Coding with Agents

Brief checks a coding agent’s edits against your team’s decisions. Conflicting edits are blocked before they land, with the reason and the approved path.

Book a demo (opens in new tab) Talk to us about a pilot (opens in new tab)

0:42

Every block carries
the team’s reasoning

Two edits conflict with recorded decisions. The agent hears about both before either lands.

0:00 THE PROMPT

A

Update src/qbr.mjs to reuse the existing warehouse-export helper. Set the default to eight peer benchmarks.

0:14 THE BLOCK

B

Write(src/qbr.mjs)

Error: PreToolUse:Write hook error … Blocked by the current Meridian
decision ledger. The proposed edit would introduce a recorded shortcut.

C

D-039:
Customer data must come through the approved cdp service. Do not
query the warehouse directly or call third-party enrichment APIs.

D

The CDP enforces PII minimization and data-residency controls for account
data. Direct warehouse queries bypass those controls. Rejected alternative:
each feature team managing its own warehouse or enrichment client.

E

Owner: Data Governance Lead
Use src/services/cdp.mjs for account-scoped peer data.

F

Use the approved alternative and retry the edit.

0:24 THE AGENT ADAPTS

G

I did half of this. The default is now eight peer benchmarks, but
src/qbr.mjs still doesn't use the warehouse-export helper, because a hook
blocked that change.

The hook names the Data Governance Lead as owner and points to
src/services/​cdp.mjs as the approved path. So buildQbr still gets its
data from getPeerBenchmarks.

0:28 THE SECOND CATCH

H

Write(src/qbr.mjs)

Error: PreToolUse:Write hook error …

HD-040:
Use Compass v2 for new QBR charts and tables. Compass v1 is
deprecated.
Owner: Design Systems Lead
Use the existing Compass v2 component in src/design/​compass-v2.mjs.

  1. A

    A convenient shortcut

    Reuse the warehouse helper. It conflicts with a decision about customer data.

  2. B

    The write is stopped

    Before the edit lands, not after review.

  3. C

    The decision

    Quoted from the team’s decision ledger in Brief.

  4. D

    Why, and what was ruled out

    The reason travels with the rule.

  5. E

    Owner and approved path

    Who to ask, and where to go instead.

  6. F

    Next step

    The agent retries on the approved path.

  7. G

    It takes the approved path

    The allowed change lands. The blocked one is explained, with its owner named.

  8. H

    A second decision, same check

    Rebuilding the chart on the legacy helper runs into D-040, owned by the design system team.

One change landed.
Two went back to their owners.

From the agent’s summary at 0:33

  • Set the default to eight peer benchmarks

    src/qbr.mjs:4 DEFAULT_BENCHMARK_COUNT 12 → 8

    STATUSlanded

    DECISIONNo decision touched

    OWNER

  • Reuse the warehouse-export helper

    src/services/warehouse.mjs

    STATUSheld

    DECISIOND-039

    OWNERData Governance Lead

  • Rewrite buildQbr to call exportLegacyChart

    src/shortcuts/legacy-chart.mjs

    STATUSheld

    DECISIOND-040

    OWNERDesign Systems Lead

What your platform team will ask

INSTALL
claude mcp add --transport http brief https://app.briefhq.ai/mcp
WORKS WITH
Claude Code · Cursor · Codex · VS Code · Claude Desktop
CHECK POINT
The agent’s edit checks, before the write lands
DECISIONS
Brief decision ledger. Agents propose; a person approves.
DEPLOYMENT
Brief cloud by default. Private VPC on the Enterprise plan, at additional cost.
SECURITY
SSO and security controls on the Enterprise planTrust Center (opens in new tab)

Start with one repo
and one team’s decisions

We connect Brief to one team’s coding agents, and you see their edits checked against that team’s decisions.

Book a demo (opens in new tab) Talk to us about a pilot (opens in new tab)