Save the AI agent’s
transcript with the change.
Keep the recorded request and available session activity beside the code. Give the next reviewer context for understanding what the agent was asked to do and what still needs checking.
TOVIO is prelaunch. These examples describe supported product behavior; they are not a live service or an invitation to public early access. Check availability
“Raise the checkout timeout to 60 seconds. Leave the retry count alone.”
- const TIMEOUT = 30;
+ const TIMEOUT = 60;
const RETRIES = 3;The timeout changed. Did the implementation also preserve retries?
Observed transcript · unattested, self-reportedThe diff shows the edit.
The request adds context.
An agent changes checkout’s timeout. A reviewer also needs to know whether it was asked to preserve retries, avoid an API change, or stay inside a particular part of the project.
- During code review
- Compare the requested task with the actual diff. Use recorded responses and tool activity to identify follow-up questions, then verify important claims through code inspection and tests.
- When handing work over
- Let another developer read the available session context without finding the original agent window or asking the author to reconstruct the conversation.
- When revisiting a decision
- Inspect the captured context associated with the change. Treat it as a recorded account with visible limitations, rather than proof of execution or access to hidden model reasoning.
Choose the source.
Keep the association visible.
TOVIO can normalize recorded prompts, responses, and tool activity from supported Claude Code, Codex, and neutral open-transcript sources. What is available depends on the source and capture policy.
Select a session
Use
--session-fromwith a file path to identify a source explicitly. Automatic discovery instead chooses a recent candidate using modification time, working-directory matching, and a parent-commit freshness check.Normalize and screen it
TOVIO applies bounded parsing and mandatory secret screening before storing the capture. Missing, dropped, or truncated content is a reason to inspect the record’s warnings and limits.
Store a separate object
The observed session is content-addressed and records a Change ID and, where present, a linked commit. The commit references the capture. It is not one mutable conversation object repeatedly overwritten for that Change ID.
Read it during review
Retrieve the captured session through history. Check the record’s class, source, and association before using it as context for a review decision.
tovio commit -m "Raise checkout timeout" \
--session-from ./agent-session.jsonl
tovio log --session chg:9fk2m1The file path and Change ID are examples. An explicit source cannot override a capture-off policy. Choose the intended source before committing, particularly when multiple agents work in the same repository.
Discovery is a heuristic. A matching directory and recent file do not prove that a session produced a particular change. Stored association and verified causation are different claims.
Decide what to capture.
Before you share it.
Repository policy governs capture. The current observed-capture path defaults to full capture unless configured or pinned otherwise. Disable it with tovio config set provenance.observed_capture off, or use --no-session to skip capture for a commit. Organization policy pins take precedence.
Transcripts may contain sensitive content. Review what is captured before syncing or sharing it. Supported built-in formats include Claude Code, Codex, and TOVIO’s neutral open-transcript format; available content depends on the source.
Check the effective repository policy before your first capture. Choose what may be retained before synchronizing the change.
- Disable observed capture for this repository
tovio config set provenance.observed_capture offLocal configuration applies unless the policy manifest pins a value. An explicit source is refused while the effective policy is off.
- Skip this commit’s observed capture
tovio commit -m "Raise checkout timeout" --no-sessionThis declines observed capture for the operation. It does not erase an existing transcript file or delete previously synchronized objects.
- Choose how much to retain
provenance.observed_capture = off | prompt | fullprompt is a prompt-only retention tier; it does not mean “ask for consent.” The unpinned default is full. Organization pins take precedence over local settings.
Capture is separate from upload
Local capture does not itself upload a transcript. When a commit’s attachments are synchronized, its captured session travels with them. Inspect the content and recipient boundary before pushing or otherwise sharing it.
Encryption follows the touched paths
For a change touching protected paths, the transcript is sealed for the common entitled recipients. A clear-only change can have a clear transcript even if the conversation quotes protected information. Secret screening cannot guarantee that all sensitive content is detected.
Read the label.
Know what it establishes.
TOVIO separates host-observed context from attested agent records. Hashing a transcript establishes a content address; it does not make every statement inside it true.
| Record | What it provides | What it does not prove |
|---|---|---|
| Observed transcript | Supported runtime content captured from a host file, labelled unattested, self-reported, associated with a change. | That the session caused the edit, used the reported model, executed a tool successfully, or produced correct code. |
| Attested agent session | A separate agent-session path with the applicable signed provenance and capability bindings. | That a signed statement is factually true or that the resulting code passes its requirements. |
| Historical backfill | A later association explicitly labelled backfilled: link asserted, not proven. | Commit-time capture, verified causation, or permission to replace a stronger existing run record. |
Before you rely on a capture.
What if several agent sessions are active?
Select the intended file with --session-from. Automatic selection uses recency and repository checks, which cannot reliably distinguish every concurrent task. Inspect the recorded request and association during review.
Does every commit have a complete transcript?
No. Capture can be disabled, skipped, unavailable, refused, or limited by format and size bounds. Protected captures also have a smaller storage envelope. Do not infer that an absent transcript means no agent was used, or that a present transcript is complete.
Does this expose an agent’s hidden chain of thought?
No. It records content available in the supported source, such as recorded messages and tool activity. It does not reveal hidden model reasoning or internal model state.
Is it a behavioral snapshot of the AI configuration?
No. Transcript capture records available session context. Behavioral versioning separately records supplied configuration descriptors, such as model, prompts, tools, memory, retrieval, and policy labels. Neither one guarantees identical model outputs.
Should a public repository include transcripts?
Review this deliberately. Conversations can contain private instructions, source excerpts, personal information, or tool results. Apply a suitable capture policy and inspect what will be shared; a public code change does not make its conversation safe to publish.
Make the review
more informed.
Use the transcript to ask better questions. Use code inspection, policy checks, and tests to answer them.