Verification Loop

Verification Loop Skill

Codex invocation: use $verification-loop ... or verification-loop: ...

Run repeated verification cycles with bounded retries and clear blocker escalation.

Capabilities

• Execute ordered quality gates with deterministic stop rules.
• Detect failure class and route to minimal fix scope.
• Repeat verify -> diagnose -> fix until pass or budget exhaustion.
• Produce machine-readable cycle status and blocker details.
• Support pre-PR hardening with security checks.

Input Requirements

• goal (required): full-quality | tests | build | lint | typecheck | pre-pr.
• scope (optional): changed files/modules only.
• max_cycles (optional): default 5.
• max_same_failure (optional): default 3.
• strict_security (optional): true | false.

How to Use

$verification-loop full-quality
$verification-loop pre-pr
$verification-loop tests for src/auth/

Routing Boundary

• Use $verification-loop when a single verification pass is not enough and automatic retry/fix cycling is needed.
• Use $verify for one-pass verification snapshot.
• Use $test-gen for adding missing tests after code changes.

Native Subagent Protocol (Codex)

Codex supports native subagents. Delegate with spawn_agent, coordinate with send_input, collect via wait_agent, and clean up with close_agent.

Minimal orchestration pattern:

spawn_agent -> send_input (optional) -> wait_agent -> close_agent

Fallback: execute the loop sequentially when delegation is unavailable.

Command Resolution

Prefer project-native commands by package manager lockfile detection.

Node defaults:

• build: npm run build
• typecheck: npx tsc --noEmit (or npm run typecheck if defined)
• lint: npm run lint
• tests: npm run test

Security checks:

rg -n "sk-[A-Za-z0-9_-]{20,}" --glob '!node_modules' .
rg -n "api[_-]?key|secret|token\s*=\s*['\"]" --glob '!node_modules' .

Debug log audit:

rg -n "console\.log|print\(" src tests

Cycle Algorithm

State file: .omc/state/verification-loop-state.json

Per cycle:

1. run selected quality gates in fixed order
2. if all pass -> complete
3. if any fail -> classify failure (build/type/lint/test/security)
4. apply minimal scoped fix
5. re-run failed gate first, then dependent gates
6. record cycle result and repeat

Stop Conditions

• success: all selected gates pass
• max cycles reached (max_cycles)
• same failure repeats max_same_failure times
• environment blocker (missing deps/service unavailable)

Output Contract

[VERIFICATION-LOOP]
- goal
- cycle: <n>/<max_cycles>
- active gate

[RESULT]
- build/type/lint/test/security: pass|fail
- failure class
- fix applied

[NEXT]
- recheck command
- escalation decision

[STATUS]
- result: <complete|blocked|in_progress>
- promise: <PROMISE tag>
- stop_reason: <if blocked>

Completion and Blocking Tags

• [PROMISE:VERIFICATION_LOOP_COMPLETE]
• [PROMISE:VERIFICATION_LOOP_BLOCKED]

Continuous Mode Guidance

For long tasks, run this loop at checkpoints:

• before opening PR
• after major refactor
• after dependency upgrades

If loop blocks, handoff to focused skills:

• build/type errors -> $build-fix
• test coverage gaps -> $test-gen
• security-sensitive failures -> $security-review