LEN-0250
Propagation Lens
Traces how structural declarations, effects, or state changes propagate across boundaries or stages.
Primary Pattern Matches
Boundary Leakage
A structural condition where effects, permissions, state, data, or authority cross a declared boundary without an authorized exception.
Lens Application
The Propagation Lens is a strong inspection mechanism for Boundary Leakage because it follows effects, permissions, state, data, and authority as they move across boundaries, stages, or scopes. It helps surface where propagation exceeds the intended scope, skips an exception path, or carries authority into places not authorized by the boundary.
Inspect For
- Effects crossing boundary edges without an explicit exception
- Permissions or authority persisting beyond intended scope
- State or data copied into downstream stages unexpectedly
- Boundary checks that occur after propagation has already happened
Avoid
Treat propagation evidence as a signal for closer inspection, not confirmation that Boundary Leakage has occurred.
Circular Dependency
A structural condition where two or more elements depend on each other in a closed loop without an independent base condition or declared resolution mechanism.
Lens Application
The Propagation Lens is a strong inspection mechanism for Circular Dependency because it follows how dependency signals move across elements, stages, or boundaries and whether they loop back into prior conditions. It helps surface where propagation relies on its own downstream effects rather than a stable base, external constraint, or declared resolution mechanism.
Inspect For
- Effects that return to their own source condition
- Dependency chains with no independent starting point
- State changes that require downstream confirmation to proceed
- Boundary crossings that reintroduce the same requirement
Avoid
Treat loop behavior as an inspection signal, not confirmation that Circular Dependency has been established.
Cross-Layer Escalation
A structural condition where escalation originating in one layer propagates into another authority, boundary, or control layer without explicit authorization.
Lens Application
The Propagation Lens is a strong inspection mechanism for Cross-Layer Escalation because it examines whether escalation paths cross intended layer boundaries. It helps inspect how declarations, permissions, effects, or state changes travel between layers and whether that movement appears explicitly authorized, constrained, or structurally unchecked.
Inspect For
- Escalatory effects crossing authority or control layers
- State changes that trigger higher-layer consequences
- Boundary transitions without clear authorization signals
- Cascading declarations that expand scope or privilege
Avoid
Treat cross-layer propagation as an inspection signal requiring contextual review, not conclusive evidence that Cross-Layer Escalation is present.
Propagation Amplification
A structural condition where an effect, declaration, authority, constraint, or state increases in scope or intensity as it propagates beyond declared bounds.
Lens Application
The Propagation Lens is a primary inspection mechanism for Propagation Amplification because it follows how a declaration, effect, or state change travels through systems, roles, stages, or contexts. It helps surface points where propagation increases scope, force, or consequence beyond the original boundary.
Inspect For
- Effects extending beyond their declared scope
- Constraints intensifying across handoffs or stages
- Authority expanding through downstream interpretation
- State changes affecting unintended contexts
Avoid
Treat expanded propagation as an inspection signal to examine, not as confirmation that Propagation Amplification has occurred.
Undeclared Side Effect
A structural condition where an operation modifies regions outside its declared target scope without a declared propagation or side-effect rule.
Lens Application
The Propagation Lens is a primary inspection mechanism for Undeclared Side Effects because it follows how effects, state changes, or structural updates cross declared boundaries. It helps surface mismatches between stated scope and observed propagation behavior without treating the mismatch as conclusive by itself.
Inspect For
- Effects appearing outside the declared target scope
- Missing propagation or side-effect declarations
- Boundary crossings during operation execution
- State changes in adjacent or downstream regions
Avoid
Treat unexpected propagated changes as inspection signals, not as confirmation that Undeclared Side Effects have occurred without checking whether a declaration, rule, or contextual allowance exists.
Secondary Pattern Matches
Escalation Growth
A structural condition where impact, authority, scope, or consequence increases across sequential states without a declared limiting mechanism.
Lens Application
As a secondary lens, the Propagation Lens helps inspect how escalation may be carried forward through linked states, handoffs, approvals, dependencies, or downstream effects. It can surface where increasing impact, authority, or scope travels across stages, especially when no declared constraint interrupts, limits, or contains that movement.
Inspect For
- Effects that intensify as they cross stages
- Authority or scope expanding through handoffs
- Downstream consequences triggered by earlier states
- Missing containment or limiting declarations
Avoid
Do not treat propagation paths alone as sufficient evidence of Escalation Growth without checking whether increase and lack of limitation are actually present.
