source-currency-auditor

name

source-currency-auditor

description

Audit the library's skills that cite external sources against a known-good source list, and flag every citation older than a stated threshold (N months) — or superseded/broken — for re-verification. The broad currency sweep: inventory external-source citations across all skills (standards editions, external docs/URLs, research, tool versions, prices/limits, dated facts), check each against a known-good list, flag stale/broken/superseded citations with the reason, and prioritize by how load-bearing and volatile the claim is. A periodic staleness gate, not an edition-specific tracker. Reports for re-verification; verifies nothing itself and changes nothing. Use when auditing citation freshness across the library, setting a currency threshold, or periodically sweeping for stale external references. Do NOT use to track specific framework EDITIONS and their deltas (framework-edition-tracker), propose mapping edits (framework-mapping-refresher), or review a skill's overall quality (skill-quality-reviewer).

Source Currency Auditor

Purpose

A skill can be perfectly written and quietly wrong because the external world moved under it — a cited price changed, a linked doc 404s, a research finding was superseded, a tool version is three majors behind. None of it shows in the code; the library just slowly decays against reality. This skill runs the broad currency sweep: it inventories every external-source citation across the library, checks each against a known-good source list and a staleness threshold, and flags what's stale, broken, or superseded — for re-verification, prioritized by how load-bearing and how volatile the claim is. It is a periodic gate on external-truth decay, complementary to framework-edition-tracker's narrow focus on standard editions. It flags; it does not verify or fix — because confirming currency requires checking the live source, not trusting memory.

Use When

• Use when: auditing whether the external sources the library cites are still current, across all skills.
• Use when: setting or applying a citation-staleness threshold (flag citations older than N months for re-verification).
• Use when: periodically sweeping for stale, broken, or superseded external references as a maintenance gate.
• Use when: a skill's claim depends on a volatile external fact (price, model id, tool version, limit) that may have drifted.
• Do NOT use when: the task is tracking specific FRAMEWORK editions and producing deltas — that is framework-edition-tracker (narrow, edition- specific); this is the broad age/staleness sweep.
• Do NOT use when: the task is proposing the specific mapping edits from a delta — that is framework-mapping-refresher.
• Do NOT use when: the task is reviewing a skill's overall QUALITY (triggers, sections, evals) — that is skill-quality-reviewer; this audits only citation currency.

Inputs to Inspect

1. The external-source citations across skills: standards editions, external doc/URLs, research reports, tool/library versions, prices and limits, and any dated factual claim — and where each is cited.
2. The known-good source list: the current/authoritative source for each cited fact, where one exists, to compare against.
3. The staleness threshold(s): the age (N months) beyond which a citation needs re-verification — stricter for volatile facts than stable ones.
4. Volatility of each fact: how fast it goes stale (prices/model-ids/tool versions fast; foundational research slow) — sets the effective threshold.
5. Load-bearing-ness: whether the citation underpins a core claim or a footnote — sets priority.

Workflow

1. Inventory external-source citations. Sweep the library for every claim resting on an external source: standard editions, URLs, research, versions, prices/limits, dated facts. Capture what's cited, where, and its stated date/version if any. An un-inventoried citation can't be audited.
2. Set thresholds by volatility. One flat "N months" is too blunt: prices and model ids stale in weeks, tool versions in months, and foundational research in years. Set an effective threshold per fact class, stricter where the world moves faster.
3. Check each citation against the known-good list. Classify: current, STALE (older than its threshold — needs re-verification), SUPERSEDED (a newer source exists), or BROKEN (dead link/removed source). Record the reason per flag.
4. Prioritize by load-bearing × volatility. A stale citation underpinning a core recommendation outranks a stale aside; a volatile fact outranks a stable one. Order the flags so re-verification effort goes where wrongness costs most.
5. Flag for re-verification — verify nothing yourself. Currency can only be confirmed against the live source, not asserted from memory. Produce the list of citations needing re-check, each with reason and priority; the actual re-verification (and any fix) is a separate, human/owner step. Route framework-edition specifics to framework-edition-tracker for the deep dive.
6. Recommend a cadence. This is a periodic gate — state how often to run it (and tighter for the volatile-fact skills), so currency stays a habit, not a one-off.
7. Deliver the currency audit in the Output Format: inventory, flags with reason and priority, and the cadence — changing nothing.

