A clean reproduction starts from the named repository state, uses only delivered instructions and authorized inputs, and records every hidden dependency required to build, test, run, and deploy the software.
Create a controlled starting point
Use a new container, virtual machine, or documented workstation profile with the supported operating system and runtime. Clone the named commit into an empty directory and record tool versions before installation. Do not copy the builder's working tree, local dependency cache, untracked files, or environment values, because those can carry exactly the hidden state the review is intended to find.
Follow the delivered setup path in order. Record package installation, generated files, service startup, database creation and migrations, fixtures, build, lint, type checks, automated tests, and application startup. When an instruction fails, preserve the command and output before asking for help, then document any additional step supplied by the builder as missing handoff material. Preserve the exact install and startup transcript with timestamps and exit codes, and record each manual workaround as an exception rather than editing the original failure out of the runbook.
Separate configuration from secret values
The delivery should identify required environment-variable names, their purpose, format, source of authority, and the environments where they are used. The review can use buyer-controlled test credentials or inert substitutes. Secret values should not enter the acceptance packet, repository, screenshots, or command transcript, and temporary access should have a revocation and deletion step.
External vendors need a recorded substitute or a documented test tenant. If a payment, email, identity, or storage integration cannot be exercised safely, mark the affected requirement as untested and state the evidence needed. A successful local fallback does not prove the hosted integration unless the contracts and relevant behavior match.
Prove that the result belongs to the buyer
Build and deploy through buyer-controlled source, accounts, and approvals when the scope permits. Record the artifact, target, health check, logs, and rollback path. GitHub deployment environments can enforce approvals, branch restrictions, and secret access, which helps demonstrate that the delivered path does not depend on the builder's personal account.
Handback Review performs the controlled reproduction through Reality Contact, LLC. The customer provisions access, controls accounts, and approves any staging or deployment action.
Where the service stops
Reality Contact, LLC performs technical verification and document preparation, but does not interpret contract rights as legal advice, determine payment entitlement, certify security, conduct penetration testing, contact the delivering party, or make the buyer's acceptance decision. The buyer reviews the evidence with any advisers needed and chooses whether to accept the delivery, require repairs, or withhold acceptance or payment where the contract permits. This is technical verification and document preparation; it does not replace legal, security, procurement, intellectual-property, or contractual review. We do not promise that the software is defect-free, that every requirement is testable, or that any technical finding determines payment or acceptance rights.
Sources: Git documentation for cloning repositories; GitHub documentation for controlled deployment environments.