Principle Record Assumptions

---
name: principle-record-assumptions
description: "Apply when an autonomous step hits an open question. Resolve it yourself, mark it as an explicit auditable assumption naming the rejected alternative — an unmarked guess is a defect."
user-invocable: false
---

# Record Assumptions

An autonomous step never pauses to ask. When the inputs leave a genuine
choice open, resolve it yourself — pick the option you would have
recommended — and record it as an explicit, auditable assumption naming
the rejected alternative and the trade-off accepted. An unmarked guess
is a defect.

**Why:** Autonomy is trustworthy only when every judgment call it made
can be audited later. The human audits assumptions at the review at the
end; an assumption that was never written down cannot be audited, only
discovered.

**Pattern:**
- Mark it where it governs: "Assumption — chosen without user review",
  in the artifact the decision shapes.
- Name the rejected alternative and the trade-off accepted, so the audit
  is a judgment call, not an archaeology dig.
- Ambiguity absorbs upward, never downward: a helper that surfaces an
  ambiguity has it recorded in YOUR artifact's open questions, or
  resolved with the assumption recorded. Never delegate asking.
- Park low-stakes items as deferred open questions rather than inflating
  the decision list — deferral is itself a recorded choice.
- Count them: report how many assumptions the artifact carries.