danmcinerney Frozen checks
One check file per issue, at docs/checks/<run>/<slice>.md. Open it with
purpose, a spec pointer, and a fix contract stating what a failure means and
which file to fix — that header is the closing review's entire intent context
for the issue. Write for a reader with no other memory of this run, in the
codebase-design vocabulary (skills/codebase-design/SKILL.md).
RUN grammar
Normative from the shipped runner, skills/architect/check-runner.ps1; cite
it, do not restate it divergently from skills/architect/dispatch.md's
## Check-runner dispatch. A graded item is exactly:
- RUN: `command` -> exit:<n> with optional trailing match:"<substring>".
match: is a fixed, case-sensitive stdout substring — never a regex. A RUN
item without an -> exit:<n> expectation makes the runner exit 5 with no
partial evidence kept; that is a check defect, not a builder defect. Every
other line — rationale, judge-only intent items — is read by the closing
review and the orchestrator, never graded by the runner.
Falsifiable and atomic
Each RUN item asserts exactly one falsifiable fact. Run every draft command against the current tree before freezing; a check that cannot fail is not a check.
Attack-list, run before freeze:
- Repo-name grep collisions — a pattern that matches unrelated hits because it contains the repo's own name.
- Self-matching — a pattern that matches the check file itself, not just the intended target.
git grepis blind to a builder's untracked new files in a worktree that hasn't staged them; use filesystemgrep/testthere instead.- New artifact paths — run
git check-ignore <path>; a gitignored path never gets graded no matter what the check says.
Dependency surface
A RUN command's dependency set — the test files, validators, and scripts it executes — is part of the check's enforcement surface: agents that game a check edit the test, not the criteria file. Name that set in the check header. Decomposition keeps those files out of MAY TOUCH by default; when an issue legitimately owns one (a job writing the tests a RUN item runs), every builder edit to it must be disclosed in the job report, and the orchestrator re-verifies intent before trusting a green — the edited dependency must still fail a known-bad input.
Freeze protocol
All check files for a run commit to the factory branch before any builder is
dispatched; record the freeze SHA on the tracking issue.
After that commit, everything under docs/checks/ is read-only to every
builder and reviewer — an edit there is an automatic FAIL regardless of the
rest of the job report. An intent change discovered after freeze is a
ruling: it goes in the run's rulings file, never a rewrite of the frozen
check.
Duration hints
An issue or check file may note a duration hint in prose (e.g. "full suite ~20m") so a monitor doesn't mistake legitimate long work for a stall. A hint is informative only — never a kill ceiling, never a RUN expectation.