Read threshold boundaries in agent plans

Nine drafts go in one folder. Eleven go in another. Where do ten go? A plan can name actions on either side of a cutoff while saying nothing about the count that sits exactly on it.

The passages below imagine Jane Doe reading a plan written by her AI agent. These invented lines concern the fictional Jane Doe and a count of Markdown drafts. For the extension, read the meaning of .md. Here, the task is to read which action applies at a stated count.

Preserve the words around ten

Begin with this invented plan line:

With under ten drafts, Jane Doe puts the drafts in the blue folder.

Copy that line into your own comment before trying a count. Keep "under ten" intact. Rewriting it as "up to ten" would introduce a different phrase before you have settled the first one.

Try nine drafts against the quoted words. Nine is under ten, so the line assigns the blue folder. Try ten drafts next. Ten is not under ten, so this line gives no action for that count. Eleven is also outside this line.

Now consider a separate invented line:

With at most ten drafts, Jane Doe puts the drafts in the blue folder.

Nine still gets the blue folder. Ten now gets it too. Eleven remains outside the line. The change concerns exactly ten; do not treat these two phrases as interchangeable while reading the plan.

Keep your comment literal: "Under ten leaves ten out. At most ten includes ten." That describes how the written phrases treat ten; it leaves the choice of cutoff unsettled.

Read the other rule against the same counts

Return to the first wording and read it beside another invented plan line:

With under ten drafts, Jane Doe puts the drafts in the blue folder.

With more than ten drafts, Jane Doe puts the drafts in the green folder.

Read both lines for nine drafts. Only the blue-folder rule applies. For eleven, only the green-folder rule applies. At ten, neither phrase applies: ten is not under ten and is not more than ten.

Write the missing case beside the pair: "Exactly ten drafts has no action in these two rules." Name the count, rather than saying the plan feels vague. The actions for nine and eleven are stated; the action for ten is the unresolved part.

Do not infer green from the fact that its rule appears second. The order of these lines does not add ten to "more than ten." Nor does blue become the default merely because its rule appears first.

These passages are ordinary prose. A code block in Markdown sets text apart, but the folder rules here fit into short quotes. Changing their display would leave ten unclaimed.

Look for two actions claiming ten

A different invented pair includes the cutoff on both sides:

With at most ten drafts, Jane Doe puts the drafts in the blue folder.

With ten or more drafts, Jane Doe puts the drafts in the green folder.

Try nine, ten and eleven again. Nine fits only blue. Eleven fits only green. Ten fits both: it is at most ten and it is ten or more.

This time the problem is an overlap. Write "Exactly ten drafts fits both folder rules." Keep that observation distinct from the earlier gap, where ten fitted neither rule. Both cases leave a choice unresolved, but the quoted words explain different problems.

Avoid picking blue because its phrase sounds firmer, or green because it names ten explicitly. Both lines include ten. Your reading has reached the part that needs the agent's clarification.

Put exactly ten drafts to the agent

For the pair with a gap, Jane Doe can ask:

At exactly ten drafts, which rule applies: blue folder or green folder? The quoted rules leave ten out.

For the pair with an overlap, her question changes only the description of the conflict:

At exactly ten drafts, which rule applies: blue folder or green folder? The quoted rules include ten in both actions.

Keep the question about the exact count. Asking for a whole new plan would widen a small uncertainty. Choosing a cutoff yourself would settle a decision the text has not settled.

Read the agent's answer against the same nine, ten and eleven drafts. If it names blue for ten, compare that answer with the green-folder phrase too. An answer in a separate paragraph can leave the earlier overlap in place for the next reader. Keep the clarification beside the affected lines while you discuss their wording.

When keeping a separate copy of that discussion, give it a distinct name; naming Markdown files explains ways to tell files apart. Retain the quoted pair in that copy so the question still has its context.

Finish your reading with an explicit account of ten: assigned to blue, assigned to green, claimed by both rules or left unclaimed. If the answer is still absent, leave the action at ten undecided. Naming the gap leaves the cutoff itself unchanged.

Where Sashmark fits

For this plan, Sashmark's planned role is a desktop place to read Markdown and edit the text beside the cutoff. Work on Sashmark remains in development; the app contains no AI. Trying the three counts and discussing ten with your separate agent remain your work.