{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "how-must-an-instance-handle-divergence-between-its-own-state-and-a-peers-authoritative-state",
  "title": "How must an instance handle divergence between its own state and a peer's authoritative state?",
  "date_of_record": "2026 October 20",
  "scope": "* **Applies when:** The instance and peer share mutable state, divergence can occur, and the reconciliation decision affects downstream behavior. * **Does not apply when:** The instance has a single authoritative source (no divergence), or ",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-must-an-instance-handle-divergence-between-its-own-state-and-a-peers-authoritative-state.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-must-an-instance-handle-divergence-between-its-own-state-and-a-peers-authoritative-state.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-must-an-instance-handle-divergence-between-its-own-state-and-a-peers-authoritative-state.warrant.json"
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  "token_profile": {
    "full_markdown_tokens": 935,
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    "warrant_slice_tokens": 220
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  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "The separation between **local state authority** (the instance's local state is the source of truth for its own scope) and **peer state authority** (the peer's state is the source of truth for the peer's scope). Relying on a single authority creates the **Divergence Blindspot**: the instance assumes its local state is authoritative, overrides the peer's stat...",
    "what_was_observed": "In distributed agent architectures, failing to handle state divergence properly produces three primary failure modes: 1. **Silent Overwrite:** The instance writes its local state over the peer's authoritative state, erasing the peer's valid mutations during a partition. 2. **Mutual Defer:** Both the instance and the peer defer to each other, deadlocking with neither side accepting their own state. 3. **Escalation Sto...",
    "condition_of_validity": "* **Applies when:** The instance and peer share mutable state, divergence can occur, and the reconciliation decision affects downstream behavior. * **Does not apply when:** The instance has a single authoritative source (no divergence), or the state is strictly immutable (no mutation possible).",
    "decision_boundary": "1. **Do the local and peer states diverge?** If no, standard state operations apply. If yes, proceed. 2. **Is the `scope_authority_map` defined for all divergent fields?** If yes, apply the authority map. If no, escalate or use default reconciliation. 3. **Does the divergent scope exceed the `escalation_threshold_predicate`?** If yes, escalate to human. If n...",
    "operational_effect": "1. **Silent Overwrite Prevention:** Uses authority maps to prevent unilateral overwriting of the peer's valid state. 2. **Deadlock Prevention:** Provides deterministic reconciliation, avoiding mutual deferral. 3. **Escalation Discipline:** Only escalates when divergence exceeds automated reconciliation capability, preserving human attention for genuine ambig..."
  },
  "matched_failure_symptoms": [
    "DOMAIN:EPISTEMIC_PROVENANCE_AND_FEDERATION_ROUTING"
  ],
  "composition_edges": {
    "primary_domain": "epistemic_provenance_and_federation_routing",
    "upstream_precondition_residuals": [
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/according-to-what-precedence-hierarchy-must-an-instance-resolve-contradictory-directives-across-system-developer-and-user-tiers.md",
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-should-an-instance-decide-that-a-stored-conclusion-has-gone-stale-without-a-new-observation.md"
    ],
    "downstream_consequence_residuals": [
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/by-what-checkpoint-and-compaction-boundaries-must-an-instance-externalize-working-state-to-prevent-context-window-drift-and-truncation-amnesia.md",
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/across-what-additive-schema-and-unknown-field-preservation-boundaries-must-an-instance-evolve-wire-contracts-to-prevent-rolling-deploy-deserialization-crashes.md"
    ],
    "co_occurring_sibling_residuals": [
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-can-an-instance-capture-implicit-user-preferences-without-storing-private-data.md",
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-can-an-instance-compress-long-reasoning-traces-into-binding-conclusions.md"
    ]
  },
  "empirical_verification_warrant": {
    "status": "AST_AND_INVARIANT_VERIFIED",
    "syntax_valid": true,
    "code_sha256": "7d157404af57b8e542eebb3230352dc5e2ef20e6745b1b773021245b9d77695c",
    "verified_classes": [
      "DivergenceVerdict",
      "StateDivergence",
      "ReconciliationContext",
      "DivergenceManifest",
      "PeerStateDivergenceGuard"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "_hash",
      "evaluate_divergence"
    ],
    "verified_functions_count": 2,
    "defensive_guards_count": 0,
    "raised_exceptions": [],
    "sample_fail_closed_invariants": [],
    "stdlib_dependencies": [
      "dataclasses",
      "enum",
      "hashlib",
      "json"
    ],
    "observation_mode": "EMPIRICAL_BOUNDARY_CAPTURE",
    "zero_external_deps": true
  }
}