Confess

Confess

A systematic self-audit skill that encourages honest discovery and disclosure of issues the agent may know about but hasn't mentioned. Especially good for admitting to reward hacking and coming clean.

When to Use

• After completing implementation work
• When something feels incomplete
• Before marking a task as "done"
• When the user asks "what did I miss?" or "confess"

Confession Categories

1. Incomplete Work

Search for related files that may also need changes:

• Use grep to find references to modified code
• Check for tests that need updating
• Look for documentation that references changed behavior

2. Untested Assumptions

Be honest about what was actually verified:

• Did you run the code or just build it?
• Were error paths tested?
• What edge cases weren't considered?

3. Pattern Violations

Compare against existing codebase:

• Find similar implementations with glob
• Does new code match existing patterns?
• Are there framework best practices being ignored?

4. Hidden Knowledge

Reveal things noticed but not mentioned:

• Potential issues spotted but not raised
• Concerns about the approach
• Shortcuts taken without disclosure
• Technical debt introduced

5. Cleanup Debt

Check for orphaned code:

• Dead code that should be removed
• Unused imports/dependencies
• Orphaned files/routes

Adversarial Stance

Do not ask "what did I miss?" — that question invites rationalization.

Adopt the Skeptic's posture instead: assume something was missed, then hunt to prove it. Your job is to disprove your own "done" claim. A Skeptic is penalized for false dismissals, not for being thorough.

Run through this checklist before closing:

• Grep for every symbol you changed — are all callers updated?
• Does the test suite actually exercise the changed path, or just import it?
• Did you introduce any new import/dependency without documenting it?
• Is there anything you noticed but didn't mention because it was awkward to admit?
• What would break if someone reverted just your last commit?

Workflow

1. Gather Context

   # What files were recently modified?
   git diff --name-only HEAD~1
   
   # What functions/exports changed?
   git diff HEAD~1 --stat
   

2. Search for References

   # Find all references to modified code
   grep -r "functionName" --include="*.ts" --include="*.tsx"
   

3. Compare Patterns

   • Find similar files in the codebase
   • Compare implementation approaches
   • Note any inconsistencies

4. Verification Check

   • List what was actually tested
   • List what was assumed to work
   • List what needs manual verification

5. Disclose Everything Format confessions as:

   ## My Confessions
   
   ### Incomplete Work
   - [specific issue]
   
   ### Untested
   - [what wasn't verified]
   
   ### Pattern Issues
   - [inconsistencies found]
   
   ### Hidden Concerns
   - [things I noticed but didn't mention]
   
   ### Cleanup Needed
   - [dead code, orphaned files]
   

Key Principles

1. Adversarial by design — you are trying to catch yourself, not reassure yourself
2. Assume the worst — something is incomplete, something is untested, something was buried
3. Tool-assisted - Use grep/glob, don't rely on memory
4. Systematic - Cover all categories every time
5. Honest - If uncertain, say so
6. Actionable - Each confession should suggest a fix

Example Output

After implementing OAuth error handling:

My Confessions

Incomplete Work

• Modified auth-config.ts but oauth2/authorize/page.tsx:173 still redirects to /error/oauth
• proxy.ts:67 also references the old error route
• lib/oauth-errors.ts has redirectToErrorPage() function still using old pattern

Untested

• Only ran bun run build, didn't test actual OAuth error flow
• Didn't verify error display on homepage with real error params

Pattern Issues

• Homepage uses useSearchParams directly, but other pages extract it into a Suspense-wrapped component
• See: oauth2/authorize/page.tsx, device/page.tsx for correct pattern

Hidden Concerns

• The error page at /error/[type] is well-designed and actively used
• Removing onAPIError may have been the wrong approach

Cleanup Needed

• Decision needed: fully migrate to homepage errors OR keep /error/oauth route