# ADR 0006 — Learning is proposal-only (no self-authorization)

Status: accepted (2026-07-07) · Plan: rev 3 (resolves audit S3/S4/SA2)

## Context
The learning loop (feedback → patterns → skills) informs the classifier
that decides auto-act vs escalate. If learning could expand its own
autonomy, poisoned feedback (flapping services, biased probes) could
unlock destructive auto-act.

## Decision
The learning engine cannot write to governance (policy/autonomy) tables —
enforced structurally: its DB role has no grants on them. Pattern
activation (validated → active) and any autonomy expansion require operator
approval. Confidence is the Wilson lower bound capped by evidence_count/5;
anomalous feedback bursts quarantine the pattern; no skill ever
auto-promotes an action into destructive autonomy (hard-coded). Lowering
autonomy (kill-switch) is always immediate, never gated.

## Consequences
- Cold start is slow by design — the agent escalates until trust is earned.
- The operator is the only path to more autonomy; the audit trail shows
  every grant.
