Interruptions Are Context Events

~23 min · interruptions, priority, session

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A correction is not noise

When the human interrupts with 'actually, do not do that,' the interruption becomes higher-priority context than the old plan. Long sessions fail when the model treats corrections as side comments instead of state transitions. Every interruption should be classified: does it change scope, priority, authority, source of truth, or completion criteria?

Newest does not always win, but it must be reconciled

A new instruction can override an old one, refine it, or conflict with it. The model should say which relationship it inferred instead of blindly stacking both. Conflicts left unreconciled accumulate into incoherent behavior.

Update the handoff before continuing

If the interruption changes anything substantive, update the live handoff or steering note before resuming work. Otherwise the next checkpoint will compress away the correction along with the old plan it overrode.

Code

Interrupt classifier·python

def classify_interrupt(message: str) -> dict:
    return {
        "scope_changed":           any(k in message for k in ["new task", "switch to", "different"]),
        "authority_changed":       any(k in message for k in ["do not", "never", "only with my approval"]),
        "source_of_truth_changed": any(k in message for k in ["outdated", "superseded", "ignore that"]),
        "priority_changed":        any(k in message for k in ["this matters more", "first", "urgent"]),
        "needs_handoff_update":    True,
    }

Reconcile-and-confirm reply·text

Acknowledged. Updating live state:
  - Authority: 'do not run X' added to forbidden list.
  - Prior plan to do X is canceled.
  - Next action: pick alternative Y.
Is that the right reading?

External links

OpenAI compaction guide

Exercise

Take a recent correction from a human and classify what changed: scope, authority, truth, priority, or style. Write the resulting handoff update.

Hint

Most important corrections change more than one category.

Progress

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