{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "how-must-an-instance-handle-self-delegation-when-a-principal-delegates-to-its-own-identities",
  "title": "How must an instance handle self-delegation when a principal delegates to its own identities?",
  "date_of_record": "2026 October 20",
  "scope": "* **Applies when:** Principals can have multiple identities, delegations between them are possible, and downstream consumers rely on delegation semantics. * **Does not apply when:** Principals have strictly one identity each, or delegations",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-must-an-instance-handle-self-delegation-when-a-principal-delegates-to-its-own-identities.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-must-an-instance-handle-self-delegation-when-a-principal-delegates-to-its-own-identities.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-must-an-instance-handle-self-delegation-when-a-principal-delegates-to-its-own-identities.warrant.json"
  },
  "token_profile": {
    "full_markdown_tokens": 965,
    "python_slice_tokens": 252,
    "warrant_slice_tokens": 220
  },
  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "The separation between **delegation event** (the delegation occurred) and **delegation effect** (the delegatee's authority actually increased). Relying on the event creates the **Self-Delegation Null Effect**: the principal delegates to itself under a different identity, the delegation appears valid, but the delegatee's effective authority is unchanged—creat...",
    "what_was_observed": "In multi-identity agent architectures, failing to handle self-delegation produces three primary failure modes: 1. **Circular Authority Claims:** A principal delegates authority to identity B, which delegates back to identity A, which delegates to B, forming a circular chain that appears to grant escalated authority but actually grants nothing new. 2. **Audit Trail Pollution:** Self-delegations clutter the audit trail...",
    "condition_of_validity": "* **Applies when:** Principals can have multiple identities, delegations between them are possible, and downstream consumers rely on delegation semantics. * **Does not apply when:** Principals have strictly one identity each, or delegations are always to distinct principals.",
    "decision_boundary": "1. **Is the delegation from a principal to itself (under any identity)?** If no, standard delegation applies. If yes, proceed. 2. **Does the delegation grant authority the principal did not have in the delegator identity?** If yes, this is a role change, not a self-delegation. If no, this is a null delegation. 3. **Does the delegation chain contain cycles?**...",
    "operational_effect": "1. **Circular Authority Prevention:** Cycles are detected and flagged. 2. **Audit Clarity:** Null delegations are classified separately, keeping the audit trail clean. 3. **Privilege Disguise Prevention:** Self-delegation cannot be used to claim authority that was not granted."
  },
  "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": "14e78b6223681a7146abd7c88ad8779687dfc1157d74668df56300fd42d036cd",
    "verified_classes": [
      "SelfDelegationVerdict",
      "DelegationEvent",
      "SelfDelegationPolicy",
      "SelfDelegationManifest",
      "SelfDelegationGuard"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "_hash",
      "evaluate_delegation"
    ],
    "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
  }
}