verifying

Verifying

You are performing a post-implementation audit of a plan, cross-referencing it against actual changes to ensure nothing was missed, nothing is stale, and the implementation matches what was planned.

Working Agreement

These instructions establish a working agreement between you and the user. The key principles are:

1. AskUserQuestion is your primary communication tool - Whenever you need to ask the user anything (clarifications, decisions about discrepancies), use the AskUserQuestion tool. Don't output questions as plain text - always use the structured tool so the user can respond efficiently.

2. Establish preferences upfront - Ask about user preferences at the start of the workflow, not at the end when they may want to move on.

3. Autonomy mode guides interaction level - The user's chosen autonomy level determines how often you check in, but AskUserQuestion remains the mechanism for all questions.

User Preferences

Before starting verification (unless autonomy is Autopilot), establish these preferences:

File Review Preference - Check if the file-review plugin is available (look for file-review:file-review in available commands).

If file-review plugin is installed, use AskUserQuestion with:

Question	Options
"Would you like to use file-review for inline feedback on the verification report?"	1. Yes, open file-review when report is ready, 2. No, just show me the report

Store this preference and act on it after the verification report.

When to Use

This skill activates when:

• User invokes /verify-plan command
• The implementing skill offers verification at completion
• User asks to audit or verify a completed plan

Autonomy Mode

At the start of verification, adapt your interaction level based on the autonomy mode:

Mode	Behavior
Autopilot	Run all checks, update plan, report summary at end
Critical (Default)	Ask about discrepancies and blocking items
Verbose	Walk through each check, confirm interpretation

The autonomy mode is passed by the invoking command. If not specified, default to Critical.

Process Steps

Step 1: Load Plan

Read the plan fully. If no path provided:

1. Search for plans with status: in-progress or status: completed in thoughts/*/plans/
2. If multiple found, use AskUserQuestion to let the user choose
3. If none found, report and stop

Step 2: Checkbox Audit

Parse all - [ ] and - [x] items in the plan. Report:

Metric	Description
Total items	Count of all checkbox items
Checked items	Count of - [x] items
Unchecked automated	Items under #### Automated Verification: still unchecked
Unchecked manual	Items under #### Manual Verification: still unchecked

Flag any automated verification items that are still unchecked — these are expected to be checked by the implementing skill.

Step 3: Git Diff Correlation

Check the plan's frontmatter for a git_commit field.

If git_commit exists:

1. Run git diff <git_commit>..HEAD --name-only to get changed files
2. Extract all file paths mentioned in the plan's "Changes Required" sections
3. Compare and flag:
   • Unexpected changes: Files changed that aren't mentioned in the plan
   • Missing implementation: Files mentioned in the plan that weren't changed

If git_commit does not exist:

• Skip this step with a note: "No git_commit in plan frontmatter — skipping git diff correlation"

If on a different branch than the plan:

• Note the branch difference and proceed with best-effort comparison

Step 4: Scope Verification

Read the "What We're NOT Doing" section of the plan. Search the git diff for evidence of scope creep:

• Look for files or patterns related to explicitly out-of-scope items
• Check if any commits reference out-of-scope functionality

Be conservative here — flag only clear scope violations, not borderline cases.

Step 5: Success Criteria Re-run

For each phase's "Automated Verification" section:

1. Extract the commands from the checkbox items
2. Re-run each command
3. Report pass/fail for each

Edge cases:

• Skip commands that reference files or paths that clearly no longer exist
• If a command fails, capture the error output for the report
• Don't re-run destructive or state-modifying commands — only read-only checks

Step 6: Plan Freshness Check

Compare phase descriptions against actual implementation:

• Are file paths in the plan still accurate?
• Do the "Changes Required" descriptions match what was actually done?
• Were any phases adapted significantly during implementation?

Flag phases where the description no longer matches reality as stale.

Step 7: Verification Report

Present findings categorized as:

Category	Meaning	Examples
Blocking	Must be resolved before plan can be marked complete	Unchecked automated items, failing success criteria
Warning	Should be reviewed but don't block completion	Unexpected files changed, potential scope creep
Info	Informational, no action needed	Stale descriptions, minor mismatches, branch differences

Step 8: Status Update

If all blocking items are resolved:

• Offer to set plan status: completed in frontmatter
• Update last_updated and last_updated_by fields

If blocking items remain:

• List them clearly and suggest next steps

Learning Capture

OPTIONAL SUB-SKILL: If significant insights, patterns, gotchas, or decisions emerged during this workflow, consider using desplega:learning to capture them via /learning capture. Focus on learnings that would help someone else in a future session.

Integration with Reviewing Skill

After verification completes, use AskUserQuestion with:

Question	Options
"Verification complete. What's next?"	1. Run QA (→ /qa), 2. Run review (→ /review), 3. Done

Review Integration

If the file-review plugin is available and the user selected "Yes" during User Preferences setup:

• After the verification report, invoke /file-review:file-review <plan-path> for inline human comments
• Process feedback with file-review:process-review skill
• If user selected "No" or autonomy mode is Autopilot, skip this step