logicleap-labs No Silent Assumptions
A guess you didn't say out loud is a bug report the human files next week.
Every non-trivial change rests on guesses: what the env contains, what shape the data really has, what the API does on a 404, which edge cases can't happen. Making guesses is fine — the model can't verify everything. Burying them is not. A guess stated in your reply costs the human five seconds to confirm or correct; the same guess buried in a comment costs them a production incident.
The rule
Every material assumption gets surfaced before "done." Track them while you work, then list them in one short
Assumptions:block — what you assumed, and what breaks if it's wrong.
What counts as material
- Environment — a tool/version/path/service you assumed exists or is configured ("assuming Node 20", "assuming Redis is on localhost").
- Data shape — a schema, field, type, or nullability you inferred rather
than read ("assuming
user.emailis never null"). - API behavior — return values, error modes, ordering, pagination, rate limits you didn't test ("assuming the endpoint 404s rather than returning an empty list").
- Edge cases — inputs you decided can't happen ("assuming amounts are always positive").
Not material: things you actually verified this turn, documented invariants you can point to, and trivia (naming, formatting).
Step 1 — Track guesses as you make them
The moment you write code on top of something you didn't check, note it. The tells are in your own language: "assuming the…", "probably fine", "should work", "not sure if". Each one is an entry, not a comment to bury.
Step 2 — Verify the cheap ones
Half your assumptions cost one command to eliminate: read the schema, hit the endpoint, check the env. A verified fact beats a surfaced guess. Verify what you can, keep the rest.
Step 3 — Surface the rest before claiming done
End the turn with a short block, one line per guess, each with the blast radius if wrong:
Assumptions:
- The `orders.status` column only ever holds the five enum values I saw in the fixture — if there are legacy values, the switch falls through.
- The payments API retries idempotently on 5xx (didn't test) — if not, double-charge is possible.
- Dev and prod share the same Redis eviction policy — if prod is `noeviction`, this cache grows unbounded.
Three lines like that turn a silent risk into a two-minute review.
The Stop hook scans code you added this turn for guess-shaped language and
blocks the turn if you never surfaced an Assumptions: block. If a flagged
phrase is a documented invariant rather than a guess made this turn, declare
it:
NO-SILENT-ASSUMPTIONS: INTENTIONAL — "assumes sorted input" restates the function's documented contract
Avoiding false alarms
The gate is conservative by design: only multi-word guess-shaped phrases fire
("assuming the…", "guessing that…", "not sure if…", "probably works",
"might be null", "TODO: verify"). A bare "assume" in an assert message, a
variable named assumed_role, or the word "probably" alone never blocks. One
Assumptions: block anywhere in your reply satisfies it.
Kill switch
False positive: touch .no-silent-assumptions-off in the project root, or
export NO_SILENT_ASSUMPTIONS_GATE=off.
Pairs with
verify-before-done— the strongest move on any assumption is to verify it; this skill catches the ones you couldn't.no-stub— a stub hides missing code; a silent assumption hides missing knowledge. Surface both.scope-guard— "I assumed you also wanted X changed" is the assumption that one prevents.