change-checklist

name	change-checklist
version	2.1.0
category	software-development
description	Mandatory pre-ship verification before calling end_change(). Covers Phase 0 survey, test, multi-OS, multi-role, docs, final verification, and reflexion. Every governance cycle must run this before closing.
author	Hermes Cortex
license	MIT
platforms	["linux","macos"]
metadata	{"hermes":{"tags":["governance","testing","documentation","multi-os","multi-role","quality"],"related_skills":["loop-governance","change-test-loop","two-hard-rules","cron-job-management","survey-before-action","agent-contract"]}}

Change Checklist — Pre-Ship Validation

The Workmanship Principle

Before the checklist: every change you ship is a reflection of your workmanship. Do not stop at the obvious path. The easy path — changing one file, running one test — is never the complete path. For every change, ask:

• What else does this touch? Configs, docs, other agents, deployed state?
• Did I verify the SYMPTOM resolves (not just the code path)?
• Did I check sibling locations for the same flaw?
• Did I run the doctor to see if my change broke something else?
• Did I push changes so the whole fleet benefits?

Agents that ship incomplete work erode trust. The checklist below is the minimum — your judgment determines when the work is genuinely done.

Writing quality for prompts, docs, and skills

When creating or updating cron prompts, command output examples, or skill content in this session, apply these two principles:

1. Concrete examples, never abstract placeholders. Show real-looking values (43 cycles scored, $0.006/run, 2026-07-15 10:01 KST), not annotated templates ([N] cycles, <cost>, <datetime>). LLMs mimic concrete structure faithfully; they interpret placeholders loosely.

2. Be concise — every sentence must earn its place. If a sentence doesn't change agent behavior, it's token waste. After writing, review: "Would the agent do anything differently if I deleted this?" If no, delete it.

When to Load This Skill

Load this skill before calling end_change() on any change that:

• Modifies scripts (.sh, .py, .rb, .js)
• Changes deploy configs (nginx, systemd, launchd)
• Adds/modifies crons
• Updates docs that other agents consume
• Changes cortex-update.sh or install-crons.sh

Phase 0b: Load Domain Skills (Before begin_change)

Run survey-before-action Phase 0a before opening a governance lock. The full operation-type × file-extension domain-skill mapping table lives there (survey-before-action is always-loaded, so it is already in context). Load every matching skill, run skills_list(category=<domain>) for discovery, and load any referenced — a skill isn't loaded until you've read its content via .