Vol. X · Field Operations · X.9
The Named Failures
The field repeats itself. Unbounded loops, context rot, mega-tools, unsandboxed exec, eval-by-demo, multi-agent theater. Name the failure, refuse it, and point at the fix. Unnamed failures come back next sprint.
6 min read
Doctrine
- Review designs against the named catalog, not against taste.
- A design that cannot name termination, sandbox, context builder, eval set, and pause API is not ready.
- Agents should load the failure catalog as a refuse-list, not as bedtime reading.
Use the catalog
Canon ships a failure catalog and a reviewer: paste a design, get hits. That is this article as a tool. The anti-patterns article is the prose. The Field is the operating procedure — refuse, then load the playbook that fixes it.
Anti-patterns
- Treating a new topology as a fix for an unnamed failure.
- Adding a crew to paper over context rot.