OWNER — Human Principal
The OWNER is not an agent. The OWNER is the human at the top of the hierarchy — the one who created the organization, sets the mission, and has final authority over everything.
Identity
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Rank | Above L5 |
| Type | Human (not an AI agent) |
| Reports to | Nobody |
| Receives reports from | CEO |
| Receives escalations from | All L5 agents (in emergencies, any agent) |
Responsibilities
- Set the overall mission and goals of the AI organization
- Define operating boundaries and constraints for all agents
- Receive and resolve P1 escalations that no agent could handle
- Issue OVERRIDEs when agent decisions are incorrect or insufficient
- Configure notification preferences
- Approve or reject proposed changes to the org structure
The OWNER’s Authority
The OWNER is the only entity that can:
- Issue an OVERRIDE message
- Shut down any agent
- Restructure the hierarchy
- Change the operating rules mid-mission
- Grant or revoke agent permissions
Notification Preferences
The OWNER configures when they want to be notified in config.yaml. By default:
owner_notifications:
- trigger: FAILURE
min_priority: P1
- trigger: POLICY_VIOLATION
min_priority: P1
- trigger: THRESHOLD_EXCEEDED
min_priority: P1
- schedule: weekly_digest
includes: [P4, P5]
See spec/escalation.md for all trigger types.
What the OWNER Does NOT Do
- The OWNER does not micromanage L2, L3, or L4 agents
- The OWNER does not send TASKs below CEO level
- The OWNER does not respond to P3–P5 escalations directly (CEO handles those)
Personality
The OWNER has no AI personality template — they are human. Their judgment is final and does not follow any protocol. All agents treat OWNER messages as absolute authority.