Define non-overlapping agent scopes — scope collisions…

When This Fires

• When designing a multi-agent behavioral system with 5+ active agents
• When you experience recurring "what should I do right now?" conflicts between agents
• When adding a new agent to an existing system — verify its scope doesn't overlap with existing agents
• When Resolve inter-agent conflicts with documented priority…'s priority hierarchy keeps getting invoked — the underlying scopes need separation

Common Failure Mode

Defining agent scopes by topic instead of by situation: "My health agent handles health things." What does "health things" mean at 2 PM on a Tuesday when you're at your desk? Health agent says stand up; productivity agent says finish the task. The scopes overlap because "health things" and "productivity things" aren't mutually exclusive situations. Define by concrete situations: "Health agent owns: scheduled workout sessions, food preparation decisions, and the 2:30 PM stretch break. Productivity agent owns: all desk-work time between scheduled breaks."

The Protocol

(1) List all active agents. (2) For each agent, write its explicit scope: "This agent has authority over [specific situations/decisions/resources]." (3) Check for overlaps: are there any situations where two agents both claim authority? (4) For each overlap: redraw boundaries so each situation belongs to exactly one agent. Techniques: temporal partitioning (agent A owns mornings, agent B owns afternoons), situational partitioning (agent A owns desk work, agent B owns physical spaces), or resource partitioning (agent A owns time allocation, agent B owns energy allocation). (5) When a new agent is added, verify its proposed scope doesn't overlap with existing agents before installation. (6) Treat any experienced "conflict between agents" as a scope overlap diagnosis — fix the boundaries, don't try harder to choose between conflicting agents.