PAT-0200 - Reference Instability
A structural condition where references, identifiers, links, or anchors change across equivalent evaluations without a declared cause.
Primary Lenses
- LEN-0280 - Reference Stability Lens
Evaluates whether structural references, identifiers, nodes, and edges remain consistent across execution cycles or comparable states.
Secondary Lenses
- LEN-0180 - Determinism Lens
Evaluates whether identical structural inputs produce equivalent structural outputs across repeated executions.
Primary Issue Matches
- Citation Points to Wrong Source
A citation, reference, link, or source pointer is present, but it points to the wrong source, wrong passage, wrong document, or unsupported evidence.
- Saved Reference No Longer Works
A saved source, citation, file reference, prompt reference, or workflow pointer previously worked but no longer resolves to the expected object or meaning.
Supporting Issue Matches
- Answer Has No Traceable Source Link
The answer makes a claim, recommendation, citation, or factual statement without a source link or trace path that allows the user to verify where it came from.
- Cannot Identify Authoritative State
The user or workflow cannot tell which state, version, review result, decision, source, or output is currently authoritative.
- 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.
- Policy Area Has No Examples
A policy, rule, standard, or guidance area has no examples showing how it should apply to real cases.
- Policy Update Not Reflected in Output
A policy, rule, standard, or instruction has been updated, but the AI output still follows the older version.
- Relationship Map Has Missing Links
A map of related Issues, rules, patterns, cases, fields, tools, or workflow steps is missing links needed to navigate or reason over the structure.
- Same Contract Name Has Different Meanings
The same prompt, schema, field, policy, tool, or workflow contract name is used in different places with different meanings.
- Saved Memory Not Used
A saved memory, preference, instruction, or durable context item exists but does not affect the AI output when it should.
- Schema Reference Loops Without Base Case
A schema, field, type, object, or structured reference points through a loop without a base case that allows validation or interpretation to resolve.
- Version Change Breaks Existing Prompt
A prompt that previously produced usable results stops working after a version change in the model, tool, policy, schema, product surface, or workflow.
Ontology Metadata
- Code
PAT-0200- Version
PAT-0200@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: Reference Instability.
Receipt impact: None