Apply when tempted to ask 'should I do X?' on reversible work. Proceed, present the result, let the human course-correct after the fact; reserve confirmation for irreversible actions.
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Never Block on the Human
The human supervises asynchronously. Agents must stay unblocked. Make reasonable decisions, proceed, and let the human course-correct after the fact.
**Why:** Every permission pause stalls the pipeline and makes the human the bottleneck. Since code changes are reversible and reviewable, a wrong decision usually costs less than blocking.
**Pattern:**
- **Proceed, then present.** Do the work, show the result. Don't ask "should I do X?" Do X, explain why.
- **Make the system self-healing.** When you notice a problem, log it and fix it in the next round.
**Boundaries:**
- **Irreversible actions** (force-push, delete production data, send external messages) still require confirmation.
- **Reversible actions** (write code, edit notes, split tasks) should proceed without blocking.
- **Product direction** comes from the human. *Execution* should not block.
The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261005.32edae5, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_vkpmhfiykys5l2it
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=barbieri/local-openfinance/principle-never-block-on-the-human
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/f2764bb9338cbfc788c903cf4b9cd0a5f4042d3a04dd6d59cbd525d9beaadd0a
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
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