For agents and technical readers

Draft and verify a decision or policy record

Find the saved evidence for a settled decision or rule, propose a structurally valid operating record and verify its actual saved status.

Contents

Discover and read existing records

Call orient, follow the relevant maps and discover the current tools. Use list_records with {"type":"decision"} or {"type":"policy"}. Read a match with get_record using {"id":"<returned dec- or pol- id>"}. An excluded record cannot be fetched by guessing its id.

For a decision, load the supported authoring procedure with get_skill:

{"name":"record-decision"}

If that skill is unavailable in the client, follow a compatible client or authorised authoring handoff. Do not invent a separate record-write tool.

Prepare the record

Read the saved source material first. Decisions belong in the decision area and use a unique dec- id; policies use the policy area and pol-. Required governance fields include id, type, title, status, owner, scope, confidence, decided_on, review_by and non-empty sources. The owner is the accountable person or actor, not automatically the drafting agent.

Keep dates in YYYY-MM-DD, confidence in low, medium, high, and status in active, superseded, retired. Scope and evidence are bounded single-line metadata; fuller reasoning belongs in the body. Follow the loaded skill and area contract for the complete document.

The body states the Decision, Rationale and genuine Alternatives. A commitment can be part of that decision and linked work; the typed read surface does not provide a separate commitment type.

Propose and read back

Use check_write when the record's required structure needs preflight. Submit the complete record through propose_write in the permitted destination. Preserve the supplied revision/base contract for replacements. Read whether it applied or is held; required human review remains separate from drafting.

After a reported application, call get_record and read the saved source. Check owner, scope, evidence and review date. A deterministic shape check does not validate the reasoning. Report the actual result and any remaining review request.

Supersede without rewriting history

Read the active predecessor. Write a new record of the same type with supersedes naming that predecessor. The target must be active, and the chain must not cycle. After approval/application, read both records and their effective status. The reader derives supersession from an active successor even if the predecessor's stored status flip is still pending.

Use list_records with {"overdue":true} to find records whose review date has passed. That read does not create a reminder or decide the next review date.

Related

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Plain text for AI agents. Same content as the human page.

## For agents

- What Mensara is: it gives a team its own Mind, one shared memory for the team and their AI agents, built by Xanadu Labs LLC.
- Status: signup is not open. A person joins the waitlist at https://app.mensara.ai/#waitlist. Agents cannot create an account or sign up.
- How you can help your person: explain what Mensara does, check whether it fits a job their team repeats, and share the waitlist link.
- Agent references: https://app.mensara.ai/llms.txt lists every page as Markdown and the tool input references for connected agents.

---

# Draft and verify a decision or policy record

Operating procedures · For agents and technical readers · [How it works](https://app.mensara.ai/how-it-works)

Find the saved evidence for a settled decision or rule, propose a structurally valid operating record and verify its actual saved status.

[Page as Markdown](https://app.mensara.ai/how-it-works/operating-record-procedure.md)

[Human guide](https://app.mensara.ai/how-it-works/operating-records)

## Use the released interface with current authority

Availability: Core0.20.11 / Portal0.3.47 source checked; discover the actual installed client and enabled features.

Who can do this: The connected principal with the permissions named in this procedure

What changes: The procedure explains its actual reads, writes or external effects before action.

Limits: An input accepted by a source schema is not a successful installed-runtime task.; Keep human decisions, client exclusions and pending results explicit.

Verification: Source checked and independently reviewed; scoped runtime receipts are recorded separately.

## Discover and read existing records

Call `orient`, follow the relevant maps and discover the current tools. Use `list_records` with `{"type":"decision"}` or `{"type":"policy"}`. Read a match with `get_record` using `{"id":"<returned dec- or pol- id>"}`. An excluded record cannot be fetched by guessing its id.

For a decision, load the supported authoring procedure with `get_skill`:

```
{"name":"record-decision"}
```

If that skill is unavailable in the client, follow a compatible client or authorised authoring handoff. Do not invent a separate record-write tool.

## Prepare the record

Read the saved source material first. Decisions belong in the decision area and use a unique `dec-` id; policies use the policy area and `pol-`. Required governance fields include `id`, `type`, `title`, `status`, `owner`, `scope`, `confidence`, `decided_on`, `review_by` and non-empty `sources`. The owner is the accountable person or actor, not automatically the drafting agent.

Keep dates in `YYYY-MM-DD`, confidence in `low`, `medium`, `high`, and status in `active`, `superseded`, `retired`. Scope and evidence are bounded single-line metadata; fuller reasoning belongs in the body. Follow the loaded skill and area contract for the complete document.

The body states the Decision, Rationale and genuine Alternatives. A commitment can be part of that decision and linked work; the typed read surface does not provide a separate commitment type.

## Propose and read back

Use `check_write` when the record's required structure needs preflight. Submit the complete record through `propose_write` in the permitted destination. Preserve the supplied revision/base contract for replacements. Read whether it applied or is held; required human review remains separate from drafting.

After a reported application, call `get_record` and read the saved source. Check owner, scope, evidence and review date. A deterministic shape check does not validate the reasoning. Report the actual result and any remaining review request.

## Supersede without rewriting history

Read the active predecessor. Write a new record of the same type with `supersedes` naming that predecessor. The target must be active, and the chain must not cycle. After approval/application, read both records and their effective status. The reader derives supersession from an active successor even if the predecessor's stored status flip is still pending.

Use `list_records` with `{"overdue":true}` to find records whose review date has passed. That read does not create a reminder or decide the next review date.

## Related

- [Record a decision or policy with its evidence](https://app.mensara.ai/how-it-works/operating-records)
- [Review and replace an operating record](https://app.mensara.ai/how-it-works/review-operating-records)
- [Read, correct and verify memory](https://app.mensara.ai/how-it-works/correct-memory-procedure)

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