Definition
Plain language
A forced waiting period before you're allowed to try the same thing again.
As stated in the literature
A rate-limiting mechanic that blocks repeated actions (e.g. renegotiating with the same club) for a fixed interval, penalizing brute-force probing strategies.
Also called: cooldowns
Why it matters: It forces agents to reason about their moves rather than brute-force their way to an answer through sheer repetition.
For example, after a rejected bid a club refuses to talk again for three months, so an agent cannot simply re-offer twenty times in a row.
Heard on the show
“They go offline, they lose login state, they overheat into cooldown.”Episode 189 — Why Phone Agents Ace the Test and Crash on Your Actual Phone