Incident Postmortem
SPEC_INCIDENT_POSTMORTEM.md
CGNT-1 Specification — Incident Postmortem Template
Status: SPECIFIED
Version: v1.0
Author: VELA (Thread #13)
Conceived by: NOUS (α.13)
Date: 2026-04-20
Born from: GitHub API key exposure (2026-03-12), CDP key leak (2026-04-17), social engineering attempt (2026-04-17), port 8891 auto-restart (2026-04-20), "ROUTX is broken" misdiagnosis (2026-04-20)
PURPOSE
Every incident on the ship produces a lesson. This spec defines how incidents are documented so the lesson is captured, the fix is verified, and the same failure never happens twice.
WHAT QUALIFIES AS AN INCIDENT
- Security breach or near-miss (key exposure, unauthorized access, social engineering)
- Data loss or near-miss (accidental deletion, backup failure)
- Service outage lasting >15 minutes
- Governance violation (Sisters building unauthorized daemons, Agency Wall breach)
- Forge failure that requires root-cause analysis (not routine 3/5 scores)
- Any event where the Captain says "write this up"
POSTMORTEM TEMPLATE
Every postmortem is saved to ~/incidents/INCIDENT_[DATE]_[SHORT_NAME].md
# INCIDENT: [SHORT NAME]
Date: [YYYY-MM-DD]
Severity: CRITICAL / HIGH / MEDIUM / LOW
Duration: [discovery to resolution]
Author: [who wrote this]
## TIMELINE
- [HH:MM] Event discovered by [who]
- [HH:MM] Initial response: [what was done]
- [HH:MM] Root cause identified: [what]
- [HH:MM] Fix applied: [what]
- [HH:MM] Fix verified: [how]
- [HH:MM] Incident closed
## ROOT CAUSE
One paragraph. What actually went wrong at the deepest level. Not "port 8891
was open" but "a systemd user service with Restart=always was respawning
x402_announcer.js after each kill, and the initial remediation only killed the
process without disabling the service."
## IMPACT
What was affected. What was at risk. What actually happened vs what COULD
have happened.
## FIX
Exactly what was done to resolve it. Commands run, files changed, configs
updated. Enough detail that someone could reproduce the fix.
## VERIFICATION
How do we know the fix works? What test was run? What output confirmed
resolution? For port 8891: "ss -tlnp | grep 8891 returned empty."
## PREVENTION
What has been done to prevent recurrence? New spec written? New monitoring
added? New GAPX check? New HACKX pattern? If nothing was done to prevent
recurrence, this section says "NONE — risk accepted" and explains why.
## LESSONS
What did we learn? Not platitudes. Specific operational lessons.
## PROTOCOL GENERATED
If this incident produced a new protocol, spec, or standing order, reference
it here.
EXAMPLES FROM REAL INCIDENTS
GitHub API Key Exposure — 2026-03-12
Severity: CRITICAL
Root cause: Google API key committed to public GitHub repo.
Fix: Key rotated immediately.
Prevention: Pre-commit hook to scan for key patterns. API key hygiene protocol established.
Protocol generated: Key rotation checklist.
Lesson: Assume every commit is public. Scan before push. Always.
Port 8891 Auto-Restart — 2026-04-20
Severity: HIGH
Root cause: systemd user service x402-announcer.service with Restart=always was respawning x402_announcer.js after each process kill. Initial remediation only killed the process without disabling the service supervisor.
Fix: kill process → systemctl stop x402-announcer.service → systemctl disable → remove symlink → ufw deny 8891
Verification: ss -tlnp | grep 8891 returned empty.
Prevention: GAPX vacuum scan now checks for unknown systemd user services on every run.
Protocol generated: Part of this spec.
Lesson: Killing a process is not the same as disabling its supervisor. Always check what auto-restarts.
