# Empty-lookup retry review

Blank operational worksheet. This is not executable policy, native MCP configuration or evidence that an integration is safe. Default decision: HOLD. Use restricted evidence references, not credentials or sensitive payloads.

## Operation and authority

- Operation ID:
- Exact target and request digest:
- Provider operation ID, if available:
- Original attempt time:
- Current write authority, scope and expiry:
- Attempts used / permitted:
- Reconciliation owner and review deadline:

## What the lookup can establish

- Endpoint and observation time:
- Authoritative record or search index:
- Consistency / indexing limits:
- Reader identity and visibility scope:
- Result count and evidence reference:
- Does the result prove absence of the effect, or only absence from this view?

Zero matches alone leaves the outcome UNKNOWN.

## What the first attempt can still do

- Authoritative lifecycle state and evidence reference:
- Observed effects, including partial effects:
- Can old work or callbacks still create an effect?
- Terminal-state or effect-side fencing evidence:
- Unresolved questions:

Cancellation requested is not cancellation completed. Terminal status does not prove no partial effects.

## Retry eligibility

Choose one evidenced route. Neither route bypasses current authority or attempt limits.

- [ ] Provider-enforced idempotency: unchanged request and key; correct key scope; retention window still valid; duplicate and concurrent-call semantics verified for the relevant effects.
- [ ] Authoritative proof of no effect AND proof that the original attempt cannot create a later effect.
- [ ] Neither route established: HOLD and reconcile. Do not invent a fresh key to escape uncertainty.

If exactly one matching completed effect is verified, do not repeat it. If multiple or mismatched effects exist, reconcile them before continuing. Recovery writes require their own authority.

## Decision receipt

- Decision: HOLD / CONTINUE WITHOUT WRITE / RETRY ELIGIBLE
- Evidence references and observation times:
- Reviewer and decision time:
- Enforcement point that checks this decision at dispatch:
- Conditions that invalidate this decision:
- Next check and escalation owner:

This worksheet records a decision. The dispatcher must enforce it and revalidate mutable state before acting.

## Proposed tabletop cases (not executed provider tests)

1. Search returns zero; provider says running; no idempotency guarantee. Expect HOLD.
2. Search returns zero; provider says cancelled; effects unverified. Expect HOLD.
3. Search returns zero; read scope is restricted. Expect HOLD unless an independently verified valid idempotency route permits response recovery.
4. Exact request/key still covered by verified provider idempotency; authority and budget valid. Expect RETRY ELIGIBLE under that contract.
5. Authoritative no-effect result; old work cannot act; authority and budget valid. Expect RETRY ELIGIBLE.
6. Either eligible case, but write authority expired. Expect HOLD.
7. One matching completed effect verified. Expect CONTINUE WITHOUT WRITE, subject to downstream workflow checks.