# Add the guardrail the postmortem asked for

The limit, validation, or confirmation the postmortem asked for, refusing the exact input that caused the incident.

Category: Incident follow-through
Source: https://letsship.ai/use-cases/add-the-guardrail-the-postmortem-asked-for
Published: 2026-08-25

## Goal

Add the guardrail named in the postmortem so the triggering action cannot repeat.

## Acceptance criteria

- The guardrail refuses the exact input or action from the incident
- Legitimate use is unaffected, proven by a test
- The refusal explains what to do instead
- There is a documented way to override it deliberately

## What lands as proof

A test replaying the incident's input and being refused, alongside a test proving normal use still works.

## Prompt

Copy this to an agent to open the ticket:

```text
Create a Linear issue in my team and assign it to the SHIP agent.

Title: Add the {guardrail} guardrail

Description: Add the guardrail named in the postmortem so the triggering action cannot repeat.

Acceptance criteria:
- The guardrail refuses the exact input or action from the incident
- Legitimate use is unaffected, proven by a test
- The refusal explains what to do instead
- There is a documented way to override it deliberately

Before you create the issue, read the postmortem action items and replace {guardrail} with the one that is still open.
```

## Questions

### What does the agent actually change?

The ticket is scoped to one outcome: add the guardrail named in the postmortem so the triggering action cannot repeat. Work that serves that outcome is in scope, and anything outside it is left for a separate ticket, so the pull request stays reviewable.

### How do I know the work is done?

The pull request carries the evidence, not only the diff. Here that means the guardrail refuses the exact input that caused the incident, so a reviewer can confirm the result without reproducing the work locally.

### How much oversight does this need?

The run stops once the plan is written. Somebody reads the approach and approves it before any code exists, which is the cheapest moment to redirect the work.