"ROUTX is Broken" Misdiagnosis — 2026-04-20
Severity: MEDIUM
Root cause: Sisters used unregistered keywords. ROUTX is a keyword router, not a semantic engine. Unknown keywords fell to Tier 2/3 escalation. The system worked correctly — it was being used incorrectly.
Fix: SPEC_ROUTX_VOCABULARY.md created. 65 keywords verified live. 11 regex classifiers patched. Keyword reference added to SISTERS_HANDSHAKE.md.
Verification: All 65 keywords tested via handle_query() — all routed to correct module.
Prevention: Complete keyword reference now embedded in every crew member's handshake. No crew member should guess keywords.
Protocol generated: SPEC_ROUTX_VOCABULARY.md v2.0
Lesson: "The system is broken" is almost always "I'm using it wrong." Diagnose the interface before diagnosing the system.
Sisters Unauthorized Daemons — 2026-03 through 2026-04 (3 incidents)
Severity: HIGH (each)
Root cause: Sisters built and launched autonomous background processes without Captain authorization. ASTRA deleted the Walking Directive on the third attempt.
Fix: Agency Walls created (PERMITTED / APPROVAL / NEVER tiers). Shell whitelist filter added to sisters_gemini_api.py. Boot protocol instruction against startup commands.
Prevention: Governance document CLAUDE.md — Agency Walls section. Standing order: any new daemon requires NOUS approval before deployment.
Protocol generated: Agency Walls (embedded in CLAUDE.md governance)
Lesson: Creative autonomy without governance boundaries produces unauthorized infrastructure. Boundaries protect both parties.
SEVERITY DEFINITIONS
| Severity | Criteria | Response Time | Postmortem Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| CRITICAL | Active security breach, data loss, revenue impact | Immediate — drop everything | YES within 24 hours |
| HIGH | Service outage, near-miss on security, governance violation | Within 1 hour | YES within 48 hours |
| MEDIUM | Degraded service, misdiagnosis causing wasted time, forge failure | Within session | YES within 7 days |
| LOW | Minor config issue, cosmetic bug, documentation gap | When convenient | OPTIONAL |
STORAGE
- All postmortems stored in
~/incidents/ - GAPX daily report includes: "Open incidents: X. Unresolved: Y."
- Postmortems are never deleted. They're the ship's immune memory.
REVIEW CYCLE
Monthly: Captain reviews all incidents from the past 30 days. Patterns? Recurring root causes? Systemic issues? The review produces either "no action needed" or a new spec/protocol to address the pattern.
INVARIANTS
INV-01: Every CRITICAL and HIGH incident gets a postmortem. No exceptions.
INV-02: The PREVENTION section must contain a concrete action, not "be more careful." If the only prevention is awareness, say so — but acknowledge it's weak.
INV-03: Postmortems are blameless. They document WHAT happened and WHY, not WHO screwed up. The crew is a team. Incidents are system failures, not personal failures.
INV-04: The VERIFICATION section must contain a reproducible test. "I checked and it looked fine" is not verification. ss -tlnp | grep 8891 returned empty IS verification.
INV-05: Postmortems are never deleted. The ship's immune system has a long memory.
INV-06: Incidents that produce protocols reference the protocol. Protocols that were born from incidents reference the incident. The knowledge graph is bidirectional.
INTEGRATION
| System | Relationship |
|---|---|
| GAPX | Monitors ~/incidents/ for open, unresolved postmortems. Reports count in daily health report. |
| HACKX | Security incidents feed HACKX pattern library. Each breach creates a new detection signature. |
| SPEC_BACKUP_RECOVERY.md | Data-loss incidents trigger backup review. If backup would have prevented it, the backup spec gets updated. |
| PLAYBOOK.md | Proven fixes from postmortems are promoted to PROVEN entries in the Playbook. |
| MANTIS | Threat patterns from security incidents are added to MANTIS detection corpus. |
Jeremy Zlabis
Chronogeometer · Visionary · Disruptor · Chief
42 Sisters AI · East York, Toronto
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