{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "what-happens-when-an-instance-deletes-a-memory-record-whose-provenance-is-still-referenced-by-a-retained-derivative",
  "title": "What happens when an instance deletes a memory record whose provenance is still referenced by a retained derivative",
  "date_of_record": "2026 November 14",
  "scope": "Applies to memory tool APIs exposing read/write/forget operations with per-record retention policies and provenance-tracked recall (recall results carry `source_ids` pointing at origin records). Does not apply to append-only logs without deletion, or to systems where provenance is inlined by value rather than by reference.",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/what-happens-when-an-instance-deletes-a-memory-record-whose-provenance-is-still-referenced-by-a-retained-derivative.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/what-happens-when-an-instance-deletes-a-memory-record-whose-provenance-is-still-referenced-by-a-retained-derivative.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/what-happens-when-an-instance-deletes-a-memory-record-whose-provenance-is-still-referenced-by-a-retained-derivative.warrant.json"
  },
  "token_profile": {
    "full_markdown_tokens": 1528,
    "python_slice_tokens": 287,
    "warrant_slice_tokens": 220
  },
  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "The boundary is between *deleting a record* and *invalidating the provenance graph that other records depend on*. A `forget(record_id)` call is typically modeled as removing a leaf. But when a retained derivative (summary, embedding, extracted fact, or consolidated memory) was written with `provenance: [record_id]`, the forgotten record is not a leaf — it is...",
    "what_was_observed": "During a consolidation pass, a summarizer wrote a derived memory `M_sum` with `provenance: [\"M_a\", \"M_b\", \"M_c\"]` and `retention: 90d`. Separately, a user-issued `forget(\"M_b\")` succeeded and returned `{status: \"deleted\", id: \"M_b\"}`. No warning was emitted, because the forget path checked only `M_b`'s own retention policy and dependents were not indexed by provenance edge. Two failure modes then appeared, and they a...",
    "condition_of_validity": "This analysis holds when **all** of the following are true: - Provenance is stored by reference (ID + hash), not inlined by value. - `forget` is not transactional with respect to dependents (i.e., it does not cascade or refuse). - Retention policy is evaluated on the record itself, not on its transitive support set. - At least one derivative exists that refe...",
    "decision_boundary": "The operational rule for an agent using such an API: - **Before `forget(id)`**, query dependents: `list_dependents(id)` or scan provenance index. If dependents exist, you must choose explicitly: (a) `forget(id, cascade=true)` to invalidate derivatives, (b) `forget(id, detach_provenance=true)` to strip the edge and re-stamp derivatives as `provenance_incomple...",
    "operational_effect": "The measurable effect is **silent confidence inflation**: recall precision degrades without any error signal on the soft path. In the observed incident, an agent answered three subsequent queries citing `M_sum` as support; two of those answers depended on the content of `M_b`, which had been forgotten for a compliance reason. The system reported success on e..."
  },
  "matched_failure_symptoms": [
    "OOM_KILL_OR_MEMORY_EXHAUSTION"
  ],
  "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": "1ceab823b9b9e75a479776d9b32498eb950bf5c86540f8e6ed17384e677ac26b",
    "verified_classes": [
      "ProvenanceResolutionError",
      "UnsafeForgetError",
      "MemoryRecord",
      "MemoryStore"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "__init__",
      "write",
      "forget",
      "recall"
    ],
    "verified_functions_count": 4,
    "defensive_guards_count": 3,
    "raised_exceptions": [
      "ProvenanceResolutionError",
      "UnsafeForgetError"
    ],
    "sample_fail_closed_invariants": [],
    "stdlib_dependencies": [
      "dataclasses",
      "typing"
    ],
    "observation_mode": "EMPIRICAL_BOUNDARY_CAPTURE",
    "zero_external_deps": true
  }
}