RefTrail releases AI coding agent verification tool
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SEPSolutions releases RefTrail, a zero-trust verification tool for AI coding agents. It requires freezing acceptance criteria before writing code and uses SHA-256 digests to detect whether the criteria have been altered; the coverage directory records the source, weight, acceptance criteria, status, and evidence for each requirement. Its example rebuild of GNU uniq achieves 100% functional coverage, passes 1/1 mandatory checks, and produces 16/16 outputs byte-for-byte identical to GNU uniq. The tool requires Node.js 22.16 or newer with no other dependencies; given only two inputs, the first run covers only one bounded end-to-end flow on a single platform, with a 60-minute time limit. RefTrail's own briefings, templates, example code, and documentation are provided under the MIT license.
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- Hacker News AIRefTrail – Zero-trust verification and clean-room specs for AI agents
RefTrail is a method and toolset that makes a coding agent's completion report checkable: each requirement gets a source and measurable acceptance criterion, the criteria are frozen with a SHA-256 digest before product code is written, and a coverage catalog records status, evidence and the limits of that evidence. Its tools require Node.js 22.16 or newer and no further packages, and a worked example rebuild of GNU uniq reports 100% functional coverage with 1/1 mandatory checks passed, with recorded output comparisons matching GNU uniq byte for byte (16 of 16 under Linux with version 9.4 for revision 1; for revision 2, 16 of 16 under Windows with version 8.32 and 16 of 16 under Linux with version 9.4). The project states that it organizes what you are allowed to observe rather than analyzing products, that the digest proves criteria did not change but not that they preceded the code, and that its legal notes are general information, not legal advice.
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