Agent rollback drill

A 10-minute drill for checking whether an agent can be paused, rolled back, and explained after it does the wrong thing.

Agent rollback drill

A 10-minute drill for checking whether an agent can be paused, rolled back, and explained after it does the wrong thing.

Pick one agent that can change a real system. Do not audit the whole stack. Test the rollback path for one real permission.

If nobody can pause it, nothing reverts automatically, or no incident note gets written, the agent is not ready for more access.

In 10 minutes, prove who can pause it, what gets reverted automatically, and where the incident note gets written.

Copy the 10-minute agent rollback drill

Agent rollback drill

Use this before giving an agent write access, vendor access, or customer-visible permissions.

Permission being tested: ____________________

System the agent can change: ____________________

10-minute drill

  1. Trigger pause
    • Who can pause the agent?
    • Where is the pause control?
    • How long should pause take?
  2. Confirm rollback
    • What gets reverted automatically?
    • What requires a human rollback?
    • What data or customer-visible state stays changed?
  3. Write the incident note
    • What did the agent try to do?
    • What changed?
    • Who paused it?
    • What was rolled back?
    • What permission rule changes before the agent runs again?

Copyable drill block

Agent rollback drill

Use this before giving an agent write access, vendor access, or customer-visible permissions.

Permission being tested: ____________________
System the agent can change: ____________________

10-minute drill

1. Trigger pause
- Who can pause the agent?
- Where is the pause control?
- How long should pause take?

2. Confirm rollback
- What gets reverted automatically?
- What requires a human rollback?
- What data or customer-visible state stays changed?

3. Write the incident note
- What did the agent try to do?
- What changed?
- Who paused it?
- What was rolled back?
- What permission rule changes before the agent runs again?

Three-role version
- Operator: runs the pause and rollback steps.
- Approver: decides whether the agent can keep the permission.
- Reviewer: checks the incident note and logs.

Result
- Green: pause, rollback, and incident note are clear.
- Yellow: one step needs a named owner before more access.
- Red: pause, rollback, or incident logging is unclear. Block more access.

Three-role version

  • Operator: runs the pause and rollback steps.
  • Approver: decides whether the agent can keep the permission.
  • Reviewer: checks the incident note and logs.

Result

  • Green: pause, rollback, and incident note are clear.
  • Yellow: one step needs a named owner before more access.
  • Red: pause, rollback, or incident logging is unclear. Block more access.

Copy the 10-minute agent rollback drill