| name | coherence-audit |
| description | Detect coherence violations between Alex_ACT_Edition (brain) and Alex_Skill_Mall (marketplace) — broken references, tag mismatches, deprecated install snippets |
| lastReviewed | 2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z |
Coherence Audit
The brain (Edition) and the Mall must agree. Coherence drift is silent — Edition can recommend a store the Mall has pruned, or the Mall can list a store with a tag the brain contradicts.
When to Use
- Periodic full audit (recommended monthly, fired by
/audit-coherence)
- Before any Mall prune that touches a referenced entry
- Before tagging an Edition release (preflight check)
- When a heir reports "the brain told me to use X but the Mall doesn't have it"
The Three Coherence Checks
| # | Violation | Detection |
|---|
| 1 | Broken reference — Edition cites a store that's no longer in the Mall | Grep Alex_ACT_Edition/.github/ for store URLs and names; intersect with current STORES.md |
| 2 | Tag mismatch — Edition tags a store "primary" but Mall doesn't list it as First-Party | Cross-check the brain's "primary" or "recommended" tags against Mall's category headings |
| 3 | Deprecated snippet — Mall install snippet uses a command the brain says is deprecated | Cross-grep MCP install snippets in Mall against any deprecated: flag in brain instructions |
Procedure
- Run
node scripts/coherence-check.cjs (mechanical sweep — covers Check 1, partial Check 2)
- For each finding, classify:
- Hard violation — broken reference, must fix before any release
- Soft violation — tag drift, fix in next routine sweep
- False positive — string match without semantic meaning (e.g., a URL in a code example)
- Run an ACT pass on the verdict — coherence fixes touch both repos
- For each hard violation, decide which side fixes:
- Edition references a pruned store → fix Edition (remove or replace reference)
- Mall pruned a store Edition still legitimately needs → re-add to Mall (run
store-evaluation)
- Tag mismatch → align the side that's wrong (usually Edition, since Mall is the catalog of record)
- Open coordinated PRs (Edition + Mall) when both sides need changes
- Record in
decisions/curation-log.md
Hard Rules
- Mall is the catalog of record — when names or URLs disagree, the Mall wins (it's the marketplace; Edition consumes it).
- Edition is the doctrine of record — when capability claims disagree (deprecated, primary, recommended), the Edition's brain wins.
- Coherence-check is a release gate — Edition releases must pass coherence-check; if a violation exists, either fix it or document the exception in the release notes.
- No silent suppressions — every "false positive" finding gets a one-line note in the audit report explaining why.
Decision Matrix
| Edition says | Mall says | Verdict |
|---|
| Cites store X | Has X in catalog | OK |
| Cites store X | No X | Hard violation — fix Edition or re-add to Mall |
| Tags X "primary" | Lists X in First-Party | OK |
| Tags X "primary" | Lists X in Community | Soft violation — align tags |
| Says command Y deprecated | Mall snippet uses Y | Soft violation — refresh Mall snippet |
| Recommends X for use case Z | No X | Hard violation |
Output Template
# Coherence Audit — YYYY-MM-DD
## Scope
- Edition: <commit SHA>
- Mall: <commit SHA>
## Mechanical Findings
| Finding | Type | Side to fix | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|
## Semantic Findings
| Finding | Type | Side to fix | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|
## Coordinated PRs
- Edition: <PR link or "none">
- Mall: <PR link or "none">
## False Positives
| Finding | Why it's not a violation |
|---|---|
## ACT Pass Trail
<markers>
Anti-Patterns
| Anti-pattern | Correction |
|---|
| Fixing Edition only when Mall is the catalog of record | Catalog-of-record rule decides which side moves |
| Suppressing findings without rationale | Every dismissed finding gets a one-line note |
| Running coherence-check on stale Mall data | Always run after a Mall pull, not before |
| Treating string-match as definitive | Some matches are illustrative URLs in examples; classify as false positive |
Related
mall-curation, staleness-disciplineskill-review — Edition-side gate that prevents new violations at PR time/audit-coherence promptscripts/coherence-check.cjs mechanical sweep
