---
title: "Transcript versus outcome: definition | Chainfore"
url: https://chainfore.com/glossary/transcript-versus-outcome
updated: 2026-10-22
summary: "The distinction between what an agent reports it did and the state of the system it touched. Reliability is graded on the outcome."
---

Glossary

# Transcript versus outcome

The distinction between what an agent reports it did and the state of the system it touched. Reliability is graded on the outcome.

## Example

An agent reports that it posted a reconciliation entry. The ledger is read back to confirm the entry exists exactly once, with the expected amount.

## Related terms

- 01 Read-back verification: After an agent writes to a system of record, reading the record back to confirm the intended change exists exactly once.

- 02 Agent reliability engineering: The practice of bounding, verifying, recovering and measuring AI agents that act inside enterprise systems, so that autonomy is expanded on evidence.