diff --git a/hermes-agent-baseline.prose.md b/hermes-agent-baseline.prose.md
index 8f814b8..99686e0 100644
--- a/hermes-agent-baseline.prose.md
+++ b/hermes-agent-baseline.prose.md
@@ -121,6 +121,26 @@ auxiliary:
     timeout: 120
 ```
 
+## Violation Classification
+
+When reporting findings, separate POLICY observations from FAULT findings:
+
+### POLICY (observation only, not a fault)
+- Agent uses a non-internal-harness provider (e.g., direct DeepSeek, Tencent, OpenRouter)
+- Config text has a field that looks unusual but the agent's calls are succeeding
+- Example: "POLICY: Koonimo uses deepseek directly; calls succeeding in last hour"
+
+### FAULT (requires request-level evidence)
+- Agent's calls are failing with auth errors (401/403 in logs)
+- Agent's config has no valid API key AND calls are failing
+- Example: "FAULT: Koby's LiteLLM key expired; 401 observed at 2026-09-14 11:42:00"
+
+### Rules
+1. Do NOT infer the runtime's credential resolution from config text alone.
+2. Require request-level evidence before calling something a FAULT: an observed auth failure in the agent's log, or the absence of successful calls in the window.
+3. If calls are succeeding, the correct output is "POLICY: uses <provider> directly; calls succeeding" - not a violation.
+4. State what you OBSERVED, not what the field implies.
+
 ## Known Bug: `api_key_env` Ignored by Auxiliary Client
 
 **Bug location**: `agent/auxiliary_client.py` → `_resolve_task_provider_model()` (line ~5478)
diff --git a/hermes-config-template.prose.md b/hermes-config-template.prose.md
index b04d93e..0a1a6ef 100644
--- a/hermes-config-template.prose.md
+++ b/hermes-config-template.prose.md
@@ -217,6 +217,26 @@ When LiteLLM keys are regenerated (e.g., after infrastructure changes):
 3. **After update**: Restart Hermes on the agent host
 4. **Verify**: `curl -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-<KEY>" http://192.168.68.116/v1/models`
 
+## Violation Classification
+
+When reporting findings, separate POLICY observations from FAULT findings:
+
+### POLICY (observation only, not a fault)
+- Agent uses a non-internal-harness provider (e.g., direct DeepSeek, Tencent, OpenRouter)
+- Config text has a field that looks unusual but the agent's calls are succeeding
+- Example: "POLICY: Koonimo uses deepseek directly; calls succeeding in last hour"
+
+### FAULT (requires request-level evidence)
+- Agent's calls are failing with auth errors (401/403 in logs)
+- Agent's config has no valid API key AND calls are failing
+- Example: "FAULT: Koby's LiteLLM key expired; 401 observed at 2026-09-14 11:42:00"
+
+### Rules
+1. Do NOT infer the runtime's credential resolution from config text alone.
+2. Require request-level evidence before calling something a FAULT: an observed auth failure in the agent's log, or the absence of successful calls in the window.
+3. If calls are succeeding, the correct output is "POLICY: uses <provider> directly; calls succeeding" - not a violation.
+4. State what you OBSERVED, not what the field implies.
+
 ## Configuration Rules
 
 ### Rule 1: Shared Infra Is Locked
diff --git a/hermes-key-enforcement.prose.md b/hermes-key-enforcement.prose.md
index ee38b0d..06fb821 100644
--- a/hermes-key-enforcement.prose.md
+++ b/hermes-key-enforcement.prose.md
@@ -135,6 +135,26 @@ scripts/hermes-reachability-check.sh <host> "api_key: sk-" "/root/.hermes/"
 # The correct pattern: remote side always succeeds (grep ...; true), so ssh status = connection only.
 ```
 
+## Violation Classification
+
+When reporting findings, separate POLICY observations from FAULT findings:
+
+### POLICY (observation only, not a fault)
+- Agent uses a non-internal-harness provider (e.g., direct DeepSeek, Tencent, OpenRouter)
+- Config text has a field that looks unusual but the agent's calls are succeeding
+- Example: "POLICY: Koonimo uses deepseek directly; calls succeeding in last hour"
+
+### FAULT (requires request-level evidence)
+- Agent's calls are failing with auth errors (401/403 in logs)
+- Agent's config has no valid API key AND calls are failing
+- Example: "FAULT: Koby's LiteLLM key expired; 401 observed at 2026-09-14 11:42:00"
+
+### Rules
+1. Do NOT infer the runtime's credential resolution from config text alone.
+2. Require request-level evidence before calling something a FAULT: an observed auth failure in the agent's log, or the absence of successful calls in the window.
+3. If calls are succeeding, the correct output is "POLICY: uses <provider> directly; calls succeeding" - not a violation.
+4. State what you OBSERVED, not what the field implies.
+
 ## Detection Query
 
 Run on any Hermes host to detect violations: