# Cannot Identify Authoritative State

## Ontology Metadata

Code: ISS-0085
Version: ISS-0085@0.1.0
Ontology release: 0.1.0
Updated: 2026-05-10T00:00:00Z
Canonical URL: /workbench/issues/cannot-identify-authoritative-state/

## Summary

The user or workflow cannot tell which state, version, review result, decision, source, or output is currently authoritative.

## Category

- CAT-0130 — Loops & Resolution
  - URL: /workbench/categories/loops-and-resolution/
  - Summary: Problems where agents, workflows, reviews, approvals, policies, schemas, or routing paths loop, wait on themselves, fail to settle, or cannot identify a final state.

## Primary Pattern

- PAT-0240 — Authority-State Mismatch
  - URL: /workbench/patterns/authority-state-mismatch/
  - Summary: A structural condition where observed system state no longer aligns with the declared authority state that is supposed to govern it.

## Declared Patterns

- PAT-0240 — Authority-State Mismatch
  - URL: /workbench/patterns/authority-state-mismatch/
  - Summary: A structural condition where observed system state no longer aligns with the declared authority state that is supposed to govern it.
- PAT-0120 — Missing Authority
  - URL: /workbench/patterns/missing-authority/
  - Summary: A structural condition where a region, action, state, or decision path exists without a declared governing authority.
- PAT-0200 — Reference Instability
  - URL: /workbench/patterns/reference-instability/
  - Summary: A structural condition where references, identifiers, links, or anchors change across equivalent evaluations without a declared cause.

## Derived Primary Lenses

- LEN-0100 — Absence Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/absence-lens/
  - Summary: Detects structurally required elements that are missing from the observed structure.
- LEN-0110 — Authority Overlay Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/authority-overlay-lens/
  - Summary: Maps declared authority hierarchies onto observed structure to detect absence, override, or conflict.
- LEN-0270 — Reconciliation Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/reconciliation-lens/
  - Summary: Evaluates whether structural changes align with declared authority updates, version changes, or reconciliation rules.
- LEN-0280 — Reference Stability Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/reference-stability-lens/
  - Summary: Evaluates whether structural references, identifiers, nodes, and edges remain consistent across execution cycles or comparable states.

## Derived Secondary Lenses

- LEN-0150 — Conflict Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/conflict-lens/
  - Summary: Detects mutually incompatible constraints, claims, states, or declarations that cannot be simultaneously satisfied.
- LEN-0170 — Convergence Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/convergence-lens/
  - Summary: Compares parallel structural systems to determine whether they align under shared authority.
- LEN-0180 — Determinism Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/determinism-lens/
  - Summary: Evaluates whether identical structural inputs produce equivalent structural outputs across repeated executions.

## Search Intents

- cannot identify authoritative state
- AI cannot tell which version is final
- authoritative output unclear
- which decision is current
- workflow state not authoritative
- AI review state unclear