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Governance Modes

Syndicate Code operates in defined governance modes. Modes are not informal states — they are explicit operating conditions with recorded lineage, defined policy controls, and documented failure behavior.

Syndicate Code operates in defined governance modes. Modes are not informal states — they are explicit operating conditions with recorded lineage, defined policy controls, and documented failure behavior.

MODE: governed

Governed

Normal operating mode. All governed actions pass through the control plane before execution. Policy is evaluated, approval is required for checkpointed actions, and evidence is written before side effects proceed.

  • — Policy can: allow, deny, checkpoint, escalate.
  • — Failure behavior: fail closed.
  • — Evidence: full attribution chain.
MODE: governance-suspended

Governance-suspended

An explicit operating mode — not a bypass. Governance-suspended execution is recorded in the audit chain with governance mode and lineage captured. Policy can prohibit governance-suspended sessions entirely; when prohibited, session start fails closed and the rejection is audited.

  • — This mode exists for automation and headless CI contexts where interactive checkpoint approval is not available. It is not a workaround for enforcement — it is a governed exception with recorded lineage.
  • — Invalid when policy prohibits it: session start fails closed. Rejection is audited. The run does not begin.
MODE: degraded

Degraded / control-plane-unavailable

When the control plane is unavailable, governed actions fail closed. New execution signatures are not issued. Existing permits may execute until TTL expiration.

  • — This is not a recoverable state without human intervention. The system does not fall back to an uncontrolled execution mode.
MODE: audit-chain-corrupted

Audit chain corrupted

When audit chain corruption is detected, new execution signatures are not issued. Provenance is treated as lost until the chain is verified and human intervention occurs. Normal operation does not resume until chain integrity is re-established.

Mode selection is not operator-discretionary in isolation — policy governs which modes are permitted in a given deployment context. The absence of governance-suspended prohibition in policy does not mean it is implicitly allowed — it means the operator has not explicitly restricted it, which is a policy authoring responsibility, not a product default.

See also

Governance Modes | Syndicate Code