What is Precedent?
Precedent — Prior decisions that guide or bind future ones, the record an agent reasons from to stay consistent.
Precedent is the primitive that answers what did we decide last time? Consistent autonomous behavior depends on letting past choices inform new ones.
It is the layer that gives an agent continuity. Precedent turns a history of decisions into a standard, so similar cases resolve the same way.
Where precedent sits in the stack
In the four-layer architecture of the agentic web, precedent is a Cross-cutting concept — it applies across every layer of the stack. See the thesis for how the layers compound.
Precedent in the portfolio
24 positions in the Semantic Substrate portfolio carry the Precedent primitive — 14 available individually, 10 held as a coordinated set. Explore the Precedent cluster →
Quick answers
- What is Precedent in agentic systems?
- Prior decisions that guide or bind future ones, the record an agent reasons from to stay consistent.
- Where does Precedent sit in the agentic stack?
- Precedent sits at the Cross-cutting layer — it applies across every layer of the stack.
- How many Precedent domain positions exist in the Semantic Substrate portfolio?
- 24 positions carry the Precedent primitive — 14 available individually, the rest held as a coordinated set.
Related primitives
ConstitutionalInfrastructureObservabilityOrchestrationIntelligenceAttestationAttributionConvergenceIntegrationAutonomousCapabilityDelegationFederationGovernanceProvenanceSettlementAuthorityExecutionSovereignSubstrateDecisionOverridePlatformProtocolSemanticTemporalBindingCustodyEconomyLineageProcessQuantumRoyaltySpatialUnifiedNeuralSafetyTreatyAgentGhostModelSwarmTrustTwin
Held in the portfolio under Precedent.