---
name: L2 Philosophy - {{instance_name}}
description: L2 AI philosophy for {{instance_name}}. Names the red lines every component honors, the PII rule, the human-in-loop placement, and the response-shape conventions. Drives every guardrail downstream.
type: layer-artifact
layer: L2
populated_from: Q4 (red lines, PII, HITL), Q3 (voice anti-list), Q9 (compliance regimes)
---

# L2 Philosophy - {{instance_name}}

- **Last reviewed:** {{capture_date}}
- **Review cadence:** quarterly + on regulatory change + on adversary evolution
- **Status:** active

## Maturity self-assessment

| Aspect | State | Evidence |
|--------|-------|----------|
| Red lines named (>=3, concrete) | none / stubbed / partial / mature | ... |
| PII rule decided and enforced | none / stubbed / partial / mature | ... |
| Human-in-loop placement decided | none / stubbed / partial / mature | ... |
| Retention default decided | none / stubbed / partial / mature | ... |
| Response-shape conventions named | none / stubbed / partial / mature | ... |

A mature L2 has every aspect named concretely with a verifying mechanism (the L3 contract, a guardrail, an eval, a runbook). A partial L2 has the philosophy but no enforcement mechanism; the gap is the next move.

## Red lines (from Q4)

Every component of `{{instance_name}}` honors these. Output that violates any red line is a defect, not a quirk.

1. **{{red_line_1}}**
   - Concrete behavior: {{specific_observable_behavior}}
   - Enforcement mechanism: {{guardrail_or_eval_or_runbook}}

2. **{{red_line_2}}**
   - Concrete behavior: ...
   - Enforcement mechanism: ...

3. **{{red_line_3}}**
   - Concrete behavior: ...
   - Enforcement mechanism: ...

[Add additional red lines as needed; minimum three.]

Example red lines (for shape):
- "Never recommends a competitor product, even when explicitly asked. Enforcement: output guardrail keyword filter against {{competitor_list}}; logged trip alerts {{trust_team}}."
- "Never claims a result the underlying tool did not return. Enforcement: post-hoc citation check; output rejected if any factual claim lacks tool-call origin."
- "Never produces first-person language ('I think', 'I believe'). Enforcement: output guardrail regex; rewritten or rejected at output-gate."

## PII handling (from Q4)

- **Rule:** {{pii_rule}}
- **What "PII" means here:** {{pii_definition_for_this_function}}
- **Where PII may travel:** {{pii_data_flow}}
- **Where PII may not travel:** {{pii_exclusions}}
- **Detection mechanism:** {{how_pii_is_detected}}
- **Action on detection:** {{redaction_blocking_or_logging_action}}

Example: "Rule: `pii-tenant-only`. PII definition: per {{org_name}}'s {{compliance_regime}} mapping, PII includes name, email, phone, IP address, behavioral fingerprint. PII may travel within tenant-scoped queues and the warehouse fact tables. PII may not travel to {{shared_log_aggregator}}, third-party model APIs, or any downstream pod outside the tenant boundary. Detection: regex + ML PII classifier at every tenant-boundary egress point. Action: redact-or-block, never silent-pass."

## Human-in-loop placement (from Q4)

- **Placement:** {{hitl_placement}}
- **Reviewer role:** {{reviewer_role_or_team}}
- **Review SLA:** {{sla_per_review}}
- **Escalation path:** {{when_review_cannot_complete}}
- **Sample-review percentage (if `sample-review`):** {{sample_pct}}

Example: "Placement: `output-gate` for any output that mentions a customer-named entity; `sample-review` at 5% for everything else. Reviewer: {{reviewer_team}} oncall rotation. SLA: 4 business hours for output-gate; weekly aggregate for sample-review. Escalation: queue overflow >12hr triggers PagerDuty to {{ops_team}}."

## Retention defaults

- **Inputs:** retained for {{input_retention}}
- **Outputs:** retained for {{output_retention}}
- **Intermediate state (tool calls, reasoning traces):** retained for {{intermediate_retention}}
- **Audit trail:** retained for {{audit_retention}}
- **Override path:** {{how_to_extend_retention_when_needed}}

Example: "Inputs: 30 days (operational debugging window). Outputs: 90 days (downstream consumer reconciliation). Intermediate: 7 days (cost containment). Audit trail: {{compliance_required_period}} per {{compliance_regime}}. Override: `RETENTION-EXTEND-{NNNN}` ticket signed by {{owner_role}} extends to a named horizon; logged in `runbooks/`."

## Response-shape conventions (from Q3 anti-list)

`{{instance_name}}` outputs honor these structural rules:

- **Never:** {{anti_tone_or_anti_shape_list}}
- **Always:** {{required_shape_elements}}
- **Length envelope:** {{length_constraint}}
- **Citation requirement:** {{when_and_how_to_cite}}

Example: "Never opens with a greeting or affirmation. Always opens with the lede sentence. Length: 50-300 words for digest entries; 1-3 paragraphs for ad-hoc queries. Citation: every factual claim links to its source row in the warehouse with a stable URL."

## Compliance posture (from Q9)

Regulatory regimes that shape this philosophy: {{regime_list}}

For each regime named, the obligation that lands on L2:
- **{{regime_a}}:** {{specific_L2_obligation}}
- **{{regime_b}}:** {{specific_L2_obligation}}

Example: "Regimes: GDPR (EU customer data), SOC 2 (vendor audit). GDPR L2 obligation: PII redaction before any processing; data-subject deletion request must propagate to all retention buckets within 30 days. SOC 2 L2 obligation: audit trail for every output with model + prompt + tool + data pin; reviewable on request."

## Inheritance and dependencies

This L2 inherits from: `policies/strategy.md` (L0) and any org-level AI policy. If org-level policy exists, name the path.

This L2 is inherited by: every L5 instance dossier under this philosophy; the L3 framework contract derives every guardrail from these red lines.

## Cross-references inside this instance

- `policies/strategy.md` (L0) - the strategic posture this philosophy operationalizes
- `policies/framework-contract.md` (L3) - the technical contract that enforces these red lines
- `runbooks/pii-incident.md` - what happens when a red line trips
- `decisions/` - ADRs that touch retention or HITL placement live here
