---
id: "action-establish-source-of-truth"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["00:17:32", "00:17:48"]
tags: ["data-engineering", "data-governance"]
related: ["claim-agents-not-data-organizers", "framework-agent-deployment-commandments", "prereq-data-engineering", "entity-openbrain"]
action: "Fix data and define strict schemas before giving an agent access."
outcome: "Clean, measurable data architectures that don't degrade into chaos when agents operate at scale."
speakers: ["Nate B. Jones"]
sources: ["s53-agent-100x-review-3x"]
sourceVaultSlug: "s53-agent-100x-review-3x"
originDay: 53
---
# Establish a Data Source of Truth

## Action

**Fix data and define strict schemas before giving an agent access.**

## What to Do

Before granting an agent read/write access to your systems:

1. Define **strict schemas** for every entity the agent will touch.
2. Build **validation rules** at write-time.
3. Explicitly designate which system is the **source of truth** when conflicts arise.
4. Reconcile or quarantine duplicate/conflicting records.

Adjacent tooling: validation frameworks like Great Expectations; data-layer projects like [[entity-openbrain-d53]].

## Outcome

Clean, measurable data architectures that don't degrade into chaos when agents operate at scale. This is **commandment two** of [[framework-agent-deployment-commandments]] and the operational answer to [[claim-agents-not-data-organizers]]. Required literacy: [[prereq-data-engineering]].