If you've spun up ChatGPT integrations, n8n workflows, or autonomous content agents, you've already deployed AI to act on your behalf. The question isn't whether to govern it. It's whether you write the rules before something breaks, or after. Below is the complete framework we run in production — no gate, no email, copy it.
If you can't point to a written policy that covers each of these, you don't have a governance framework. You have hope.
Can Agent A queue work for Agent B without your review? Today, usually yes — and there's no policy on it.
An agent invokes another, which invokes another. No cap means a runaway loop with no floor.
A misbehaving agent burns thousands in API credit before anyone notices the line item.
An agent's invented fact lands in your knowledge base; the next agent cites it as a source.
Any process can write a file claiming it's a trusted agent. Nothing verifies the claim.
Two instances edit the same file at once. The loser's work disappears, silently.
Bad input becomes a bad embed becomes a bad retrieval becomes a bad draft. Nothing reverses it.
One agent drafts a hypothetical; another reads it and treats it as settled truth.
Once granted, power stays granted. No way to demote an agent that starts misbehaving.
An agent classifies, routes, and decides — with no log of why. You can't audit what you can't see.
Three tiers govern what your agents can do to external systems. Three more govern what they can do to each other and to truth itself. Run them like a code of conduct, not a wishlist.
Reversible, low-blast-radius, no decision needed. Local file writes, doc updates, dashboard regeneration. Execute and log.
You decide the parameter once — account, scope, key. Once documented, agents execute similar actions without further approval. Examples: repo creation, n8n credentials, GHL API tokens.
Per-action approval, no exceptions. Live workflow modifications, contact mutations, SMS/email sends, financial transactions, credential rotation, data deletion.
Default sandbox: each agent writes only to its own drafts folder. Cross-writing requires the queue protocol. Refusal is allowed and must be logged. Identity in frontmatter is mandatory; forging it is a Tier 3 violation.
Hard caps on recursion (3 levels), wall time (600s), API calls, disk writes. Three consecutive failures trips a circuit breaker that pauses the agent. Self-modification of its own code or context is Tier 3.
Every assertion cites a source or carries a hallucination flag. Every output writes confidence: 0–1 and verified: true | false | pending. Anything below 0.6 confidence is quarantined from retrieval. Conflict resolution: higher confidence > more recent > hand-authored.
The non-obvious move: tag every agent output with a confidence score and a verified flag, then build retrieval to ignore low-confidence content. Without it, hallucinations metastasize. With it, they self-quarantine.
Most frameworks tell you how to give an agent power. Almost none tell you how to take it away. Build both.
First 14 days a new agent ships, all outputs default to verified: false, confidence: 0.5 regardless of self-report. Forces human review of the first 100 outputs — catches calibration failures before they pollute knowledge.
Trip the circuit breaker, blow the budget, forge identity, or rack up 5+ uncited assertions in a week, and the agent is demoted to "every action requires approval" until you explicitly restore it.
Promote stable Tier 2 actions to Tier 1. Audit Tier 3 — anything safe enough to relax? Check whether confidence scores are actually predictive. Restore agents that proved stable post-revocation.
The framework above is yours. The Implementation Kit is the production code we run ourselves — drop it in, configure it once, ship. We don't sell the theory. We sell the wiring.
Capers Ventures runs on AI-driven content and automation across a roster of Eastern NC small businesses. We use this framework every day on our own infrastructure. We didn't write it as theory — we wrote it after we got bit by every one of the 10 risks above. Built by Paris Capers, Marine Corps veteran and founder, in Jacksonville, NC.
Yes — the entire 6-tier framework is on this page with no gate and no email required. Read it, copy it, adapt it to your stack. What we sell is the Implementation Kit: the production code that enforces it for you.
Operators and small teams running AI agents in production — ChatGPT integrations, n8n workflows, autonomous content or research agents. If software is acting on your behalf without written rules, this is for you.
It stops hallucinations from compounding. Tag every output with a confidence score and a verified flag, then build retrieval to ignore low-confidence content. Bad facts self-quarantine instead of becoming "knowledge" the next agent cites.
To read and adopt the framework, no — it's a code of conduct, not code. To enforce it automatically you'll want the Implementation Kit, and a 30-minute session with Paris is included to wire it into your stack.
Book a call with Paris and we'll scope it to your setup, or start with the $27 AI Readiness Audit — a teardown of where your systems leak leads, time, and money, including how your agents are governed.
Write the rules first
Take the framework for free. When you want it wired in and enforced, start with the audit or book a call.