Freshness is not “latest available.” It is a policy stating how old data may be for a particular decision, which source is authoritative, and what happens when the requirement cannot be met.
Freshness contract
| Field | Example question |
|---|---|
| Source of truth | Which system can confirm the current entitlement or balance? |
| Maximum age | Minutes for a dashboard, seconds for an execution decision? |
| Effective time | Does the record apply now or only after a future date? |
| Invalidation | Which event expires cached or embedded data? |
| Failure action | Use labeled stale data, request review, or stop? |
RAG and execution differ
Retrieved guidance may tolerate a declared age. A high-impact tool action should re-read authoritative state immediately before execution when balances, permissions, inventory, or destinations can change.
Evidence
Record source, record ID, version or checksum, retrieval time, effective time, cache state, freshness decision, policy version, and outcome. Test stale, future-dated, cross-tenant, duplicated, and contradictory records.
Preserve freshness evidence without copying sensitive source content.