Buyer guide · agentic harnesses
Agents do not replace human review
Autonomy is a reason for stronger review, not weaker gates. This checklist ties to the rollout guide: inspect the plan, tool log, diff, tests, and rollback path before any agent-generated patch merges.
Who this is for: Every developer and reviewer using agentic coding tools — from solo contributors to teams running Cursor, Claude Code, Copilot, or Devin Cloud — who need a concrete pre-merge checklist instead of trusting autonomy marketing.
What actually matters
- Read the agent’s plan before approving tool calls — especially shell, git, and MCP actions.
- The diff must match the stated objective without drive-by refactors, deleted tests, or secret leakage.
- Tests must run on the same branch the agent touched, or document a explicit reason why not.
- Every patch needs a rollback path: revert commit, stash, or branch discard if CI fails.
- A human owns the merge decision when the agent and reviewer disagree on scope.
- Cloud agents (Devin Cloud, Copilot coding agent) require review of remote environments and deployed previews too.
ACE recommendation
Pair every harness rollout with this checklist and the coding-assistant-rollout-guide — measure accepted patch rate and review minutes, not vanity autonomy metrics.
Set up the shortlist
Useful comparisons
How to run this decision
- 01Before approving tool calls, read the agent’s stated plan and reject scope creep.
- 02After the agent finishes, review the full diff — not just the summary message.
- 03Run the project test suite locally or confirm CI passed on the agent’s branch.
- 04Check for secrets, credentials, and debug logging accidentally committed.
- 05Confirm rollback steps (git revert, branch delete) before merging.
- 06Track accepted patch rate and review minutes alongside the coding-assistant-rollout-guide metrics.
Common pitfalls
- Merging because “the agent said it ran tests” without verifying on the actual branch.
- Accepting drive-by refactors that expand blast radius beyond the original task.
- Skipping tool-call review for “small” agent sessions that still ran shell or MCP commands.
- No rollback plan when a cloud agent modified a remote environment or preview deploy.
- Measuring autonomy metrics (tasks completed) instead of defect escape rate and review time.
Ask before you buy
- Did you read the agent’s plan before approving tool calls — especially shell, git, and MCP actions?
- Does the diff match the stated objective without drive-by refactors or secret leakage?
- Did tests run (or a documented reason why not) on the same branch the agent touched?
- Is there a rollback path — revert commit, stash, or branch discard — if the patch fails in CI?
- Who owns the merge decision when the agent and a human disagree on scope?
- For cloud agents (Devin Cloud, Copilot coding agent), does review cover remote environments and deployed previews too?
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