---
id: MEM-11
family: GR-MEM
level: extended
profiles: [storage-api, runtime]
posture: normative-target
added: "1.0"
changed: "1.0"
source: https://flowdrop.io/spec/rules/gr-mem/mem-11
specification: FlowDrop Workflow Specification 1.0-draft
licence: CC BY 4.0
---

# MEM-11 — Both spellings of a tool call's id are read

*GR-MEM (Part I) · level: extended · profiles: storage-api, runtime · added in 1.0*

A buffer written from a raw provider payload spells the id differently from one written by the buffer itself. Reading only one spelling makes every guard blind to the other.

## The rule

> **Normative.** This is the rule.
>
> 1. Where an assistant turn declares tool calls, a call's id is read under either the normalized spelling or the provider-flat spelling, whichever is present.
>
> 2. Deduplication, dangling-call detection and id recording all read the id through the same single definition, so the three cannot disagree about which calls a turn declares.


## What it means

A tool call's id can arrive spelled two ways: the shape this buffer writes
itself, and the flat shape a provider payload carries straight through. Both
name the same call. The rule that bites is that every reader of that id —
whether it is checking for a duplicate, looking for a call nobody answered, or
recording what a turn declared — has to accept either spelling, because a
buffer built from raw provider turns and one built by appending through this
node can end up sitting side by side in the same conversation.

A checker that only recognises its own spelling does not fail loudly. It
simply stops seeing calls written the other way, so a call already answered
looks unanswered, or a duplicate looks new.

## Example

An assistant turn declares a call in the flat spelling a provider payload
uses, and the turn that follows does not answer it.

```json title="A declared call in the provider-flat spelling"
{"role": "assistant", "content": "", "metadata": {"tool_calls": [{"id": "call_1", "name": "search"}]}}
```

```json title="The synthesized placeholder the buffer inserts for it" verdict="healed"
{"role": "tool", "metadata": {"tool_call_id": "call_1", "healed": true}}
```

The placeholder carries the normalized spelling, `tool_call_id`, but the id it
names, `call_1`, came from reading the declaring turn's flat `id` — the same
call the normalized spelling would have named `tool_call_id`.

## Related rules

- Names: MEM-1, MEM-2, MEM-3
- Referenced by: MEM-1, MEM-3

---

Rule identifiers are permanent and are never renumbered. This specification carries
no implementation status: each implementation publishes its own standing against
these rules. Licensed CC BY 4.0.