Zeroshot is an MIT-licensed CLI that runs a coding task as an explicit graph: a worker agent implements the change, two independent reviewer agents must both accept, and rejected work returns through a bounded repair loop before anything is delivered. ## What it is The Open Engine's Zeroshot is a native Rust binary installed from npm that also drops one skill into Codex, Claude Code, and GitHub Copilot, then runs one of those harness CLIs as both the worker and the reviewers with your existing logins. A GraphSpec file defines control flow and typed state, a RuntimePlan binds each node to a harness, provider, model, and named connections, and the run input is validated before execution opens a durable SQLite ledger. The built-in software-change template routes worker output to parallel acceptance and code review, sends rejected work to a dedicated repair worker with both reviews' feedback, and re-runs both reviews until a retry cap stops the loop. Delivery is a ladder you opt into, from keep-it-local through --push, --pr, and --ship through PR, CI, and merge, and runs execute locally, on a self-hosted Docker target, or on Zeroshot Cloud's managed capacity. ## Status Active and shipping: 1,935 stars since creation on 2025-12-25, pushed 2026-10-10, v10.10.1 released 2026-10-06 with npm in sync, per the GitHub API and the npm registry as of 2026-10-10. Star History Chart **The independent footprint is thin: one 2-point Hacker News thread from June 2026 and a young curated list, so the README's "starred by engineers at Google, Meta, Shopify" badge is a self-published claim.** v8 was a hard interface cutover that replaced a Node.js runtime with the native binary, and the README still warns of breaking changes and rough edges while declining issues and external contributions. ## Strengths - **The acceptance rule is architectural**: reviewer nodes return comments and never edit, the implementing agent cannot approve its own output, and required checks re-run after every repair. - The graph defines sequence, parallel steps, retry caps, and exit conditions before execution, so a run's behavior is inspectable in advance. - RuntimePlan hands credentials to one node at a time, and reviewers do not inherit the worker's keys. - Profiles save a graph plus its per-node model bindings for reuse, and custom topologies are a documented extension path. ## Cautions - **Acceptance is LLM judgment, not a deterministic gate**: the README states coverage depends on the requirements, reviewers, tests, and environment you provide, a weaker guarantee than Fluent's final Tester or Ouroboros' mechanical first stage. - Local runs edit the current git worktree with no isolation, so isolation means standing up the Docker target. - Thin independent evaluation, and the v8 cutover shows interface stability is not a promise. - Zeroshot Cloud has no published prices, so the managed path's cost is unknown as of 2026-10-10. ## Pricing The core is MIT, free, and self-hosted on your harness logins and keys. Zeroshot Cloud is a managed target whose docs cover accounts, organization policy, and queue behavior, without published prices as of 2026-10-10. ## Compared to - [Ouroboros](../ouroboros/index.md) hides the grading command and expected result from the worker and gates mechanically first; Zeroshot shows reviewers the code but separates who judges from who wrote. - [Fluent](../fluent/index.md) ends in a deterministic Tester bound to the reviewed commit; Zeroshot ends in independent reviewer agents plus your configured checks. - [Fabro](../fabro/index.md) makes you author any DOT graph with human gates; Zeroshot ships the review loop built in and treats custom topology as the extension path. ## Bottom line **Recommended for engineers who want issue-to-PR runs where review is structurally independent from implementation, on harnesses they already pay for.** Not for teams that require a deterministic final gate, third-party validation first, or interface stability guarantees. ## Changes - 2026-10-10 - Created from the awesome-software-factories scan as the independent-review-loop member. ## See also - [Ouroboros](../ouroboros/index.md) - the other anti-self-grading member, hidden grading versus independent reviewers - [Fluent](../fluent/index.md) - the deterministic final gate comparison - [Fabro](../fabro/index.md) - the graph-authoring alternative - [Software Factory Feature Matrix](../software-factory-feature-matrix/index.md) - where the review-loop column sits among the factories ## References - https://github.com/the-open-engine/zeroshot - repository, the built-in workflow, delivery ladder, install methods, and license - https://zeroshot.sh/docs/ - the graph, runtime plan, and ledger model, and the three run targets - https://cloud.zeroshot.sh/docs - Zeroshot Cloud's managed target, the reviewers-never-edit model, and the absence of published prices - https://registry.npmjs.org/@the-open-engine-company%2Fzeroshot - the npm package, 10.10.1 latest as of 2026-10-10 - https://api.github.com/repos/the-open-engine/zeroshot/releases - the release train, v10.10.1 newest as of 2026-10-10 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48599820 - the 2-point June 2026 thread, the thin independent footprint this note records - https://github.com/varun1505/awesome-software-factories - the third-party curated list that surfaced this note