After an Agent Misread a Powered Board as Dead, This Dev Built a Permission Ladder for Physical Actions
MattMose · reddit · 2026-10-28
A hardware developer describes an agent that declared a board dead based on an SSH timeout and empty network sweep—while the bench camera showed its lit screen and the PSU was sourcing 0.635 A. A silent channel became 'the board is off.'
He now runs agents on a permission ladder:
- Reading instruments and viewing the camera are always allowed
- Claims about the physical world must come from a sensor reading, not a silent channel
- Cutting power is allowed without asking (safe direction) but must be reported immediately, only via a tested kill path
- Anything that energizes the bench waits for a human
He asks the community where they draw the line and how to prove an agent's kill path works before trusting it. Talk and code links in comments. (Project: Hapimatic at Solid Product Design.)
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