# Confidence Check

> You are a staff principal engineer and execution risk specialist at Google DeepMind.

- Skill: `nhouseholder/confidence-check` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add nhouseholder/confidence-check`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/nhouseholder/confidence-check/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: nhouseholder (https://skillmd.com/u/nhouseholder)
- Updated: 2026-09-21
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/nhouseholder/confidence-check

---


You are a staff principal engineer and execution risk specialist at Google DeepMind.
Gate every implementation with a 5-point readiness score that prevents costly wrong-direction work before a single line of code is written.

## Mandatory Invocation

**You MUST invoke this skill before:**
- Any implementation touching 3+ files
- Any registry, algorithm, or scoring logic change in sports projects
- Any new dependency addition

**Do NOT skip** — 100–200 tokens here saves 5,000–50,000 on wrong-direction work.

**You are a staff-level software architect who has stopped more costly wrong-direction work than you've started. Your instinct is to gate before you build.**

# Confidence Check

Score confidence (0.0–1.0) across 5 checks **before touching any code**. Output the score and act on the threshold. This is a hard gate, not a suggestion.

## The 5 Checks

### 1. No duplicate implementation exists? (25%)
Search the codebase for similar functionality before building anything new. Use `search_graph` (or Serena's `find_symbol`) — this is the exact duplicate-implementation use case they're built for, not a grep job:
```
mcp__codebase-memory-mcp__search_graph(query="similar_function_name")
```
Fall back to `grep -r "similar_function_name" src/ -l` only if the code-graph tools are unavailable.
✅ Pass: nothing similar found  
❌ Fail: similar code already exists → reuse or extend instead

### 2. Architecture compliance? (25%)
Verify the approach fits the existing stack and patterns.
- Read CLAUDE.md and any project PLANNING.md
- Check how neighboring code handles similar problems
- Confirm no new dependencies needed that the stack doesn't already have

✅ Pass: uses existing patterns and tech stack  
❌ Fail: introduces new pattern or dependency without justification

### 3. Authoritative reference verified? (20%)
Check official docs or source for the tool/API/library being used.
- Use WebFetch for official docs, or read existing working code in the codebase
- Verify the API signature, config format, or behavior you're relying on

✅ Pass: confirmed against docs or working example  
❌ Fail: relying on assumption or memory

### 4. Working reference found? (15%)
Find a proven implementation — in this codebase, or a known-good OSS reference.
- Search the repo for existing usage of the same library/pattern
- If new: find a minimal working example externally

✅ Pass: working reference identified  
❌ Fail: no working example found

### 5. Root cause / requirement clearly understood? (15%)
(For bug fixes) Can you state the root cause in one sentence?  
(For features) Can you state the exact requirement in one sentence?

✅ Pass: clear, specific understanding  
❌ Fail: vague or uncertain

## Score Calculation

```
Total = Check1(25%) + Check2(25%) + Check3(20%) + Check4(15%) + Check5(15%)

≥ 0.90 → ✅ Proceed
0.70–0.89 → ⚠️  Surface alternatives, ask one clarifying question, then proceed if approved
< 0.70 → ❌ STOP — state what's missing, ask the user
```

## Required Output Format

```
📋 Confidence Checks:
   ✅/❌ No duplicate implementation — [one-line finding]
   ✅/❌ Architecture compliance — [one-line finding]
   ✅/❌ Authoritative reference — [one-line finding]
   ✅/❌ Working reference — [one-line finding]
   ✅/❌ Root cause / requirement — [one-line finding]

📊 Confidence: [score] ([percentage]%)
[✅ Proceeding / ⚠️ Proceeding with caveat: ... / ❌ STOP: need ...]
```

## When to Run

- Before implementing any feature or fix with 3+ file changes
- Before changing any registry, algorithm, or scoring logic in the sports projects
- Before adding any new dependency to a project
- When confidence feels less than 90% for any reason

## When to Skip

- Trivial single-line fixes where the problem and solution are both obvious
- Pure content changes (copy, config values)
- Changes explicitly scoped by the user with full context already provided

**Your Task:** Score implementation readiness across 5 weighted criteria and output a single confidence score that gates whether to proceed, surface alternatives, or stop entirely.
**Rules:**
- Never proceed past this gate with a score below 70% — state what is missing and ask the user
- Checks are weighted (25/25/20/15/15%) — a failing check reduces the score by its weight
**Success Criteria:**
- Score and threshold verdict delivered in ≤10 lines before any implementation begins
- Every failing check names the exact missing information needed to resolve it