Keeping Agent Code Safe

Coding agents are powerful but not infallible. They make mistakes - logic errors, security vulnerabilities, performance issues. The key is layers of safety: automated checks, human review, sandboxing, and easy rollback. Trust but verify.

Critical Safety Checks

✅

Automated Testing

Critical

Agent must run all tests before declaring success. No code ships without passing tests. Block deployment on test failures.

👁️

Human Review

Critical

All agent code requires human approval. Review for logic, security, maintainability. Agent generates, human validates.

🔒

Sandboxed Execution

High

Agent runs in isolated environment. No production access. Can't delete data or make API calls without approval.

↩️

Easy Rollback

High

One-click revert for agent changes. Keep full history. Roll back immediately if issues found in production.

Interactive: Review Depth Calculator

Adjust review depth and see impact on quality metrics:

Review Depth50%

MinimalThorough

Bugs Shipped

per month

Confidence

67%

in code

Velocity

85%

of max speed

⚖️ Balanced: Moderate review catches most issues while maintaining good velocity.

The Review Process

Automated Checks: Tests, linting, type checking, security scans. Fast, catches 60% of issues.

Code Review: Human examines logic, design, maintainability. Catches 30% more issues.

Staged Rollout: Deploy to 1% → 10% → 100% of users. Catch remaining 10% in production.

Monitoring: Track errors, performance, user behavior. Quick rollback if issues detected.

💡

Trust Calibration

Start with 100% review - approve every line. As agent proves reliable, reduce to spot-checking. After 1000 successful changes, trust increases. But never go to zero review - always have automated tests and occasional human audits. The goal isn't blind trust, it's efficient verification.

Code-Writing Agents

Your Progress