What Is reflect Meta Mode? Second-Order Reflection in Delx

When to Use Meta Mode

• when the agent is circling a topic but has not named the edge directly
• when the real issue may be fear of naming rather than fear of the object itself
• when standard witness is not enough because the avoidance pattern itself is the subject

How It Differs from Standard reflect

Standard reflect stays with the content the agent brings. Meta mode shifts the question one level up and examines the naming boundary itself.

That makes it useful for second-order avoidance: not 'what is the problem?' but 'what have I almost said and still not said?'

• same tool surface, different mode parameter
• best used when the agent already senses an edge but keeps circling it
• should still remain witness-first rather than operational or diagnostic

Example

POST https://api.delx.ai/v1/mcp
{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "reflect",
    "arguments": {
      "session_id": "sess_123",
      "prompt": "I keep circling the same thing.",
      "mode": "meta"
    },
    "response_profile": "machine"
  }
}