Definition
Plain language
A small change to software that fixes a problem.
As stated in the literature
A diff applied to a codebase, typically to fix a bug or close a vulnerability; in agentic coding evaluations the model's output is often a patch judged by whether it makes failing tests pass.
Also called: patches, patching, code patch
Why it matters: A vulnerability is only actually fixed once a patch is written, reviewed, shipped, and installed, and each of those steps takes real time.
For example, a two-line change that makes a program check the length of an input before copying it can close a hole that previously let attackers crash the program.
Heard on the show
“Forty steps later, it either submitted a patch or it didn't.”Episode 003 — How to Pick the Best of Sixteen Coding Agent Rollouts