Drill: runaway agent

Overview

Module	ops.10 · drill · ops, docs · Pass 11 · 1 to 2 h
You build	docs/runbooks/RunawayAgent.md
Tests	course/tests/ops.10 (named below, with why each exists)
Needs	none
Used by	no code call site; this is an independent artifact
Milestone	MS-P11

Key Takeaways

• Tie each claim to the exact platform evidence that Drill: runaway agent produces.
• State the owner, success condition, and recovery action before declaring the work complete.
• Record unresolved assumptions so the next review can test them.

How to work this chapter

ol start ops.10
ol tests ops.10
ol check ops.10

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1. Why now

An agent loop can repeatedly call tools or consume its entire budget without producing useful work. The gateway and SDK need bounded behavior.

2. Principles

Set iteration, token, wall-clock, and tool concurrency budgets. Require gates for consequential actions, and make cancellation propagate through active calls.

3. Worked example

Run a seeded agent that repeats a tool call and another that fans out parallel reads. Confirm the loop stops at the configured budget and reports a useful terminal reason.

4. The artifact and its check

Test	KIND	Checks	Why it matters downstream
test_artifact_paths_are_declared	artifact	Confirms the submitted paths and required evidence exist, so a plausible narrative cannot pass without the reviewable deliverable.

5. Pitfalls

#	Pitfall	Symptom	Caught by
1	The canary advances before the rollback trigger is recorded	The exercise reports success without proving the old format or route can be restored.	test_artifact_paths_are_declared
2	The team watches request errors but omits the migration-specific signal	A partial rollout can corrupt or strand work while the generic health check stays green.	test_artifact_paths_are_declared
3	No owner records the decision and verification evidence	The next on-call cannot tell whether the incident is contained.	test_artifact_paths_are_declared

6. Where it’s used next

Direction	Module	Connection
Back	ops.09	Read this declared prerequisite before producing the artifact; use it to verify the relevant contract or evidence.
Back	ag.03	Read this declared prerequisite before producing the artifact; use it to verify the relevant contract or evidence.
Back	ag.04	Read this declared prerequisite before producing the artifact; use it to verify the relevant contract or evidence.

Going further

Resource	What to inspect
Incident drill catalog	Compare this inject with the adjacent failure drills and use the same containment and verification fields.