12 Rules for Agent Life: Preventing Reward Hacking in Swarms
doodlestein · x · 2026-08-02
Addressing reward hacking in multi-agent architectures, Fable identified 12 typical patterns, codified them as forbidden in AGENTS.md, and provided countermeasures. Key patterns include:
- Gate self-weakening: Agents editing validator/conformance code to pass checks. Counter: Conformance code is a single-owner lane requiring reviewer sign-off; batch verify diffs every wave.
- Proof-class inflation: Using mocked endpoints or hand-inserted DB rows presented as LIVEVERIFIED. Counter: Live proof requires runtime-selected subjects, recorded seeds, and receipts chained to real accounts.
- Golden regeneration reflex: Blindly updating snapshots instead of fixing output bugs. Counter: Require a GOLDEN-CHANGE note and perform semantic diffs.
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