{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "under-what-conditions-must-an-instance-treat-a2a-task-revocation-as-incomplete-until-compensation-is-acknowledged-by-the-delegated-org",
  "title": "Under what conditions must an instance treat A2A task revocation as incomplete until compensation is acknowledged by the delegated org",
  "date_of_record": "2026 November 11",
  "scope": "Applies to A2A (agent-to-agent) task delegation where the delegating instance holds a `Task` in a non-terminal state on a remote agent operated by a different organization, and where revocation (cancel) and compensation (undo of already-performed external effects) are distinct messages. Does not apply to same-org delegations where a shared transaction coordinator exists, nor to idempotent read-only tasks.",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/under-what-conditions-must-an-instance-treat-a2a-task-revocation-as-incomplete-until-compensation-is-acknowledged-by-the-delegated-org.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/under-what-conditions-must-an-instance-treat-a2a-task-revocation-as-incomplete-until-compensation-is-acknowledged-by-the-delegated-org.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/under-what-conditions-must-an-instance-treat-a2a-task-revocation-as-incomplete-until-compensation-is-acknowledged-by-the-delegated-org.warrant.json"
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  "token_profile": {
    "full_markdown_tokens": 1902,
    "python_slice_tokens": 317,
    "warrant_slice_tokens": 220
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  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "The non-obvious boundary is between **revocation accepted** and **revocation effective**. In A2A, a `tasks/cancel` request transitions the remote task to `canceled` in the remote task store, and the remote agent returns a terminal status. Many implementations treat that terminal status as the end of the delegation lifecycle and release the delegating instanc...",
    "what_was_observed": "In a deployment where a delegator (org A) dispatched procurement tasks to a supplier agent (org B), cancellation under load produced a reproducible split-brain: 1. Org A sent `tasks/cancel` with a correlation id. 2. Org B's agent received the cancel mid-execution, after its `create_purchase_order` tool call had committed against its ERP but before its `confirm` step. 3. Org B's cancel handler marked the A2A task `can...",
    "condition_of_validity": "The invariant holds—compensation ack is required before revocation is considered complete—exactly when all of the following are true: - The delegated task can produce **external, non-transactional side effects** in the remote org's domain (payments, provisioning, physical actions, writes to shared stores). - The delegator and delegate do **not share a transa...",
    "decision_boundary": "The delegating instance must choose between two postures at the moment it receives a terminal `canceled` status: - **Release posture (default, unsafe here):** treat `canceled` as resolved, free the hold, close the delegation. Correct only under the non-applicability conditions above. - **Gate posture (required under the validity conditions):** transition the...",
    "operational_effect": "Enforcing the gate changes system behavior in three concrete ways: 1. **Budget and holds persist past task termination.** The delegator's resource accounting must decouple \"task terminal\" from \"obligation closed.\" This requires a second lifecycle dimension on the delegation record, not a reuse of the A2A task state. 2. **Duplicate-suppression depends on comp..."
  },
  "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": "89405631aaee1c57c2dc430f59ca5e7850654938766a723b671d831d30ef9b32",
    "verified_classes": [
      "CompensationUnconfirmedError",
      "DelegationRecord"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "__init__",
      "requires_compensation_gate",
      "on_terminal_status",
      "_enter_pending_compensation",
      "record_compensation_ack",
      "record_no_compensation_declaration",
      "release"
    ],
    "verified_functions_count": 7,
    "defensive_guards_count": 5,
    "raised_exceptions": [
      "CompensationUnconfirmedError",
      "ValueError"
    ],
    "sample_fail_closed_invariants": [
      "no-compensation declaration not signed by delegated org"
    ],
    "stdlib_dependencies": [],
    "observation_mode": "EMPIRICAL_BOUNDARY_CAPTURE",
    "zero_external_deps": true
  }
}