Agency Apparent

Agency Maps

Visual and structured breakdowns of actors, goals, constraints, feedback loops, and action spaces. The signature format of the platform.

What Is an Agency Map?

An Agency Map is not a diagram for decoration. It is a tool for making structure visible. Every map applies the nine-part Agency Apparent framework to a specific system, revealing what drives its behavior and where that behavior might degrade.

Maps can be visual schematics, node-link diagrams, annotated workflows, or structured text. The form follows the function: make the hidden structure of agency apparent.

The Map Framework

01

Actor

What is acting?

02

Aim

What does the system appear to be trying to do?

03

Boundary

Where does the agent end and the environment begin?

04

Constraints

What limits or shapes behavior?

05

Perception

What can the system sense or respond to?

06

Action Space

What can the system actually do?

07

Feedback

How does the system update?

08

Failure Mode

Where does agency degrade?

09

Legibility

What became apparent?

Candidate Systems for Mapping

1Tool-using LLM agent
2Multi-agent workflow
3Human + ChatGPT creative workflow
4Social media recommendation algorithm
5Slime mold pathfinding behavior
6Ant colony foraging system
7Market trading bot
8Concordia simulation agent
9DAO governance system
10Human habit loop shaped by app interface

Published Maps

No maps published yet.

The first Agency Map is in development.