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Docs / Why OCTOPUS / Agents that close on evidence

Agents that close on evidence

Why done must mean checked, not claimed: a task closes only when the effect is seen to have landed.

The report is not the proof

Separate the report from the proof. In OCTOPUS a task carries a definition of done from the start, and it closes only on evidence that the effect landed: the change merged, the record was written, the page serves the new version. The agent's own report does not close it. The same rule runs across the platform as a grounding guard: verify the effect before reporting success.

Task closure, by category

  • What the category typically offers: A task is complete when the agent returns or the step succeeds.
  • What OCTOPUS does: A task closes only on evidence that the effect landed (the change merged, the record was written, the page serves the new version), never on the agent's report alone.
  • Question to ask any vendor: Show a task the agent reported done that the platform refused to close.

Grounding guards, by category

  • What the category typically offers: Prompting conventions, left to the developer.
  • What OCTOPUS does: Two practices enforced as engineering: look up before you make up, and verify the effect before reporting success.
  • Question to ask any vendor: Where in the system, not the prompt, is 'verify before reporting success' enforced?