Skill Security Checklist

Skill: Security & Architecture Checklist

Activation Contract

Activate this skill when the user needs to:

• Audit a codebase for technical debt, security risks, or architecture health
• Detect the tech stack: frameworks, languages, dependencies, versions
• Identify the software architecture: DDD, MVC, Hexagonal, Monolith, Microservices, Serverless, or ad-hoc
• Find pain points: code smells, high complexity, tight coupling, dead code
• Generate a markdown report with pros/cons tables per checklist area
• Compare current state against best practices and provide actionable recommendations

Do not activate for trivial single-file projects or when only linting/formatting is needed.

Hard Rules

1. Always run the detection scripts in tools/ first; never rely solely on file inspection.
2. Use bash scripts only — no JS/Node dependencies in the audit pipeline.
3. Output MUST be markdown — human-readable reports with tables, not JSON or YAML.
4. Report confidence levels for each detection (High / Medium / Low).
5. Every checklist item MUST have a pros/cons table — no exceptions.
6. Categorize findings by severity: Critical, Warning, Info.
7. Respect .gitignore and skip node_modules, vendor, dist, build, .git.

Decision Gates

Execution Steps

Phase 1: Stack Detection (3 steps)

1. Detect Languages & Frameworks

   • Run: bash assets/detect-stack.sh <project_path>
   • Detects: languages, frameworks, build tools, package managers, versions
   • Checks: package.json, requirements.txt, pom.xml, go.mod, Cargo.toml, composer.json, Gemfile
   • Reports: tech stack summary, versions, dependency count, outdated flags

2. Detect Architecture Pattern

   • Run: bash assets/detect-architecture.sh <project_path>
   • Detects: DDD, MVC, Hexagonal, Clean Architecture, Monolith, Microservices, Serverless, Event-Driven, CRUD
   • Analyzes: folder structure, file naming, import patterns, layer boundaries
   • Reports: primary pattern, secondary pattern, confidence score, layer violations

3. Detect Infrastructure & DevOps

   • Run: bash assets/detect-infrastructure.sh <project_path>
   • Detects: Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD configs, cloud provider, databases, message queues
   • Checks: Dockerfile, docker-compose.yml, .github/workflows/, terraform/, helm/
   • Reports: deployment strategy, infrastructure maturity, security gaps

Phase 2: Code Quality Analysis (3 steps)

4. Analyze Complexity & Code Smells

   • Run: bash assets/analyze-complexity.sh <project_path>
   • Detects: cyclomatic complexity, file length, function length, nesting depth, duplication
   • Flags: God classes, long methods, deep nesting, tight coupling, dead code
   • Reports: complexity hotspots, top 10 risky files, refactoring candidates

5. Detect Security Risks

   • Run: bash assets/detect-security-risks.sh <project_path>
   • Scans: hardcoded secrets, SQL injection patterns, XSS vulnerabilities, insecure dependencies
   • Checks: .env files, API keys, password patterns, dynamic code execution usage, raw SQL strings
   • Reports: critical risks, warnings, mitigation steps

6. Assess Technical Debt

   • Run: bash assets/assess-tech-debt.sh <project_path>
   • Detects: TODO/FIXME comments, deprecated dependencies, missing tests, broken documentation
   • Flags: legacy code, mixed paradigms, inconsistent naming, missing type safety
   • Reports: debt score, prioritized backlog, quick wins vs major projects

Phase 3: Report Generation (2 steps)

7. Aggregate Raw Data

   • Run: bash assets/generate-audit-report.sh <project_path>
   • Combines all phase outputs into a single markdown report
   • Includes: executive summary, detailed findings, pros/cons tables, action items

8. Generate Final Markdown Report

   • The LLM reads the aggregated data and generates AUDIT_REPORT.md
   • Structure: Executive Summary → Stack Overview → Architecture Analysis → Security Checklist → Quality Checklist → Tech Debt → Action Plan
   • Each section contains: findings, pros/cons table, severity, recommendations

Output Contract

Return a structured markdown report containing:

# Audit Report: {project_name}

## Executive Summary
- **Project**: {path}
- **Languages**: {list}
- **Frameworks**: {list}
- **Architecture**: {pattern} (confidence: {high/medium/low})
- **Overall Health**: {score}/10
- **Critical Issues**: {count}
- **Warnings**: {count}
- **Info**: {count}

## 1. Stack Overview

### Detected Technologies
| Technology | Version | Confidence | Pros | Cons |
|------------|---------|------------|------|------|
| Node.js | 18.2.0 | High | Active LTS, large ecosystem | Version lock-in risk |
| React | 18.1.0 | High | Component model, hooks | Boilerplate, state complexity |
| Prisma | 4.0.0 | Medium | Type-safe ORM | Migration complexity |

