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Maria Gorinova: Feedback Loops That Fix Your Codebase

October 13, 2026 · 38 min

Show notes

Agent feedback loops are how a software factory maintains itself: agents mining their own session logs, PR comments and production signals, then fixing what they find. Maria Gorinova, member of technical staff at Tessl, explains how to build them, and why vague intent turns a loop into a mess.

What we cover:
– What a software factory is: repeatable workflows, a shared execution environment and agent feedback loops
– Why agent context alone isn't enough, and where harness engineering comes in
– The three stages of a feedback loop: analyze a data stream, find the problem, request the fix
– Inner, middle and outer loops, from verifiers on every PR to self-healing in production
– How Tessl's "comment diet" loop catches drift that no single PR causes
– Operators and stewards: the human roles in a software factory

Chapters:
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:02:36 - What is a software factory?
00:05:38 - From agents to context to harness engineering
00:09:15 - The three stages of an agent feedback loop
00:13:16 - Inner, middle and outer feedback loops
00:18:35 - Why vague intent breaks agent feedback loops
00:21:50 - Comment bloat, drift and the rule of three
00:25:48 - The software factory mindset
00:27:45 - Loops, feedback loops and meta feedback loops
00:32:45 - Operators, stewards and building your first loop

Build your software factory, one workflow at a time, with Tessl:
https://tessl.co/2uf

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Which agent feedback loop would you build first in your own software factory? Tell us in the comments.

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