Pre-Action Checks for AI Coding Agents: Tools and Patterns

Pre-action checks govern whether coding agents may execute tools or modify resources, limiting potential damage but not determining whether a permitted change is correct. The text groups these controls into harness-level permissions, plan modes, and PreToolUse hooks; system-level sandboxes and containers; and repository-level protected paths, branch protection, and required CI checks, arguing that repository and system controls are more resilient than frequent human approval prompts. It notes that prompts degrade through repetition, hooks can miss alternative ways to achieve a blocked outcome, sandboxes may still expose mounted credentials, and protected-path rules can be bypassed by file renames, while branch protection remains a particularly durable safeguard. Harness policies are also affected by configuration precedence, with centrally managed settings presented as harder for individual developers to weaken than local files. The recommended approach is to layer protections from the outside in, beginning with branch protection and sandboxing, then adding targeted hooks and reserving prompts for rare irreversible actions. Because pre-action controls cannot detect ordinary but incorrect edits, the text also advocates post-change verification, including browser-based and CI-gated testing such as the Kane CLI product described, to provide evidence that a feature works before merging.

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