Capability · 8 min
Use an independent verifier
Give high-risk work a second, read-only pass that tries to disprove the builder's claims.Last updated August 2026Copy a starter prompt ↓
Add independence when a subtle miss is costly
The verifier is a separate review role, not another builder. It receives the mission, diff, rules, and evidence, then challenges the result without repairing it or inheriting the author's assumptions.
- Use it for auth, permissions, secrets, migrations, billing, security, and broad architectural changes.
- Use it when the same agent produced both the implementation and its proof.
- Skip a separate verifier for routine, isolated changes with deterministic focused tests.
- Keep the verifier read-only so findings stay independent from the fix.
Ask the verifier to falsify the handoff
Ask your coding agent
Use Brief to run an independent, read-only verification of this mission. Do not continue the implementation or fix findings. Read the original outcome, scoped rules, diff, tests, runtime or visual evidence, and handoff. Try to disprove each important claim, inspect negative paths and trust boundaries, and identify missing or circular proof. Return findings by severity, the evidence for each, and a verdict of ready, fix before review, or needs human judgment.
Separate evidence from the builder's narrative
Ask your coding agent
For every claimed outcome, show the independent evidence you checked and whether it passed, failed, or remains unproven. Treat the handoff as a claim, not proof. Re-run the narrow checks when safe, inspect the actual diff, and call out any evidence produced only by the authoring agent.
Resolve findings in a new pass
Ask your coding agent
Use the verifier's findings to create a focused follow-up pass. Address blocker and high findings first, record why any advisory finding is accepted or deferred, re-run the affected proof, and ask for another independent verification only where the result materially changed.
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