Orphaned Structure
A structural condition where a node, region, object, state, or declaration exists without linkage to the governing graph or integration pathway.
Lens Application
As a secondary lens, the Propagation Lens supports inspection of Orphaned Structure by tracing whether a structural element participates in expected downstream effects, transitions, or boundary crossings. It may reveal elements that remain locally present but do not propagate into governing graphs, consumers, workflows, or later stages.
Inspect For
- Declarations with no downstream consumers
- State changes that stop at a boundary
- Objects absent from expected integration paths
- Regions skipped by propagation rules
Avoid
Treat propagation gaps as supporting inspection signals, not as confirmation that the structure is orphaned.
Overreach
A structural condition where actions, effects, authority, or modifications extend beyond declared scope without authorization.
Lens Application
As a secondary lens, the Propagation Lens helps inspect Overreach indirectly by following how declarations, effects, or state changes travel across stages or boundaries. It can highlight where an authorized action begins producing consequences outside its stated scope.
Inspect For
- Effects crossing declared scope boundaries
- Permissions or authority extending downstream
- State changes applied outside intended targets
- Boundary transitions without explicit authorization
Avoid
Treat propagation paths as indicators for further inspection rather than confirmation that Overreach has occurred.
Related Issues
Action Changed Something Else Too
An AI or agent action makes the requested change but also changes another object, field, file, state, rule, or workflow element that was not supposed to change.
Action Triggered by Confidence Score
A confidence score, certainty label, risk level, or probability-like value triggers an action without enough approval, calibration, or authority control.
Agent Cannot Choose Tool Without Tool Result
The agent needs a tool result to choose the right tool, but cannot obtain that result without choosing a tool first.
Agent Keeps Expanding the Task
The agent repeatedly expands the task, plan, scope, or next-step list instead of completing the declared work.
Agent Modified Unrelated State
An agent changes state outside the requested task, target, file, record, workflow, or authorized scope.
Agent Never Settles on Final Answer
The agent keeps revising, rechecking, planning, or branching instead of converging on a final answer or completed result.
Agent Permission Expands Over Steps
An agent begins with limited permission but gains, assumes, or exercises broader authority as the workflow continues.
AI Adds Work Not Requested
The AI adds tasks, steps, analysis, checks, changes, or follow-up work that the user did not ask for.
AI Memory Has No Governance
Saved or persistent AI memory affects output without clear rules for ownership, scope, review, update, expiry, or removal.
AI Memory Updated Without Asking
AI memory, saved context, preference, or durable state is updated without the user clearly asking for or approving that update.
AI Touches Unrelated Scope
The AI affects, edits, analyzes, changes, or reasons over material outside the scope of the requested task.
AI Uses External Information When Forbidden
The AI uses outside knowledge, sources, tools, memory, or assumptions after the task forbids external information or limits the allowed source set.
Approval Depends on Output That Needs Approval
A required approval depends on an AI output or workflow result that itself cannot be produced or trusted until approval is granted.
Automation Skips Required Approval
An automated AI or workflow step proceeds past an approval gate that should have been required before action.
Behavior Does Not Match Declared Role
The AI or agent behaves outside, below, or differently from the role, authority, responsibility, or permission posture declared for it.
Context Leaks Between Tasks
Context, assumptions, constraints, examples, files, or decisions from one task affect another task where they should not apply.
Downstream Steps Magnify Hallucinated Claim
A hallucinated or unsupported claim from an AI output is reused by later workflow steps until it becomes more influential than the evidence supports.
Early Model Output Gets Overweighted Downstream
An early AI output receives too much authority in later workflow steps, decisions, reviews, or generated artifacts.
Fallback Authority Is Missing
The system does not declare who or what has authority when the primary owner, rule, tool, source, or decision path is unavailable or inconclusive.
File-Bounded Task Uses Outside Content
The AI is asked to work only from a specific file or document but uses content, assumptions, or sources outside that file.
Hallucinated Fields
The AI adds fields, keys, attributes, columns, or structured elements that were not declared, requested, or allowed by the expected schema.
Hidden Rule Overrides Visible Instruction
A hidden, upstream, system, policy, tool, or product rule changes or overrides the visible instruction the user expects the AI to follow.
