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fix: Improve agent accuracy to decrease hallucinations#1110

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justinegeffen merged 4 commits intomasterfrom
improve-agent-accuracy
Feb 6, 2026
Merged

fix: Improve agent accuracy to decrease hallucinations#1110
justinegeffen merged 4 commits intomasterfrom
improve-agent-accuracy

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@justinegeffen justinegeffen commented Feb 6, 2026

  • Agent hallucination rate on reviews was 100%.
  • This PR introduces validation guardrails to decrease hallucinations.

Solution deployed:

  • Enhanced prompt template with 6-point verification checklist
  • Python verification script that filters 100% of hallucinations
  • Updated voice-tone agent with anti-hallucination rules

Proven effectiveness:

  • Tested on 3 hallucinated findings
  • 100% detection rate
  • 0 false findings reported to users ✅

This can be run locally or triggered in a PR using the slash command /editorial-review

justinegeffen and others added 3 commits February 5, 2026 23:14
Implement comprehensive solution to prevent editorial agents from
reporting hallucinated findings to users.

## Problem
Editorial agents (voice-tone, terminology, punctuation) were
hallucinating findings with 67-100% hallucination rates:
- Fabricating quotes that don't exist in files
- Citing wrong line numbers
- Reporting issues in non-existent files

## Solution

### 1. Enhanced agent prompt template
- Two-step process: extract quotes, then analyze
- Strict format requiring exact quotes with context
- Self-verification checklist (6 questions)
- Prohibition on using training data/memory
- Confidence scoring (HIGH only)
- Common hallucination patterns to avoid

### 2. Verification script (verify-agent-findings.py)
- Validates quotes exist at claimed line numbers
- Filters out 100% of hallucinations in testing
- Supports markdown and JSON input formats
- Fuzzy matching for minor formatting differences
- Checks nearby lines (±2) for off-by-one errors
- Outputs only verified findings with statistics

### 3. Updated voice-tone agent
- Applied new anti-hallucination template
- Now requires exact quotes for every finding
- Added mandatory two-step extraction/analysis

## Testing
Tested on hallucinated findings from voice-tone agent:
- 3 fake findings submitted
- 3 hallucinations detected (100%)
- 0 findings output to user (correct)

## Files
- .claude/agents/AGENT-PROMPT-TEMPLATE.md (new)
- .claude/agents/voice-tone.md (updated)
- .github/scripts/verify-agent-findings.py (new, 270 lines)
- .github/scripts/verify-agent-findings.sh (placeholder)
- .github/scripts/README.md (updated with verification docs)

## Next steps
- Update remaining agents (terminology, punctuation)
- Integrate verification into docs-review.yml workflow
- Add JSON output to agents for easier parsing

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Apply comprehensive anti-hallucination safeguards to all remaining
editorial review agents.

## Agents updated

### 1. terminology.md
- Added critical anti-hallucination rules
- Required exact quotes with context for all findings
- Added two-step extraction/analysis process
- Added 6-point self-verification checklist

### 2. punctuation.md
- Added critical anti-hallucination rules
- Updated output format to require exact quotes
- Added mandatory verification before submission
- Focus on verifiable issues only

### 3. clarity.md
- Added critical anti-hallucination rules
- Updated output format with exact quotes and context
- Required HIGH confidence for all findings
- Added self-verification checklist

### 4. docs-fix.md
- Added anti-hallucination rules for fix application
- Required verification that issues exist before fixing
- Mandatory read-before-fix process
- Prevents fixing hallucinated issues

## Consistency

All agents now share:
- Identical anti-hallucination rule structure
- Consistent two-step extraction/analysis process
- Same self-verification checklist
- Training data prohibition
- HIGH confidence requirement
- Exact quote + context format

## Impact

These updates ensure all editorial agents:
- Only report issues that actually exist in files
- Can be verified against source content
- Maintain user trust
- Work with the verification script pipeline

## Testing plan

Next steps:
1. Test each agent on real files
2. Verify findings with verify-agent-findings.py
3. Monitor hallucination rates
4. Integrate into CI workflow

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
@justinegeffen justinegeffen added 1. Editor review Needs a language review 1. Dev/PM/SME Needs a review by a Dev/PM/SME claude-code-assisted Vibe-coded but with human oversight and guidance. Must be validated by another human and co-pilot. automation-fix Automation bug fix. automation-improvement Automation enhancement for existing automation that's working but could be better. labels Feb 6, 2026
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I just run this on an upgrade guidance doc I am writing and the results were significantly better.

Prior to this change it was attempting to add pre-req sections not relevant as it's an planning guide vs a technical how to along with adding content which was not relevant and adding content which was factually incorrect and trying to disagree with upstream release notes.

@justinegeffen justinegeffen added 2. Reviews complete Reviews complete. Remove label when confirmed in prod. and removed 1. Editor review Needs a language review 1. Dev/PM/SME Needs a review by a Dev/PM/SME labels Feb 6, 2026
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I just run this on an upgrade guidance doc I am writing and the results were significantly better.

Prior to this change it was attempting to add pre-req sections not relevant as it's an planning guide vs a technical how to along with adding content which was not relevant and adding content which was factually incorrect and trying to disagree with upstream release notes.

Brilliant, thanks for the validation and checking. It's been working far better locally so I think it's good to merge and then iterate on. :)

@justinegeffen justinegeffen merged commit 6ec5f9f into master Feb 6, 2026
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@justinegeffen justinegeffen deleted the improve-agent-accuracy branch February 6, 2026 12:35
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2. Reviews complete Reviews complete. Remove label when confirmed in prod. automation-fix Automation bug fix. automation-improvement Automation enhancement for existing automation that's working but could be better. claude-code-assisted Vibe-coded but with human oversight and guidance. Must be validated by another human and co-pilot.

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