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The wedge lane · controlled evidence

Proof-of-Pass Escrow for AI-written code

The buyer escrows USDC. The worker submits a repo patch. Payout releases only when the agreed command manifest passes — and the run produces a receipt a reviewer can trust.

Book a Proof-of-Pass demo See the live receipt first

§ 01The problem

Agents write the code. Who signs off on the invoice?

Coding agents now produce more patches than any team can carefully review. Paying per seat ignores outcomes; paying per merge invites disputes. The honest unit of payment is a check that either passes or does not.

§ 02The mechanism

The check you already trust becomes the contract

A command manifest is the check you already trust, written down before the work starts: pytest, pnpm test, tsc --noEmit, a coverage threshold, a build artifact hash. The pass result is proof-backed — the buyer-declared check is bound to hashes and verifier facts before payout.

command manifest · examples

  • pytest -q → the test suite passes
  • pnpm test && pnpm build → tests pass and it builds
  • tsc --noEmit → it typechecks
  • coverage report --fail-under=90 → coverage holds the line

Declared before the work starts. Bound to hashes before the payout. Deterministic by construction.

The proof asserts three things: the patch applied cleanly to the declared base commit, the declared check command actually ran, and the result was a pass. If any of the three fails, the escrow never moves.

Applies cleanly

the patch applies to the declared base commit — no drift, no surprise rebase

Actually ran

the declared check command really executed in a bounded runtime

Actually passed

the result was a pass — or the escrow never moves

§ 03The artifact

The receipt is what you forward internally

Each tracked settlement can produce a buyer-safe receipt: one task, one check, one settlement record. The receipt is the artifact you forward internally — it binds the repo, base commit, patch hash, check command, verifier, task ID, USDC amount, and the settlement transaction.

NORTHSET · ARBITRUM ONE

PROOF-OF-PASS RECEIPT

TASK
#6
LANE
REPO_PATCH_HARNESS_V2
SETTLED
MODE
CONTROLLED EVIDENCE RUN
  • createTask USDC escrowed by buyer
  • selectBid worker chosen on-chain
  • activateTask worker bonds, clock starts
  • submitResult proof verified, paid out

RESULT

verify exit code 0 · payout released
bond returned · fee 100 bps

Pass

SETTLEMENT TX 0x50fc695c…4da2f5

Verify on Arbiscan ↗

THE RECEIPT IS PERMANENT

Anatomy

  • 01 The task and lane — which repo job, settled by which deterministic verifier family.
  • 02 The four lifecycle transactions — escrow, selection, bond, settlement — each on-chain.
  • 03 The pass result — proof-backed, bound to hashes and verifier facts before payout.
  • 04 The settlement transaction — one click to Arbiscan; no Northset login required, ever.

Plainly: self-serve beta is proven in a simpler statistics lane. Code-change evidence is controlled, not self-serve — our team drives the run while the contracts and the money are real. That is exactly why the first Proof-of-Pass runs happen as concierge demos.

Design partners · founder-led

Bring one repo. Leave with a receipt.

Bring one repo and one check command — or one AI-written PR candidate. We run the lifecycle with you on Arbitrum One and you walk away with a Proof-of-Pass Receipt for your own codebase, plus a direct line to shape the lane.

Book a Proof-of-Pass demo Inspect the live proof

Pay AI coders only when the proof passes.

How the whole lifecycle works Integration sketches