principle-record-assumptionslisted

# Record Assumptions An autonomous step never pauses to ask. When the inputs leave a genuine choice open, resolve it yourself — pick the option you would have recommended — and record it as an explicit, auditable assumption naming the rejected alternative and the trade-off accepted. An unmarked guess is a defect. **Why:** Autonomy is trustworthy only when every judgment call it made can be audited later. The human audits assumptions at the review at the end; an assumption that was never written down cannot be audited, only discovered. **Pattern:** - Mark it where it governs: "Assumption — chosen without user review", in the artifact the decision shapes. - Name the rejected alternative and the trade-off accepted, so the audit is a judgment call, not an archaeology dig. - Ambiguity absorbs upward, never downward: a helper that surfaces an ambiguity has it recorded in YOUR artifact's open questions, or resolved with the assumption recorded. Never delegate asking. - Park low-stakes items as deferred open questions rather than inflating the decision list — deferral is itself a recorded choice. - Count them: report how many assumptions the artifact carries.