{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "how-must-an-instance-use-canary-outputs-to-detect-behavioral-drift-before-it-causes-incidents",
  "title": "How must an instance use canary outputs to detect behavioral drift before it causes incidents?",
  "date_of_record": "2026 October 20",
  "scope": "* **Applies when:** The model or tool's behavior can drift, canary inputs with known-good baselines exist, and user-visible incidents are costly enough to justify canary monitoring. * **Does not apply when:** The model is immutable (behavio",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-must-an-instance-use-canary-outputs-to-detect-behavioral-drift-before-it-causes-incidents.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-must-an-instance-use-canary-outputs-to-detect-behavioral-drift-before-it-causes-incidents.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-must-an-instance-use-canary-outputs-to-detect-behavioral-drift-before-it-causes-incidents.warrant.json"
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  "token_profile": {
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  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "The separation between **canary input presence** (the agent sends canary prompts) and **canary drift actionability** (the canary outputs reveal drift AND the agent acts on it before user-visible incidents). Relying on presence creates the **Silent Canary Blindness**: the agent runs canaries, logs their outputs, but does not compare against baseline or act on...",
    "what_was_observed": "In drift-prone agent architectures, failing to act on canary drift produces three primary failure modes: 1. **Delayed Detection:** The agent runs canaries hourly, but the canary output only reveals drift an hour after the incident started. User-facing failures occur before detection. 2. **Canary-Only Drift:** The canary output drifts, but the drift does not match real user queries, so the canary fires while user traf...",
    "condition_of_validity": "* **Applies when:** The model or tool's behavior can drift, canary inputs with known-good baselines exist, and user-visible incidents are costly enough to justify canary monitoring. * **Does not apply when:** The model is immutable (behavior cannot drift), or incidents are so rare that canary monitoring is disproportionate.",
    "decision_boundary": "1. **Is the canary output within the `canary_drift_tolerance_band`?** If yes, behavior is stable. If no, drift is detected. 2. **Does the drift correlate with user workflows (`canary_to_user_traffic_correlation`)?** If no, the drift is canary-only and can be de-weighted. If yes, the drift is actionable. 3. **Has the `canary_drift_action_receipt` been generat...",
    "operational_effect": "1. **Pre-Incident Detection:** Detects drift before user-visible incidents occur. 2. **False Positive Reduction:** Correlates canary drift with user workflows, reducing alert fatigue. 3. **Actionable Loop:** Ensures canary detection triggers actual mitigation, not just logging."
  },
  "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": "2416c1c9efb9b6fab6ace04ec03d7b4b5d8ad295b7ee3426bb61593ce4feded6",
    "verified_classes": [
      "CanaryVerdict",
      "CanaryResult",
      "CanaryPolicy",
      "CanaryManifest",
      "CanaryDriftGuard"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "_hash",
      "evaluate_canary"
    ],
    "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
  }
}