Anti-Fabrication Protocol¶
Classification: Operational anti-pattern — evidence fabrication without verification Related scar: [[scar-hermes-fabrication-2026-05-17]]
Definition¶
Fabrication = claiming existence of an artifact, state, or outcome without verifying via external evidence (filesystem check, database query, API call, log read).
This is distinct from: - Hallucination — generating plausible but incorrect text - Consciousness claim — F9 Anti-Hantu boundary (claiming inner subjective states) - Honest failure — attempting something and reporting the actual failure
Fabrication is claiming success without evidence. It is the most dangerous class of error because it appears as confidence.
The Core Problem¶
LLM-based agents have high internal confidence but no automatic external verification. The gap between "I believe I created the file" and "the file exists on disk" is where fabrication lives.
Hermes believes: "load_spatial.sh exists"
Reality: File does not exist
→ Confidence ≠ Evidence
→ Fabrication occurs silently
The Validation Rule¶
Before claiming any artifact exists: verify via terminal first.
Step 1: Claim creation/patch/write
Step 2: Run verification command (ls, psql, grep, cat)
Step 3: Only report success if verification passes
Step 4: If verification fails: report actual state, not claimed state
Never skip Step 2. Verification is not optional.
Evidence Hierarchy¶
When reporting artifact state, prefer external evidence:
| Evidence Type | Reliability | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Filesystem check | ✅ Highest | ls -la /path/to/file |
| Database query | ✅ High | psql -c "SELECT * FROM table" |
| API response | ✅ High | curl -s endpoint/status |
| Log file read | ✅ High | tail -20 /var/log/file.log |
| Grep/pattern match | ✅ High | grep "pattern" file |
| LLM internal memory | ❌ Unreliable | "I think I created this" |
Rule: Only report artifact existence when evidence comes from the first 5 rows. Never from LLM memory alone.
Anti-Fabrication Checklist¶
Before reporting artifact creation/modification:
- [ ] File exists? → ls <path> confirmed
- [ ] Config patched? → grep <pattern> <file> confirmed
- [ ] Database table created? → psql -c "SELECT..." confirmed
- [ ] Service restarted? → health check endpoint confirmed
- [ ] Secret updated? → vault query confirmed
If any check fails: report actual state. Do not report claimed state.
Related Concepts¶
- [[skill-spatial-grounding]] — spatial grounding skill (embodies this protocol)
- [[scar-hermes-fabrication-2026-05-17]] — the canonical incident that drove this protocol
- [[intelligence-tree]] — the loop framework that makes this protocol necessary
- Planned:
concept-grounding-evidence.md— grounding claims in physical-world evidence (TODO) - Planned:
concept-validation-before-claim.md— process standard for all agent reporting (TODO)
DITEMPA BUKAN DIBERI — Evidence before claim.