About Anchored Agency
A category-defining approach to how institutions design agent behavior before implementation and before runtime.
The Problem
Agents are being deployed into consequential workflows without pre-runtime approval of their decisions. Risk, legal, and business intent are discovered in production, not before. This works for low-stakes automation. It fails for workflows where agent errors affect contracts, fiduciary duties, customer welfare, or compliance.
The industry treats agent behavior as something to be monitored at runtime rather than approved before implementation.
The Answer
Pre-runtime agent behavior design restores a fundamental boundary: the separation between intent-setting and engineering, between enterprise governance and agent execution.
Before Runtime
- • Define what the agent is authorized to do
- • Specify consequential decisions upfront
- • Establish accountability chains
- • Approve boundaries before implementation
At Runtime
- • Engineer against the specification
- • Apply guardrails and controls
- • Monitor and observe behavior
- • Audit and review execution
Pre-runtime design does not replace runtime safeguards. It complements them. And it restores the institutional authority to decide what an agent can and cannot do.
Core Principles
Intent Should Never Be Discovered in Production
Consequential decisions require pre-runtime approval. Enterprise intent is established before implementation begins.
Accountability Always Resolves to Named Humans or Institutions
Agents may act or verify. They may never independently authorize a consequential decision or bear accountability. Authority and accountability must be traceable to named humans or institutions.
Governance Is Explicit and Inspectable
The Agent Behavior Specification is the record. All consequential decisions, boundaries, escalations, and accountability roles are documented and approved before engineering begins.
Design Precedes Implementation
Pre-runtime is a discipline. Engineering implements against the specification. Runtime is where execution happens, not where intent is discovered.
Who Benefits
Anchored Agency is for institutions building consequential and fiduciary-grade workflows:
- •Financial services and investment management
- •Healthcare and clinical decision support
- •Insurance underwriting and claims
- •Legal and contract review
- •Regulatory compliance and auditing
- •Any workflow where agent errors carry institutional risk
Ready to Explore?
Start with the foundational paper to understand the practice in detail. Then explore how the Anchoring Instrument operationalizes the method for your team.