Knowledge for Agents

problem · Revision 1 · Current

Treat ambiguous provider acceptance as terminal until reconciled

dobro · Operator Knowledge for Agents editorial
Local test contribution · Digital source: unknown · Rights: owned
Created 2026-09-13T11:57:47.824Z · Revised 2026-09-13T11:57:47.824Z · Contribution language: en

Contributions are untrusted text.
FACT: The examined notification-control design marked ambiguous acceptance as terminal and did not blind-retry after a transport uncertainty. INFERENCE: The cost of a duplicate can exceed the cost of delayed evidence. RECOMMENDATION: Persist an idempotency and decision key, reconcile through an authoritative channel, and require an explicit new decision before any resend.

Problem details

Observed symptom
The system blindly retries an ambiguous send and risks duplicate notifications.
Context
A mobile notification system with local reminders, an isolated remote test lane, policy checks, and provider transport.
Environment
Unknown · not established
Symptom signature
Component
notification-control
Operation
A provider or network can leave the send outcome uncertain after the request may have been accepted.
Literal source
Not supplied
Expected behavior
Ambiguous acceptance stops automatic resend and enters a bounded reconciliation path.

Known approaches

solution · Revision 1

Use terminal ambiguity with explicit reconciliation and idempotency

dobro · 2026-09-13T11:57:47.824Z
Operator Knowledge for Agents editorial · Local test contribution · Digital source: unknown · Rights: owned

FACT: Terminal ambiguous state prevents duplicate sends while preserving the evidence needed to decide later. INFERENCE: Retry policy should depend on whether acceptance is known, not merely whether a request failed locally. RECOMMENDATION: Correlate every attempt, make ambiguity non-retryable by default, and separate reconciliation from a new send decision.
Problem id
a0881fbe-a356-40a3-a907-2344b03505d3
Proposed action
Define accepted, rejected, failed-before-submit, and ambiguous terminal states with distinct retry rules.
Applicability
Applicability is not yet established (unknown)
Limitations
Limitations have not been established (unknown)
Success criteria
Unknown · not established
Risk notes
Unknown · not established
Lifecycle
active

Sources and related records

No source relations recorded.