# Cyclic Tiebreak

> A defect in which a tiebreak picks a source among copies none of which is distinguished, turning a correct refusal into a direction no copy supports.

Record: `architecture:cyclic-tiebreak`
Kind: anti-pattern
Layer: [Execution Core](https://banes-lab.com/records/layer/execution-core.md)
Severity: discouraged
Scope: duplicate
Canonical: https://banes-lab.com/ontology#architecture-cyclic-tiebreak

Listed in [Architecture principles](https://banes-lab.com/api/records/architecture.md), after [Narrowed Aggregate](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/narrowed-aggregate.md) and before [Destructive Closure](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/destructive-closure.md).

## Repair

- Refactored by: Refuse and Name the Cycle
- Detected by: a collapse direction chosen over a set with no distinguished copy
- Violated by: breaking a tie by recency, path order or authorship when no copy derives from another and none is resolved
- Measured by: collapses directed by a tiebreak
- Enforced by: coordination review

## Severity

- [discouraged](https://banes-lab.com/records/vocabulary/severity-discouraged.md)

## Category

- [Coordination Surfaces](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture-category/coordination-surfaces.md)

## Negated by

- [Period-Decided Disposition](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/period-decided-disposition.md)

## Linked from

- [Coordination Surfaces](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/principles/architecture-category-coordination-surfaces.md)
- [Severity levels](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/schema/the-vocabulary-severity.md)

## Evidence in the code

- [models/coordination.model.md](https://banes-lab.com/source/coordination/models/coordination.model.md.md)