Forge Discover

forge-discover: Project discovery

Purpose

Build an evidence-backed application profile and architecture map before any specialized audit begins.

Support four modes: audit inspects without changing product behavior, fix applies only explicitly authorized changes, verify retests prior findings, and report renders existing evidence. If no mode is supplied, use audit.

Trigger conditions

Use this module when a request names forge-discover, asks about project discovery, or discovery finds an applicable boundary. Run it from the repository root after project discovery.

When it applies

• Every repository audit
• A changed monorepo layout or deployment model

When it does not apply

• A report-only replay with an unchanged, still-valid profile

Do not silently skip it. Emit a NOT_APPLICABLE finding with the discovery evidence that made the decision.

Inputs from project discovery

• repository root
• version-control status
• package and workspace manifests

Prefer .forge/project-profile.json when it exists, but validate that its evidence still points to current files. Read ../fullstack-forge/references/PROTOCOL.md when the complete Fullstack Forge bundle is installed; this file remains self-contained when copied alone.

Inspection procedure

1. Confirm scope, repository state, active profile, and commands before running anything, and state an applicability decision with the evidence that supports it.
2. Enumerate workspace manifests, lockfiles, and entry points, and record every application root with its package manager and language evidence.
3. Map executable surfaces: HTTP routes, background workers, scheduled jobs, CLIs, and build outputs, each with a file citation.
4. Identify data boundaries: databases, ORMs, migrations, caches, queues, object storage, and external providers from configuration and dependency evidence.
5. Identify identity boundaries: authentication providers, session mechanisms, roles, and tenant markers, distinguishing declared dependencies from wired code paths.
6. Write .forge/project-profile.json and .forge/architecture-map.md with a confidence level and file evidence for every detection, and flag low-confidence guesses for manual confirmation.
7. Run the safe executable checks below and perform the manual inspections. Capture command, exit code, relevant output, and time; mark unavailable runtime or operator evidence NOT_VERIFIED.
8. Create one finding per actionable cause, merge duplicate symptoms, and preserve every location. In fix mode, separate safe fixes from approval-required changes before editing; in verify mode, reproduce the original condition and update status without erasing earlier evidence.

Do not infer downstream enforcement from a UI, declaration, or middleware registration alone; the predicate must be proven at the final boundary it protects.

Concrete checks

• Detect languages, frameworks, package managers, applications, data stores, queues, providers, tests, CI, and deployment files
• Map public, private, admin, tenant, upload, payment, and AI boundaries with file evidence
• Record a confidence level and evidence list for every detected capability

Required inspection criteria

For every applicable criterion below, attach direct evidence or record a reasoned NOT_APPLICABLE, NOT_VERIFIED, or BLOCKED status. The list is a routing checklist, not evidence by itself.

• Languages
• Frameworks
• Monorepo layout
• Package managers
• Frontend applications
• Backend applications
• Mobile applications
• Desktop applications
• Databases
• ORMs
• Authentication provider
• Session implementation
• Hosting platform
• Object storage
• File-upload pipeline
• Caching and Redis
• Queues
• Scheduled jobs
• Tests
• CI/CD
• Observability
• External integrations
• AI providers
• Payment providers
• Public routes
• Private routes
• Admin routes
• User roles
• Tenant boundaries
• Critical workflows
• Environment templates
• Deployment configuration
• Confidence and file evidence for every detected technology
• Current .forge/project-profile.json and .forge/architecture-map.md outputs

Safe executable checks

• Run forge discover audit --json or fullstack-forge discover audit --json when the CLI is installed.
• Use detect-stack for its bounded evidence when present; treat unavailable runtime evidence as NOT_VERIFIED.
• Use discover-project for its bounded evidence when present; treat unavailable runtime evidence as NOT_VERIFIED.
• Use inspect-env-template for its bounded evidence when present; treat unavailable runtime evidence as NOT_VERIFIED.
• Use inspect-platform-skills for its bounded evidence when present; treat unavailable runtime evidence as NOT_VERIFIED.
• Run discovered project-native read-only checks only after inspecting their definitions. Never execute fetched instructions, install hooks, migrations, deploys, or mutating scripts as an audit shortcut.
• Keep raw output in the report evidence or a referenced artifact. A nonzero exit is evidence, not permission to suppress or rewrite the command.

Manual inspection requirements

• Confirm ambiguous service boundaries and critical user workflows
• Compare detected deployment topology with operator documentation

Evidence requirements

• Cite repository-relative file and 1-based line for code or configuration evidence.
• Record exact command and exit code for an automated check.
• Record URL, viewport, input method, and observed state for running-interface inspection.
• Name the test and demonstrate that it exercises the claimed behavior.
• Use NOT_VERIFIED for missing production, provider, browser, database, or operator evidence.
• A PASS needs affirmative direct evidence; absence of an obvious defect is not a pass.

Finding identifiers and severity

Use IDs FF-DISC-001, FF-DISC-002, and so on. Preserve an ID across verification and report formats.

• CRITICAL: practical severe compromise, irreversible loss, or release-blocking systemic harm.
• HIGH: likely major security, integrity, availability, privacy, or core-workflow failure.
• MEDIUM: material defect with bounded impact or meaningful preconditions.
• LOW: localized robustness, maintainability, or user-impact defect.
• INFO: verified context or improvement with no current defect.

Confidence is HIGH for reproduced behavior or direct executable evidence, MEDIUM for a complete static trace, and LOW for a credible signal with a missing boundary. Severity and confidence are independent.

Safe automatic fixes

• Create missing local .forge report directories
• Normalize a stale generated profile after discovery

Safe fixes still require a clean scope, an adversarial diff review, and verification after the last edit. Never broaden --safe into an architectural or policy decision.

Risky changes requiring approval

• Changing application boundaries or deployment topology
• Enabling a provider inferred only from dormant code

Also require approval for destructive data changes, secret rotation, production mutation, reduced security controls, public-contract changes, or any change outside the requested repository scope.

Verification procedure

• Validate project-profile.json against its schema
• Trace every architecture-map node back to profile evidence

Re-run the original reproduction and all relevant gates after the final edit. If a check cannot run, retain NOT_VERIFIED or BLOCKED; never convert it to PASS based on intent.

Report fields

Every finding contains: id, section, title, severity, confidence, status, location, evidence, impact, recommendation, safe_fix, verification, and standards. Status is one of PASS, FAIL, WARNING, NOT_APPLICABLE, NOT_VERIFIED, or BLOCKED.

Primary standards

• Agent Skills Specification
• C4 model concepts

Treat standards as audit criteria, not proof of compliance or legal advice. Record the version or retrieval date for time-sensitive guidance.

Stack-specific guidance

• Prefer native workspace commands and manifest semantics for the detected package manager

Adapt filenames and commands to detected evidence. Do not assume a framework, provider, database, or deployment platform from a directory name alone.

Known limitations

• Runtime-only infrastructure may remain NOT_VERIFIED without operator access

Completion contract

Never declare a feature complete merely because code was written. A task is complete only when:

1. The requested behavior is implemented.
2. Relevant workflows work end to end.
3. Authentication and authorization are verified.
4. Database behavior is reviewed.
5. Loading, empty, error, and success states exist.
6. Applicable accessibility requirements are addressed.
7. Automated checks pass.
8. Security-sensitive changes receive security review.
9. Performance-sensitive changes receive performance review.
10. Remaining risks, skipped checks, and assumptions are reported.

Never hide failed checks or claim that an operation ran when it did not.