### Dependency Analysis
| Category | Count | Outdated | Vulnerable | Recommendation |
|----------|-------|----------|------------|----------------|
| Production | 45 | 12 | 2 | Upgrade `lodash`, `express` |
| Development | 23 | 5 | 0 | Keep devDependencies updated |

## 2. Architecture Analysis

### Detected Pattern: {DDD/MVC/Hexagonal/etc.}
| Aspect | Finding | Pros | Cons | Severity |
|--------|---------|------|------|----------|
| Layer separation | Domain imports Infrastructure | Clear boundaries | Violation of dependency rule | Critical |
| Folder structure | `src/domain`, `src/app` | Organized | Deep nesting (6 levels) | Warning |
| Naming convention | Mixed camelCase/snake_case | Readable | Inconsistent | Info |

### Layer Health Score
| Layer | Score | Issues |
|-------|-------|--------|
| Domain | 8/10 | 1 violation |
| Application | 7/10 | 2 god use cases |
| Infrastructure | 6/10 | 3 hardcoded configs |
| Interface | 7/10 | Missing validation |

## 3. Security Checklist

| Check | Status | Risk | Pros | Cons | Mitigation |
|-------|--------|------|------|------|------------|
| Secrets in code | ❌ FAIL | Critical | Easy config | Leakage risk | Move to env vars |
| SQL injection | ⚠️ WARN | High | Raw queries | Injection risk | Use parameterized queries |
| XSS prevention | ✅ PASS | Low | Input sanitized | - | Maintain current practice |
| Dependency vulns | ⚠️ WARN | Medium | Feature-rich | Known CVEs | Run `npm audit fix` |

## 4. Code Quality Checklist

| Metric | Current | Threshold | Status | Risk | Pros | Cons |
|--------|---------|-----------|--------|------|------|------|
| Cyclomatic complexity | 45 max | 10 | ❌ FAIL | High | Feature-rich | Unmaintainable |
| File length | 800 lines | 300 | ❌ FAIL | High | Complete logic | Hard to review |
| Function length | 150 lines | 50 | ⚠️ WARN | Medium | Complex logic | Testing difficulty |
| Code duplication | 15% | 5% | ⚠️ WARN | Medium | Copy-paste fast | Maintenance nightmare |
| Test coverage | 23% | 70% | ❌ FAIL | Critical | Working features | Regression risk |

## 5. Technical Debt Assessment

| Debt Item | Priority | Effort | Impact | Pros of Fixing | Cons of Delaying |
|-----------|----------|--------|--------|--------------|------------------|
| Missing tests | P0 | 2 weeks | High | Prevents regressions | Bugs accumulate |
| Deprecated deps | P1 | 3 days | Medium | Security patches | Breaking changes |
| Mixed naming | P2 | 1 week | Low | Consistency | Refactoring noise |
| Documentation | P2 | 3 days | Low | Onboarding speed | Knowledge silos |

## 6. Action Plan

### Quick Wins (This Week)
1. [ ] Move secrets to `.env` files
2. [ ] Run `npm audit fix` for vulnerabilities
3. [ ] Add input validation to controllers

### Short Term (This Month)
1. [ ] Extract god use cases into smaller units
2. [ ] Add unit tests for critical paths
3. [ ] Upgrade outdated dependencies

### Long Term (This Quarter)
1. [ ] Refactor architecture to respect dependency rules
2. [ ] Achieve 70% test coverage
3. [ ] Implement CI/CD pipeline with security scanning

---

**Report generated**: {timestamp}
**Auditor**: skill-security-checklist v1.0
**Confidence**: Overall {high/medium/low}

Also return:

• Files created (AUDIT_REPORT.md, raw data files)
• Detection confidence levels for each section
• Any errors or skipped files

References

• assets/detect-stack.sh — Detect languages, frameworks, and dependencies
• assets/detect-architecture.sh — Identify architecture patterns (DDD, MVC, Hexagonal, etc.)
• assets/detect-infrastructure.sh — Detect Docker, K8s, CI/CD, cloud infrastructure
• assets/analyze-complexity.sh — Measure cyclomatic complexity, file/function length, duplication
• assets/detect-security-risks.sh — Scan for hardcoded secrets, SQL injection, XSS, insecure deps
• assets/assess-tech-debt.sh — Find TODOs, deprecated deps, missing tests, documentation gaps
• assets/generate-audit-report.sh — Aggregate all data into a single markdown report
• references/architecture-patterns.md — Reference guide for architecture pattern detection
• references/code-smells.md — Catalog of code smells and anti-patterns
• references/complexity-metrics.md — Thresholds and interpretation for complexity metrics
• references/security-checklist.md — Comprehensive security checks and mitigation strategies
• assets/audit-template.md — Base template for the final markdown report