Mind · Inference

ScopeFreeze

Lock requirements to prevent scope creep

Definition

Mechanism

Phase Transition Control. Defines a discrete point (T_freeze) after which the `AcceptSpec` and `Goal` of a Task become Immutable. Any new requirements discovered after T_freeze must be rejected or moved to a 'Backlog' object for future execution. It locks the Task requirements, forcing the agent to Satisfice within the remaining TimeboxThink rather than Decompose further.

Preconditions

  1. Initial requirements defined
  2. Task is active

Postconditions

  1. New requirements routed to Backlog
  2. Task marked as Frozen (Read-Only Requirements)

Invariants

  1. Immutability: After freeze, Task.AcceptSpec cannot be modified.
  2. Rejection: New SubTasks created after freeze must serve EXISTING goals only (no new features).

Risks

Failure modes

  1. Feature Creep

    Agent discovers 'nice to have' sub-tasks and attempts to execute them during the closing phase.

  2. Perfectionism Spiral

    Continuous refinement of the AcceptSpec prevents task completion.

Relationships

Builds on

References

Infrastructure

AcceptSpec

Non-compensatory acceptance contract; consumer Verify yields Solution or FrameError

Agent

Autonomous Goal-Directed Entity

Decompose

Dividing complexity into manageable units

Satisfice

Optimizing for speed via threshold acceptance

Infrastructure

Task

The atomic unit of intent

Nothing in this library builds on this pattern yet.

Reference

Parameters

exception_policy Enum, {Reject, Queue, CostAnalysis}
Default: Queue
freeze_trigger Enum, {Time, Progress, Manual}
Default: Manual

Identity

Ref
ScopeFreeze#548e
Sema ID
sema:ScopeFreeze#mh:SHA-256:548e48a88048b5383250dbf480e0b52ed61ed9cc2fd947d89fac68edc9737d21
Ring
2
Tier
2
Updated
2026-11-11
Supersedes
  • sema:ScopeFreeze#mh:SHA-256:d8c15a8a91ccbfcdb54d00cb1c4a386969867716b402ae638e5822742cd1d2d4
  • sema:ScopeFreeze#mh:SHA-256:939dd7b6c88e74dc272db73678bb54612061126969e3a08a960c45189b1a7cfd
  • sema:ScopeFreeze#mh:SHA-256:a5fba4646fccc10c48b48fd440def9dc483ddd9c143d2468181c1063103ca707