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Agents and Automation

Use this page when you need to understand what Helpifyr agents may do, what they must not do, and how automation stays bounded by contracts, verification, and human review.

When to use this page​

  • You are designing or reviewing an automated workflow.
  • You need to distinguish read-only automation from guarded action lanes.
  • You need a public-safe explanation of agent boundaries before deeper operator runbooks.

Prerequisites​

  • You have read System Model.
  • You know whether the workflow is diagnostics, docs publication, integration, or runtime-affecting automation.

Automation model​

Helpifyr automation should be:

  • contract-aware
  • verification-first
  • fail-closed when evidence is incomplete
  • explicit about stop conditions and owner handoffs

Architecture / Flow​

Step-by-step procedure​

1. Classify the automation lane​

Typical lanes:

  • read-only diagnostics
  • docs materialization and publication checks
  • integration verification
  • guarded rollout, recovery, or signoff support

2. Read the current truth before acting​

Illustrative readback:

GET /api/v1/agent/contracts
GET /api/v1/agent/workflow
GET /api/v1/observability/readiness
GET /api/v1/signoff/readiness

3. Keep stop conditions explicit​

Automation should stop or escalate when:

  • source truth is missing
  • runtime readiness is contradictory
  • approval or signoff is required
  • the next action would mutate a non-owner lane

4. Re-verify after any bounded action​

Use the same readback family again and confirm the expected result before calling the workflow complete.

Verification​

This page is being applied correctly when:

  1. the workflow is classified before execution
  2. evidence is checked before mutation
  3. stop conditions and owner handoffs are explicit

Common failure modes​

Treating an agent as a policy bypass​

Problem:

  • automation becomes more privileged than the documented control plane.

Better path:

  • bind automation to the same contracts, auth, and review rules as human operators

Marking a workflow complete after execution but before re-verification​

Problem:

  • actions look successful even when the state did not converge.

Better path:

  • require post-action readback

Source Truth​

Next paths​