No. Observability records what your system did: traces, logs, metrics. Outcome verification reads the external system and decides whether the promised outcome happened. A trace shows a 200 response for a refund that never settled.

AspectObservabilityOutcome verification
QuestionWhat happened inside my system?Did the promised outcome happen in the external system?
EvidenceYour own spans, logs, metricsProvider readback and provider events, ranked E2 to E5 by independence from the agent
UnitA request, a spanAn operation against a completion contract
ResultA dashboard, an alertA verdict and a signed receipt
GateNone. It observesYes. An agent cannot say "done" without VERIFIED
Pre-existing stateNot a concernMust not verify. Correlation is mandatory
the promptthe agenttool callStripe200 pendingthe agent reads the status code and stops“Done. The customer has beenrefunded $142.”an agent assertion is evidence level E0E0 is never sufficient on its ownNobody compares the claim with the record, so nobody finds the difference.
The gap that outcome verification closes, and no other tool reads.
In words
  • A person asks the agent to perform the action.
  • The agent calls the provider and reads a success response.
  • The agent reports the task as done.
  • The provider state is still not the promised outcome.

When is observability the right tool?

Use observability for latency, errors, and the path a request took through your services. Use outcome verification when an agent makes a side-effecting call and must not say "done" until the provider proves it.

Questions developers ask

Can I build verification from my traces?

A trace records your side of the call. It cannot record that Stripe moved the money four seconds later. Verification needs a provider readback or event, correlated to the operation.

Does Provely replace my observability stack?

No. Provely emits request ids, structured logs, and spans into your stack. It adds the verdict, which observability never produces.