipt per halt naming every hop stopped and the time it took.
Composed-window measurement
Measured upstream latency against the intervention window, per decision period.
Reuse-ready snippets
Copy policy, audit, and incident language
Use these snippets in requirements, audits, and postmortems with the mechanism permalink.
Policy requirement
Policy requirement (MEC-20 Chain-boundary intervention) - Any consequential decision produced by a chain of delegations records the chain on the head grant, each hop resolving to a full delegation. - The chain boundary carries one intervention specification, and exercising it halts every hop with a receipt covering the chain. - A chain whose composed latency leaves no measured human window does not run unattended. Reference: https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/chain-boundary-intervention
Product requirement
Product requirement (MEC-20) - The interface exposes the chain boundary as a single halt surface, with the hops it covers named on the receipt. - The composed window is displayed to the operator, not the per-hop clock each vendor promises.
Audit evidence checklist
Audit evidence checklist (MEC-20) [ ] Head grants enumerate their chains, and each hop resolves to a grant record. [ ] Halt receipts cover the chain, and a halt test shows downstream hops did not continue. [ ] Composed windows are measured from decision records, not from vendor estimates.
Postmortem trigger
Postmortem trigger (MEC-20) Trigger review when a chain could not be halted at the boundary, or when hops continued after the hop that was halted.
Example usage
One halt for a three-vendor claims chain
One scenario with each part of the mechanism in place.
How it plays out
A payer's denial chain runs intake, scoring, and letter generation across three providers. The head grant lists all three hops; a halt at the boundary stops all three, and the receipt names each. The composed window leaves the reviewer 90 seconds, so the chain runs in confirm mode at the boundary rather than unattended.
Anti-patterns
Common failure cases and counterfactuals
Each case passes on paper and fails in operation. The counterfactual shows what would have worked.
Per-hop halt theater
Each hop exposes a halt control and each works, but downstream hops re-trigger the halted one or continue on stale output, so the composed process never stops.
Counterfactual: One boundary intervention halts every hop, and the halt receipt covers the chain.
Exception: A chain that re-converges after an interruption was never halted.
Latency laundering
Each hop promises a sub-second review, so every hop's clock looks compliant and no one owes a human window.
Counterfactual: The composed window is measured from decision records, and a chain without one cannot run unattended.
Exception: Parallel-sounding latency claims must be checked against whether the hops run in series.
Diagnostics for this mechanism
Tools that size the risk this mechanism addresses.
Diagnostic
Delegation audit
Walks a team through one workflow against six questions and returns an exposure score, the permissions nobody can justify, and whether its decisions can be undone. Start here when the system keeps no decision records yet; use the record conformance checker once it does.
Cite this page · v1.2.1 · updated Oct 6, 2026 · CC BY-SA 4.0
APA
Ethotechnics Institute. (2026). Chain-boundary intervention (MEC-20). Ethotechnics Institute. https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/chain-boundary-intervention
MLA
Ethotechnics Institute. "Chain-boundary intervention (MEC-20)." Ethotechnics Institute, 2026, https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/chain-boundary-intervention.
Chicago
Ethotechnics Institute. "Chain-boundary intervention (MEC-20)." Ethotechnics Institute. Oct 6, 2026. https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/chain-boundary-intervention.
BibTeX
@misc{mechanism_chain-boundary-intervention,
title={Chain-boundary intervention (MEC-20)},
author={Ethotechnics Institute},
year={2026},
howpublished={Ethotechnics Institute},
url={https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/chain-boundary-intervention},
version={v1.2.1}
}
RIS
TY - WEB TI - Chain-boundary intervention (MEC-20) AU - Ethotechnics Institute PY - 2026 UR - https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/chain-boundary-intervention ER -