Don’t infer behavior from code, observe it in logs

Agents are hardwired to be prolific writers and readers of code. As my work on Bram progressed I found that their code-first instinct wasn’t serving me well. So I began pushing them to be, also, prolific writers and readers of logs. Bram is a Tauri app, so it’s written in Rust. But it’s also a JavaScript app that hosts a terminal where Claude Code and Codex run, and it’s an XMLUI app that reimagines how to display and interact with those terminal-based agents, and it’s a workflow governed by a set of Markdown files and Python hooks. The app’s behavior arises from the dynamic interplay of these layers, languages, and components. Was the right message sent to the agent at the right time? Did the rule-defined workflow transition occur? Did the agent’s response render correctly? These are observations about runtime behavior. When something goes wrong, the drill is now: – Do we have the instrumentation to know what happened? – If no, add it. – If yes, use it. This applies as much to…