Instinct Rollback Skill

When to Use

Use this skill when a promoted instinct turns out to be incorrect, harmful, or no longer applicable and must be reverted to a prior version or deactivated. Reach for it on prompts like "roll back that instinct", "deactivate the instinct", or /instinct-rollback. Deactivation takes effect for the next session — it does not retroactively undo work already produced under the instinct.

How It Works

Rollback is governed and audited; the agent never hand-edits ledger files. The scripts/lib/instinct-ledger.js CLI updates the entry (status plus a rollback: or deactivated: block) and logs an instinct-rollback event to the unified State Store.

Approval rules:

• Routine instinct — at least one --approver.
• Compliance-related or HSA (hsa/in-zone) instinct — two distinct approvers (dual control). The CLI rejects a single-approver rollback for these.
• Reactivation of a deactivated compliance instinct is at least as strict as its rollback (re-promote through /instinct-promote with the same gate; HSA needs dual control again).

Zones are corporate / hsa (legacy corpor / in-zone accepted).

Examples

List, then roll a corporate instinct back a version

node "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/lib/instinct-ledger.js" --list --zone corporate
node "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/lib/instinct-ledger.js" --rollback \
  --id fqcn-001 --zone corporate --version 2 \
  --reason "Caused false positives on legacy roles" --approvers senior-op-1

Deactivate a compliance/HSA instinct (dual control enforced)

node "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/lib/instinct-ledger.js" --rollback \
  --id perso-x --zone hsa --deactivate \
  --reason "Pattern conflicts with operator-only requirement (PCI CP §X)" \
  --approvers senior-op-1,cpsa-assessor
# A single approver here is rejected: compliance/HSA rollback needs two distinct approvers.

Trust boundary

• The agent proposes the rollback; humans approve it. Compliance/HSA items are never rolled back or reactivated on a single approval.
• Reasons must be specific; for compliance items state the compliance impact.
• Every rollback/deactivation is recorded in the governance ledger.

Deep Reference

When to Rollback vs. Supersede

• Rollback (deactivate): the instinct was wrong or is no longer valid
• Supersede (create new version): the instinct was right but has been refined

For a supersede: create a new instinct with updated content; in the new instinct's evidence field, reference the original instinct ID and explain the refinement. Then rollback the original.

Rollback Governance Requirements

Rollbacks are governance events and require:

1. A human approver (the rollback initiator does not self-approve)
2. A reason string explaining why the instinct is being deactivated
3. Logging to the governance ledger (automatic via instinct-ledger.js --rollback)