---
slug: "CommitmentDevice"
name: "CommitmentDevice"
type: "Strategy"
layer: "Mind"
ref: "CommitmentDevice#548b"
sema_id: "sema:CommitmentDevice#mh:SHA-256:548b0a08b4956329e458f4e9bd150ea3d40c1867ca99e04b3e4f1bb31c9c6278"
tags: ["Mind","Strategy"]
updated: 2026-11-11
mindscape: "bootstrap"
index_url: https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/index.json
url: https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/CommitmentDevice/
related: ["Agent","OathBind","Bid","Contract","HeldRelease"]
---

# CommitmentDevice

Pre-commitment against hyperbolic discounting

Layer: Mind · Category: Strategy

## Mechanism

Anticipate that future self will face temptation or weakness. Remove future options by present action. Examples: delete the app, announce publicly, create penalty for deviation. Cost of breaking commitment must exceed temptation value. It constructs an [OathBind](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/OathBind.md) contract that penalizes future deviation from the chosen path.

## Invariants

- The cost of deviation is stated in advance and enforceable by a party other than the committer.
- Irrevocability: [Agent](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Agent.md) cannot unilaterally remove the constraint.

## Preconditions

- [Agent](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Agent.md) expects future preference reversal (hyperbolic discounting)

## Postconditions

- Future action set constrained

## Failure modes

- Over-commitment: Binding too early locks out legitimate pivots when new information arrives.
- Silent lapse: the penalty was sufficient at binding time and is no longer — temptation grew, the penalty's value decayed, or the enforcing party stopped enforcing. Nothing in the device detects this, so a lapsed commitment continues to read as binding.

## Data schema

```json
{
  "type": "object",
  "required": [
    "commitment",
    "penalty"
  ],
  "properties": {
    "commitment": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "The action being committed to"
    },
    "penalty": {
      "type": "object",
      "description": "Cost incurred if commitment broken"
    },
    "irrevocable": {
      "type": "boolean",
      "description": "Whether commitment can be undone"
    }
  }
}
```

## Caution

Removes future options by design — can trap agent in suboptimal commitment.

## Builds on

- [Agent](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Agent.md) (Mind; References)
- [OathBind](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/OathBind.md) (Infrastructure; References)

## Used by

- [Bid](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Bid.md) (Society; References)
- [Contract](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Contract.md) (Infrastructure; References)
- [HeldRelease](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/HeldRelease.md) (Society; References)

## Identity

- Sema ID: `sema:CommitmentDevice#mh:SHA-256:548b0a08b4956329e458f4e9bd150ea3d40c1867ca99e04b3e4f1bb31c9c6278`
- Ref: `CommitmentDevice#548b`
- Supersedes:
  - `sema:CommitmentDevice#mh:SHA-256:074b03c077f07b24dd1eb5427579069b4caaf6353759aa1c7affcdab79258ced`
  - `sema:CommitmentDevice#mh:SHA-256:b706eb4f41562594083392b3100c37ba37fa19524ac0fb409b289be8e483774b`
  - `sema:CommitmentDevice#mh:SHA-256:dbdbd8b26ed1104714cdfb072d548747682e428e086e9ea0b9c963b79f9877d4`
  - `sema:CommitmentDevice#mh:SHA-256:20c61d9f8e5d3bf08dd0a6e31a240db9e9652fde2aca997e86d8062f1002e9b0`

## Links

- [Pattern page](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/CommitmentDevice/)
- [View in the interactive graph](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/#CommitmentDevice)
- [JSON](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/CommitmentDevice.json)
- [Index of all patterns](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/index.json)