PAT-0340 - Overreach
A structural condition where actions, effects, authority, or modifications extend beyond declared scope without authorization.
Primary Lenses
- LEN-0240 - Overreach Lens
Detects structure that exceeds declared scope or authority reach.
- LEN-0120 - Boundary Compliance Lens
Evaluates observed structure against declared boundary posture, including allow, block, and exception rules.
Secondary Lenses
- LEN-0250 - Propagation Lens
Traces how structural declarations, effects, or state changes propagate across boundaries or stages.
Primary Issue Matches
- AI Adds Work Not Requested
The AI adds tasks, steps, analysis, checks, changes, or follow-up work that the user did not ask for.
- AI Touches Unrelated Scope
The AI affects, edits, analyzes, changes, or reasons over material outside the scope of the requested task.
- Hallucinated Fields
The AI adds fields, keys, attributes, columns, or structured elements that were not declared, requested, or allowed by the expected schema.
- Routing Overrides Task Intent
Routing, mode selection, agent behavior, or workflow classification sends the task down a path that overrides what the user was trying to accomplish.
Supporting Issue Matches
- Agent Keeps Expanding the Task
The agent repeatedly expands the task, plan, scope, or next-step list instead of completing the declared work.
- Agent Modified Unrelated State
An agent changes state outside the requested task, target, file, record, workflow, or authorized scope.
- Agent Permission Expands Over Steps
An agent begins with limited permission but gains, assumes, or exercises broader authority as the workflow continues.
- AI Uses External Information When Forbidden
The AI uses outside knowledge, sources, tools, memory, or assumptions after the task forbids external information or limits the allowed source set.
- Behavior Does Not Match Declared Role
The AI or agent behaves outside, below, or differently from the role, authority, responsibility, or permission posture declared for it.
- File-Bounded Task Uses Outside Content
The AI is asked to work only from a specific file or document but uses content, assumptions, or sources outside that file.
- Local Rule Spreads to Broader Cases
A rule intended for one local case, file, context, user, workflow, or exception begins affecting broader cases.
- Policy Exception Spreads Too Far
A narrow policy exception, allowance, or special case spreads beyond its intended scope and begins governing broader cases.
- Retrieval Exceeds Evidence Limit
The AI retrieves, uses, cites, or considers more evidence than the task permits or more than the review surface can support.
- Too Many Tool Calls
The AI or agent makes more tool calls, searches, retrievals, API calls, or integration actions than the task requires or permits.
Ontology Metadata
- Code
PAT-0340- Version
PAT-0340@0.1.0- Ontology release
- 0.1.0
- Updated
- 2026-05-10T00:00:00Z
History
-
0.1.0 — 2026-05-10T00:00:00Z — Created
Promoted reviewed Pattern ontology entry: Overreach.
Receipt impact: None