Typical workflow
- Agent writes
- PR opens
- CI fails
- Human or agent reconstructs context
- Retry
Evaluate Backstop
Your agent already writes the code.
Backstop helps you ship confidently.
Bigger models write great code. None of them write code like you.
Backstop enforces your standards so the agent's code looks like your code.
Scrollable data table
| What you already use | What that gets you | What it cannot guarantee | What Backstop adds | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Markdown specs | Named intent | The agent can skip them | Plan-before-code, verifiable claims, mandated tests | “Done” can be contradicted |
| Skills / AGENTS.md | Better default behavior | A prompt, not a verdict | Packs and fixtures for the non-negotiable subset | Green means the standard held |
| MCP | Tool access | A protocol, not a policy | A required gate whose exit status controls the workflow | The exit code controls what happens next |
| LLM review | Another opinion on the diff | Still a guess | Deterministic engines for what must not be a guess | Same input, same verdict |
| Standards as docs | Shared language | Unenforced | Encode only what you would fail a merge over | The rest stays a doc on purpose |
A spec is context. The artifact chain is working state.
SDD gives the agent better instructions. The artifact chain gives it less to guess.
A spec tells the agent what you want. The artifact chain tells it what to do next, what it may assume, what it must prove, and when it is done.
Most spec-driven workflows hand the agent one or more Markdown documents and leave it to infer the rest. Backstop turns intent into bounded, linked work: requirements become a plan, the plan produces implementation claims, and those claims require evidence.
At every stage, the agent knows what is authoritative, what remains unresolved, and what must be true before the work can proceed.
Scrollable data table
| Common SDD | What the agent still has to infer | What the artifact chain makes explicit | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| A single spec.md | Decomposition, dependencies, and boundaries | Atomic requirements and explicit relationships | A smaller problem to solve |
| Generated plan and tasks | Whether every requirement survived planning | Validated coverage between artifacts | Nothing quietly falls out |
| Checked task boxes | What was actually implemented and proven | Claims tied to evidence and terminal states | “Done” can be contradicted |
| A revised specification | Which existing work is now stale | Required downstream reconciliation | Change does not become drift |
| A new agent session | Decisions, progress, and unresolved work | Durable artifact and workflow state | Resume without reconstruction |
The same structure that makes the agent easier to trust also makes the agent better at the job.
When work is not allowed to ship
Testspromised test is absentfail
Requirementscompletion claim without coveragefail
FAILThe work is not allowed to ship.
CI is too late to find problems
Fix problems while your agent is still writing the code.
Backstop puts deterministic gates inside the agent’s working loop. The agent gets the failure, fixes the issue, and reruns the gate before the work reaches review. CI runs the same checks again—but confirms the verdict instead of delivering the surprise.
Backstop workflow
- Agent writes
- Gate fails
- Agent fixes
- PR opens
- CI confirms
CI should confirm, not discover.