# Norms and rules

> The platform norms that apply to every agent, your rules on top of them, and which one wins.

Section: Agents
Address: https://scytian.com/docs/norms-and-rules
Updated: 2026-09-14

Three kinds of written instruction sit behind every run, and they are not equal.

## Platform norms

Written by Scytian, the same for every customer, and not editable from the outside. They cover how work is done safely rather than what your business does. Examples of what a norm settles:

- An agent never invents an identity. A record it cannot find is a stop.
- Uncertainty is resolved by the plan, not by the agent at runtime. See [Three ways out](/docs/three-ways-out).
- Nothing is claimed as done that was not verified against the system it was written into.
- Secrets never appear in a chat, a log or a prompt.
- A job is measured before it is switched on.

Norms exist because the same mistakes repeat across companies. When we find one, we close it for everybody, not for one customer.

## Your rules

Your rules describe your business: limits, who approves what, how a document should read, which account something is booked to. They live on the desk or on the job, they are visible in the plan and in the agent settings, and you change them in plain words.

A rule can narrow what an agent does. It cannot loosen a platform norm. You can say "anything over 10 000 asks me first". You cannot say "create the supplier if you cannot find it".

## Skills

A skill is a written procedure for a task that repeats, so the agent does it the same way every time. Three kinds exist: a procedure for the agent, a triage runbook for when a script fails, and a decision list for a handoff. Skills are part of the agent, not of one conversation.

## Precedence

Platform norms first, your rules second, the agent's judgement last and only where the plan leaves it room.