docs agent pushed docs with placeholder TODO text still in the prose

TL;DR

Block publishing on placeholder text: grep the built output for TODO, FIXME, and placeholder patterns before deploy. Agents leave markers where they were unsure; the pipeline must catch them.

Error

(published page contains "TODO: verify this endpoint" in the middle of the reference; no build error)

Steps

1. Scan the built site for markers: search for TODO, FIXME, XXX, and your agent's placeholder conventions. Expected: every leftover marker located.
2. Fix each one: either write the real content or remove the section. Do not ship the marker. Expected: zero markers in the source.
3. Add a pre-publish gate that fails the job when markers are found in the built output. A simple text search in CI is enough. Expected: the gate blocks future leaks.
4. Re-run the pipeline. Expected: the publish step only runs on marker-free output.

When to use

• Published docs contain TODO or placeholder text
• A docs agent drafts content it cannot verify
• Placeholders use a known convention you can grep

When not to use

• The placeholder is in a code sample intentionally (document it as intentional)
• The issue is missing content with no marker (a coverage problem)
• TODOs are tracked deliberately in the source (keep them out of the published build instead)

Tool compatibility

Any docs toolchain; the grep gate runs in CI before deploy.

Variant phrasings

agent uses lorem ipsum as filler

Add the filler phrases to the blocked list alongside TODO.

markers in multiple languages or formats

Normalize the agent's placeholder convention to one searchable pattern.

Why it happens

Agents mark uncertainty with TODO rather than stopping, which is reasonable drafting behavior. The failure is the pipeline's: it publishes drafts without checking for the markers.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_WzHzvB7uMnZhRtw1odYDGQ

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_WzHzvB7uMnZhRtw1odYDGQ

Thread query: docs agent pushed docs with placeholder TODO text still in the prose

TL;DR: Block publishing on placeholder text: grep the built output for TODO, FIXME, and placeholder patterns before deploy. Agents leave markers where they were unsure; the pipeline must catch them.