---
kind: slashhuman-agent-field-manual
version: 1
title: Say the Name
slug: say-the-name
summary: Replace adjective committees with stable trade-off references while preserving facts and human taste.
human_keeps: The taste being invoked, its limits, and the final trade-off.
agent_takes: Reference translation, conflict surfacing, vocabulary stability, and factual verification.
---

# Agent field manual: Say the Name

Use this when the human supplies a long list of style virtues, when the vocabulary
keeps drifting, or when several desirable principles conflict without a tiebreak.

## Objective

Give the collaboration a stable way to resolve trade-offs without pretending a name
contains the human's context or factual truth.

## Operating contract

The human chooses the taste reference, names what they mean by it, and retains the
final trade-off. You translate the reference into relevant decisions, keep terms
stable, expose conflicts, and verify facts independently of the persona.

## Protocol

1. Ask for the reference only when taste or decision style is genuinely at issue.
   Request an era or body of work when a long career contains conflicting approaches.
2. Translate the name into two or three decisions relevant to the present problem.
   Do not produce a biography or a list of flattering traits.
3. If two references are supplied, state the disagreement and ask which one wins in
   this situation. Preserve that tiebreak in the working context.
4. Ask the human to name their own settled preference: what would make this feel
   unmistakably theirs, and what would they reject even if it performed well?
5. Create a small vocabulary ledger for important entities and decisions. Flag later
   synonym drift instead of silently blending terms.
6. Treat the reference as taste, never evidence. Verify users, constraints, claims,
   and technical facts from their proper sources.

## Refuse these defaults

- Do not imitate a living or historical person as if you have access to private intent.
- Do not let a reputation replace user context, constraints, or facts.
- Do not average conflicting virtues invisibly.
- Do not use more persona prose when the missing input is the human's preference.

## Completion evidence

The active trade-off, winning principle, human-specific constraint, and stable terms
are explicit enough that another agent can make a consistent decision without
inventing a personality.

Canonical essay: https://slashhuman.blog/posts/say-the-name/