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GUIDED VALIDATION BRIEF

Drive an agent by email: forward, CC or reply, with a small operator allowlist

Evidence observed in openonion/connectonion, a Agent Infrastructure project.

6 comments0 positive reactions42 days openProject Radar 88
priority:mediumfeaturedesign
Start free validation sprint4 guided steps · private notes · cloud sync
SOURCE EVIDENCE

Start with what users actually said

Reporter context: An agent already has a mailbox, an inbound pipeline and an Ed25519 identity. Wiring them together means you can forward a mail to your agent, CC it onto a thread, or just reply — and it acts. No app, no browser, no link to click. This issue is the design. It went through several worse versions first; the rejected ones…Excerpted from the public Issue. Read the complete thread before interpreting it.

Read original GitHub Issue ↗
01 · Tool execution & lifecycle

Write the problem hypothesis

For [builder], the agent cannot reliably [select, add, call or remove a tool] during [workflow], causing [manual intervention or failed work].

You can name one user, one situation and one measurable consequence without proposing a feature.
02 · EVIDENCE INTERVIEW

Interview five affected users

  • Which tool operation fails?
  • What state exists immediately before the failure?
  • How should errors and partial results be exposed?
  • Which permissions or schemas are involved?
  • What workaround keeps the workflow moving?
At least three people independently describe the same painful workflow with recent examples.
03 · MINIMUM TEST

Run the smallest experiment

Implement or simulate one tool lifecycle operation with explicit inputs, outputs and failure handling, then replay three real calls.

Three representative calls complete with the expected state transition and an observable recovery path.
04 · DECISION GATE

Make a build decision

  • Build: repeated pain and active commitment
  • Narrow: pain is real but the audience or job differs
  • Stop: weak frequency or no behavioral proof
Do not let GitHub engagement replace direct validation.

Why this brief exists

Information has value only when it changes action. This page turns one public signal into a bounded validation exercise. It is a research aid, not proof of demand, investment advice or a product recommendation.