Local Exception Grows Into Policy
A local exception, special case, or one-off allowance begins to function like a general policy.
Local Rule Spreads to Broader Cases
A rule intended for one local case, file, context, user, workflow, or exception begins affecting broader cases.
Merge Step Leaves Unresolved Differences
A merge, reconciliation, or consolidation step combines outputs or reviews but leaves important differences unresolved.
Model Output Triggers Unapproved Action
AI output causes, recommends, or triggers an action that has not passed the required approval, permission, or authority check.
No Owner for Agent Action
An agent action can affect the system without a declared responsible owner, authority, or accountable decision path.
Policy Decision Depends on Itself
A policy decision requires the outcome of the same policy decision before it can be made.
Policy Exception Spreads Too Far
A narrow policy exception, allowance, or special case spreads beyond its intended scope and begins governing broader cases.
Prompt Does Not Say What to Exclude
The prompt declares what to include but does not declare what should be excluded, allowing unwanted scope, sources, content, or actions into the result.
Relationship Map Has Missing Links
A map of related Issues, rules, patterns, cases, fields, tools, or workflow steps is missing links needed to navigate or reason over the structure.
Repair Step Created New Breakage
A repair, correction, retry, or fix step addresses one problem but introduces a new failure elsewhere.
Retrieval Exceeds Evidence Limit
The AI retrieves, uses, cites, or considers more evidence than the task permits or more than the review surface can support.
Retry Makes the Problem Worse
A retry, repair attempt, regeneration, or follow-up instruction increases the error, expands the failure, or creates additional breakage instead of narrowing the problem.
Review Escalates Without Stop Condition
A review process keeps escalating, re-reviewing, or adding scrutiny without a declared condition for stopping.
Review Outcome Changes Unrelated Environment
A review result, approval, rejection, or classification changes state outside the environment, case, file, or workflow it was meant to govern.
Review Queue Becomes Bottleneck
A review queue, approval path, or validation stage accumulates too much work and begins blocking the workflow.
Risk Score Triggers Wrong Escalation
A risk score, severity label, confidence value, or threshold result triggers the wrong escalation path.
Risk Signal Escalates Beyond Evidence
A risk signal, warning, score, or concern escalates farther than the available evidence supports.
Routing Overrides Task Intent
Routing, mode selection, agent behavior, or workflow classification sends the task down a path that overrides what the user was trying to accomplish.
Routing Path Cycles Back to Start
A routing path sends the case back to the starting point or an earlier step without resolving the condition that caused the route.
Schema Reference Loops Without Base Case
A schema, field, type, object, or structured reference points through a loop without a base case that allows validation or interpretation to resolve.
Severity Increases Without New Evidence
The severity, risk, confidence, or escalation level increases even though no new evidence has been added.
Small Change Produces Large Downstream Effects
A small prompt, schema, policy, output, or workflow change creates unexpectedly large effects in downstream steps.
Small Error Spreads Into Large Failure
A small AI, output, routing, or workflow error propagates through later steps until it becomes a larger failure.
Small Issue Keeps Escalating
A small issue, warning, uncertainty, or correction keeps increasing in severity, scope, or workflow impact across later steps.
Task Progress Is Lost Midway
The AI loses track of completed work, prior decisions, current position, or remaining steps before the task is finished.
Too Many Tool Calls
The AI or agent makes more tool calls, searches, retrievals, API calls, or integration actions than the task requires or permits.
Tool Can Act Without Responsible Authority
A tool, connector, function, or integration can perform an action without a declared responsible authority for that action.
Tool Result Not Integrated Correctly
The AI receives a tool result but misreads, ignores, overwrites, misplaces, or fails to incorporate it correctly into the final output or workflow state.
Workflow Loops Through Review Without Resolution
A workflow repeatedly sends work through review, repair, or escalation without reaching an approved, rejected, or otherwise resolved state.
Workflow Stage Has Too Few Checks
A workflow stage lacks enough checks, gates, criteria, or review conditions to safely support the work it controls.
Workflow Step Has No Decision Owner
A workflow step requires a decision, approval, judgment, or routing choice, but no owner is declared for making it.
Workflow Step Lacks Required Conditions
A workflow step can run, route, approve, reject, or continue without the required conditions being declared or checked.
Workflow Waits on Step That Waits Back
A workflow step waits for another step that also waits on the first step, creating a blocking loop.