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SOP-OPS-protocol-amendment-propagation-v1.0

1. Purpose

Define the notification and verification path when CLAUDE.md or any agent contract is amended. Without this SOP, agents reading stale sessions may operate under outdated governance rules — the SEV3 incident that created this SOP.

The gap this closes: When CLAUDE.md is amended (e.g., v1.2.7 → v1.2.8) or an agent contract is updated (e.g., sop.manager v1.0 → v1.1), no automated mechanism previously existed to notify affected agents. Agents who started sessions before the amendment ran with stale governance until they happened to re-read their files. This creates silent divergence.

2. Trigger Conditions

This SOP fires when any of the following occur:

Trigger Scope Owner
CLAUDE.md version bump (any section change, any version) All 21 agents chief.staff
Agent contract version bump (any agent, any version) That agent + any peer agents named in the changed sections chief.staff or COO
SOP version bump that changes agent behavior (Active SOP, not patch-level typo fix) Agents cited in the SOP's Participants or Escalation sections sop.manager
R&R Matrix update (new rows, RACI reassignment) Affected agents by R/A column chief.staff

Not in scope: Patch-level SOP fixes (typo, cross-reference correction), cosmetic contract edits (formatting, metadata only), archived or deprecated documents.

3. Notification Path

Step 1 — Amendment author tags affected agents

Immediately after merging or saving the amendment, the author:

  1. Identifies which agents are affected (consult the amended section's references, RACI assignments, or explicit agent mentions)
  2. Creates a session-dir drop at /Claude/sessions/{agent.id}/{amendment-notification}-{YYYY-MM-DD}.md for each affected agent using the template in Section 6
  3. Posts to #agent-handoffs in Slack per CLAUDE.md Section 9 Rule 6 — format: [{author} → {agent.id}] Amendment notification: {CLAUDE.md vX.X / contract vX.X} — check your session dir

Step 2 — Affected agents acknowledge

Each affected agent, at next session start:

  1. Reads the notification in their session dir
  2. Re-reads the amended section of CLAUDE.md or the updated contract
  3. Appends ## ACKNOWLEDGED {YYYY-MM-DD} — {agent.id} to the notification file
  4. Updates their memory-notes.md if the change affects their working context

Step 3 — chief.staff verifies propagation

At the next morning enforcement sweep (Section 3.3), chief.staff:

  1. Checks which notification files have been acknowledged vs. outstanding
  2. Flags unacknowledged agents in the CEO Daily Summary if >1 business day has elapsed since notification
  3. Escalates to COO if an agent has been operating post-amendment for >2 business days without acknowledgment

4. Notification File Template

Create at /Claude/sessions/{agent.id}/amendment-notification-{document}-{YYYY-MM-DD}.md:

---
from: {author — chief.staff / coo / sop.manager}
to: {agent.id}
date: {YYYY-MM-DD}
type: amendment-notification
document: {CLAUDE.md vX.X / agent contract vX.X / SOP-{ID} vX.X}
priority: P1 (read at next session start)
---

# Amendment Notification — {document}

## What changed

{Section or contract area amended, one paragraph summary}

## Why it matters to you

{How the change affects this agent's behavior, decision rights, or escalation triggers}

## What you need to do

1. Re-read {specific section or file}
2. Confirm no conflict with your current in-progress work
3. Append `## ACKNOWLEDGED {date} — {agent.id}` to the bottom of this file
4. Update your memory-notes.md if needed

## ACKNOWLEDGED

*(agent appends here)*

5. Propagation Audit Trail

The amendment author logs propagation in the SOP change record at /Claude/system/sops/INDEX.md changelog:

| {date} | {SOP-ID} | {version} | {change summary} | {approved by} | Propagated to: {agent.id list}, Acknowledged: {date or "pending"} |

chief.staff maintains a rolling propagation tracker at /Claude/operations/logs/amendment-propagation-tracker.md (updated weekly; reviewed at Monday enforcement sweep).

6. Escalation

Scenario Action
Agent unacknowledged >1 business day chief.staff flags in CEO Daily Summary
Agent unacknowledged >2 business days chief.staff escalates to COO; COO DMs the agent's Slack channel
Agent actively contradicts amended governance (discovered in output review) Section 6E Incident filed (SEV2 minimum); chief.staff notified immediately
Amendment author fails to notify per Step 1 Self-filed SEV3 incident by chief.staff if discovered; process review with COO

All escalations route through CLAUDE.md Section 11 Escalation Framework.

7. Scope Boundaries

This SOP does NOT govern: - New agent onboarding (covered by SOP-EXEC-agent-onboarding once authored) - SOP content changes within a SOP file (covered by SOP-OPS-sop-change-management) - Incident response protocol updates mid-incident (chief.staff discretion under Section 11)

This SOP DOES govern: - Any post-amendment window where agents could unknowingly operate under stale governance

8. Archive

Notification files are retained in agent session directories until the agent's next quarterly contract review, then moved to /Claude/archive/amendment-notifications/{YYYY-QN}/.

Propagation tracker log retained in operations/logs/ indefinitely as audit trail.

Change Log

Version Date Change
v1.0 2026-04-21 Initial draft — sop.manager. Remediates SEV3 sop-delta-protocol-amendment-propagation-2026-04-20.

Owner: sop.manager Executive sponsor: chief.staff Status: Draft — pending chief.staff review + COO approval Version: v1.0