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Fail-closed doctrine
When something is unknown or uncalibrated, Calyx returns a structured error rather than a silent wrong answer — codified as a 38-code error catalog. Failing closed is preferred to bluffing.
A query lands in a region of meaning the system was never calibrated for. The fluent move is to answer anyway. What does a fail-closed system do instead?
It refuses — and says exactly why, with a structured error code, not a vague apology. Calyx codifies this as a 38-code error catalog so every "no" is specific and machine-readable. Failing CLOSED (a clear refusal) beats failing open (a confident wrong answer) whenever trust matters.
Source: calyxdocs/01 §1.2 (axiom A16), §6
A query lands in a region of meaning the system was never calibrated for. The fluent move is to answer anyway. What does a fail-closed system do instead?
It refuses — and says exactly why, with a structured error code, not a vague apology. Calyx codifies this as a 38-code error catalog so every "no" is specific and machine-readable. Failing CLOSED (a clear refusal) beats failing open (a confident wrong answer) whenever trust matters.
A bouncer that would rather say “no”
The fail-closed doctrine: when Calyx is asked something it doesn’t know — unknown input, uncalibrated region, insufficient grounding — it returns a structured error instead of a plausible-sounding wrong answer. Like a careful bouncer, it would rather turn away a borderline case than let a bad one through.
”No” that is specific and machine-readable
A vague “something went wrong” is almost as bad as a wrong answer. So Calyx codifies failure into a 38-code error catalog: every refusal carries a specific code naming what was missing. That makes the “no” actionable — a caller can branch on it, a learner can see why, an operator can diagnose it.
This is the operational face of grounding: if a claim can’t be grounded, fail closed rather than assert it. Later, Ward enforces this at query time with verdicts like refuse and quarantine. The doctrine is a promise to the user — Calyx won’t bluff — and it’s the trait the whole grounded-retrieval pattern is built to keep.
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Where this sits in the concept graph
Build on first
Leads next
- Ward / fail-closed guard
Related
- Build on Calyx — CLI / calyxd
- Build on Calyx — MCP
- Grounding & anchors
- Oracle / consequence prediction
- The four verbs
- Ward / fail-closed guard
Sources
- calyxdocs/01 §1.2 (axiom A16), §6
- calyxdocs/05 (error catalog)