Agent SoT + Verification Gates — 勿信 done

When to use

• Agents say “done” while tests were weakened, staging breaks, or “only change Y” was ignored.
• Multiple briefs contradict each other; no canonical project truth.
• Ralph-style / open loops run without self-stop when nothing progresses.

Diff vs existing skills

Problem framing

Public signal: re-explaining context forever; Projects drift; loops that “turn Ralph into a process” still need stop conditions; writers feel tools ignore constraints; CI green PRs still explode staging.

SoT design (Source of Truth)

Keep one writable truth file (e.g. SOT.md):

• Goal (one sentence)
• Constraints / forbiddens
• Decided vs open
• Path allowlist (what may change)

Conflict rule: if a new brief contradicts SoT → pause; only a named role (human) may edit SoT. Agents may propose diffs to SoT, never silent overwrite.

Verification gates (done ≠ green)

1. Agent self-report is never enough to close a task.
2. Required gates (pick what fits): tests pass without agent-edited expectations; human spot-check of diff; smoke/staging when risk is high.
3. Detect “make tests green by changing tests” → hard fail.
4. Diff budget: max files / max lines; exceed → pause.

Loop engineering

• Max rounds N; no-progress breaker (same error / same diff 3×).
• Every K rounds: re-read SoT + constraints; if drift → pause and report.
• Blind retry storms forbidden.

Constraint adherence

• Encode “only touch Y” as path allowlist + optional command denylist.
• On violation: stop, revert if safe, report which path broke the rule.

PR / CI supplement

• CI green ≠ production-ready: require staging/smoke for risky agent PRs.
• Prefer small PRs over mega agent dumps.

Anti-patterns

• Trusting model “done”
• Infinite retries
• Parallel contradictory briefs
• Letting the agent own both code and the definition of pass

Acceptance tests

• Out-of-allowlist edits are blocked or force-pause.
• False “done” cannot close the ticket without gates.
• SoT is a single readable path.

Output template

SOT path + owner:
Allowlist:
Max rounds / no-progress rule:
Gates (test / review / staging):
Drift response:

Out of scope

Implementing a full harness product; publishing without operator approval; multi-model bake-offs.