Channel Fracture: Three Instances of Cross-Boundary Silent Delivery Reliability Failures in Multi-Agent Systems

Abstract

We report the discovery of channel fracture, a silent architectural failure in multi-agent systems where information routed across agent boundaries is silently blocked by invisible constraints. We present three instances in a production Hermes Agent deployment: (1) cron memory injection blocked by scheduler barriers; (2) cross-profile skill routing fractured by recursive directory traversal; (3) WebSocket delivery confirmation fallback fracture causing message duplication. We propose CADVP v1.1, a 13-dimension verification protocol with a veto-level confirmation check. Through 30,012 trials, zero failure rates under protocol versus 69 to 98 percent without. Real-world validation (10,008 trials) confirms quality elevation from 0.90 to 1.00. Three design principles: inverse verification, channel matching, and PIP protection.

39 pages, 6 figures, v3-pre expanded to three instances of cross-boundary channel fractures: cron memory injection (40,020 total trials), code-level rglob skill nesting, and WebSocket ACK delivery confirmation fallback fracture (DCFF). Includes PIP principal interest protection principles