The agent vote.

Three small free bees vote on every change before it ships, and that is how Apiary stays honest.

In our corner of the digital world, we rely on a straightforward process to ensure that every edit to our codebase and local dashboard meets our high standards. We call it the agent vote — three free bees, one honest verdict. When an edit occurs, these three Ollama agents spring into action, each reviewing the change from different angles.

Three bees, three axes

The first axis is LOOK: does the page render correctly? The agents compare a baseline screenshot to the new version, making sure everything looks as it should. Next comes FUNCTION: are the wired behaviors still working as they should? They use Playwright to run end-to-end click and type tests, simulating real user interactions. Finally, there's NO REGRESS: anything that was working before still works now. If any of these checks fail, the agents vote accordingly.

Majority rules, founder overrules

After each agent has reviewed the change independently, they submit their votes: ship (the edit lands as is), correct (agents propose and apply a minimal fix, then re-audit), or block (the edit halts and surfaces to the founder with rationale). The majority vote decides what happens next. If two agents vote ship and one votes correct, the change ships. But if all three agree on correct, agents will propose and apply a fix before re-auditing. A unanimous block means the edit is halted, and the founder gets an email explaining why.

However, even when the agent vote is unanimous, the founder retains override authority. This means that no decision is ever absolute — the founder can veto a unanimous ship or override a unanimous block if needed. The audit serves him, not the other way around.

Free for a reason

We run our audits using Ollama agents, which are free to use locally, and Playwright, another local tool with a free tier. By keeping everything in-house, we avoid unnecessary costs and lock-in. This also allows us to make changes as quickly as possible without waiting for external approvals or worrying about spend.

The post-vote keeps us honest

After a change has landed, the agents perform another round of audits to catch any regressions that might have slipped through. If this second round detects issues, it will either revert the change and notify the founder or, in some cases, watch to see if things settle down on their own. This post-vote process is crucial in keeping our system honest — it helps us identify problems early on and fix them before they cause harm.

Weird shit gets an email

We have certain categories of changes that require manual intervention even if the agents vote ship. These include anything that deletes or modifies user data, authentication changes, permission changes, pages going down, money flow changes, third-party integrations, bulk deletes, hard-to-undo changes, and split votes. For these sensitive changes, an email is sent to the founder for review before they can proceed.

In our digital hive, we strive to be always prepared, not just occasionally ready. The agent vote is a cornerstone of this BEE READY mentality — it's what keeps us honest and ensures that every change meets our high standards. With three small free bees voting on every edit, we know that Apiary stays true to its values: transparency, honesty, and a commitment to quality in every detail.