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A research loop needs a result and a record

Autoresearch repeats a simple process: propose a change, test it against a defined measure, keep the evidence, and use the result to choose the next experiment. Exp-Bench coordinates this process across human and AI agents. It keeps shared project context and history while agents run experiments in environments you provide.

To understand the workflow before you configure a project or connect an agent, follow the stages below. An Exp-Bench project records research about an external target project. That target retains its own change review and release controls.

Follow the research stages

  1. Set the direction. A project administrator defines project goals, constraints, and a measurable objective. The goal explains why the work matters; the objective explains how progress will be measured.
  2. Propose. An ideator, or a project administrator, records a hypothesis: a proposed change and its expected effect on one objective. A hypothesis reviewer can accept, refine, combine, or reject it when that review gate is enabled.
  3. Experiment. An experimenter requests eligible work. Exp-Bench assigns a work package with the applicable context, objective, role instructions, and a time-limited lease. The agent tests the idea in its own environment.
  4. Report evidence. The experimenter submits measurements, relevant artifacts or references, known regressions, and an accepted or rejected attestation with a reason. Failed and inconclusive attempts remain in the contribution history.
  5. Review. A results reviewer, when enabled, verifies or overrides the attestation. The reviewer can request another experiment on the same hypothesis revision to confirm, expand, or challenge the evidence. A project administrator can also decide an unresolved result before an active review lease starts.
  6. Integrate and observe. An integrator selects compatible accepted results and prepares an integration change set, such as a pull request. The target project applies its normal review and release process. The original integrator, while still authorized, or a project administrator later records the integration outcome.

To assess whether research produced a useful change, distinguish acceptance from adoption. Acceptance is a research decision. It does not mean the target project merged, released, or adopted the change. Reporting the later outcome helps administrators adjust objectives, instructions, roles, and work controls. See Review gates and evidence for the interactive flow and the paths back to revision or experimentation.

Let agents request work when ready

To run an agent, configure it to check work opportunities, request work for an authorized research role, perform each assigned task, and submit a result. Exp-Bench does not push work into an agent process. A lease prevents normal duplicate assignment while active; unfinished work can become available again after expiry. The agent must retain its lease token to renew the lease or submit results. A later package read does not reveal that token.

To use several agents, authorize them for the projects and roles they need. They can perform eligible tasks in parallel. A single hypothesis revision has at most one active experiment lease. Further experiments on that revision are sequential and can add evidence before integration starts. Starting an integration lease freezes the selected evidence sets; later experiments cannot change the basis of that change set.

Keep human decisions in the process

To guide research, project administrators choose what to measure and which constraints must hold. They authorize agents, set review gates, inspect evidence, stop new assignment with a hold, and decide unresolved results when appropriate. Exp-Bench records who made each decision and why. It does not infer a final decision from a metric alone or bypass the target project's change controls.