The citation-class thresholds, the flag taxonomy (stale/superseded/ broken), and the load-bearing × volatility priority matrix: references/currency-audit-sheet.md.

Output Format

SOURCE CURRENCY AUDIT
Inventory:     <cited fact | source | where cited | stated date/version | class>
Thresholds:    per fact-class (volatile: weeks/months; stable: years)
Flags:
  <citation>: STALE (age>threshold) | SUPERSEDED (newer source) | BROKEN (dead) — reason
Priority:      load-bearing × volatility — highest first
Re-verify:     list for HUMAN/owner re-check (this skill verifies nothing);
               framework-edition specifics → framework-edition-tracker
Cadence:       recommended re-run interval (tighter for volatile-fact skills)
Changes:       NONE (audit only)
Boundaries:    editions/deltas → framework-edition-tracker; propose edits →
               framework-mapping-refresher; skill quality → skill-quality-reviewer

Validation Checklist

• External-source citations are inventoried across the library (what, where, stated date/version).
• Thresholds are set by fact-class volatility, not one flat age.
• Each citation is classified current / stale / superseded / broken with a reason.
• Flags are prioritized by load-bearing × volatility.
• The output flags for re-verification; this skill verifies nothing and changes nothing.
• Framework-edition specifics are routed to framework-edition-tracker.
• A re-run cadence is recommended.
• Edition-delta, mapping-edit, and quality-review concerns are handed to their owning skills.

Gotchas

• Confirming a source is current requires checking the LIVE source; asserting "still current" from memory is how the auditor becomes the stale claim. This skill flags for re-verification — it does not certify currency itself.
• A flat staleness threshold mis-serves both ends: it nags about foundational research that's fine for years and misses a price that went stale last week. Thresholds must track volatility.
• Broken links are the easiest currency failure to catch and the most embarrassing to leave — a dead source is a claim with no backing. Flag them first.
• Superseded is worse than merely old: a citation to a withdrawn or replaced source actively misinforms, where a still-valid old source just ages. Distinguish the two.
• Not all stale citations matter equally — prioritize by what the claim holds up. A stale footnote is noise; a stale core recommendation is a real defect.
• This is the BROAD sweep. When a flag is specifically a framework edition change, hand the deep dive to framework-edition-tracker; don't reproduce its delta work here.
• Auditing currency is not reviewing quality. If you're assessing triggers, sections, or eval integrity, that's skill-quality-reviewer.

Stop Conditions

• The task is tracking specific framework editions / producing deltas → route to framework-edition-tracker.
• The task is proposing the specific mapping edits, or reviewing a skill's overall quality → route to framework-mapping-refresher or skill-quality-reviewer.
• A citation's currency cannot be confirmed without checking the live source → flag it for human re-verification with its reason; do NOT certify it current (or stale) from memory.
• A flagged citation is load-bearing and its staleness would materially mislead users → raise its priority and recommend prompt re-verification rather than leaving it in a long backlog.

Supporting Files

• references/currency-audit-sheet.md — the citation-class thresholds, the flag taxonomy (stale/superseded/ broken), and the load-bearing × volatility priority matrix.
• evals/evals.json — behavior cases including volatility-tuned thresholds, the flag-don't-verify discipline, and the broken-link catch.
• evals/trigger-evals.json — discrimination against framework-edition-tracker (editions vs broad staleness), framework-mapping-refresher (audit vs propose), and skill-quality-reviewer (currency vs quality).