Dry Run Mode: A Safety Pattern for Agentic Write Operations
blaizedsouza · x · 2026-08-23
When building AI agents, write operations carry significant risk. The author proposes adopting a standard "Dry Run Mode" pattern, based on the core principle of seeing the write before it exists.
Dry Run Cheatsheet:
- Return a preview of the planned change.
- Keep the dry run free of side effects.
- Compare preview against policy.
- Commit only after the preview is accepted.
- Bind commit to the same preview ID.
- Expire unused previews quickly.
Treat any tool without a preview mode as higher risk.
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