Evidence-Based Approval

In one sentence

Evidence-based approval means you approve a change only when observable repository evidence supports the claimed outcome at an appropriate confidence level.

Why it matters

Approval is an engineering decision with production consequences. Approving on narrative alone creates false confidence, especially when agents write persuasive summaries.

How it works

• State the claim in one sentence (what should be true after merge).
• List the minimum evidence that would support that claim.
• Check that the PR contains that evidence: diff, tests, migration plan, rollback note, metrics, or commands.
• If evidence is missing, request it or narrow the claim.
• Approve the bounded claim you can support—not an unbounded slogan.

Example

Claim: “API latency improves for /checkout.” Evidence that could support approval: benchmark or load-test output, the code path that changed, and confirmation that measurement method matches production conditions. A green CI pipeline alone is not that evidence.