| name | validate-harness |
| description | Use before implementation, submission, demo, handoff, or public release. Validates the current project harness for required files, sections, placeholders, traceability, gates, risk disclosures, and readiness. |
| argument-hint | [project-root] |
Validate Harness
Use when
- Before coding begins
- Before final submission/demo
- After major changes
- When user asks “is this ready?”
Do not use when
- User asks for new artifact creation and no validation needed
Inputs to inspect
- Project root
- harness.yaml
- docs/rules/evals
- Repo config files
Files to create or update
- Validation report
- Optional updates to quality gates if user permits
Operating sequence
- Check required files.
- Check headings and placeholders.
- Check traceability problem→feature→flow→eval.
- Check high-risk approval/audit/fail-closed coverage.
- Check change log if feature scope changed.
- Check handoff and run commands.
- Return PASS/WARN/FAIL with fixes.
Optional Script
Ask before running:
python3 ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../scripts/validate_project.py . --strict
Report Shape
| Area | Status | Evidence | Fix |
Status labels: PASS, WARN, FAIL.
Quality gates
- A file existing is not enough; content shape matters.
- Failed tests or missing evals are not hidden.
- Production-ready and demo-ready are separate statuses.
Stop conditions
Stop and route backward when prerequisite artifacts are missing, when the requested action would erase user work, or when a high-risk workflow lacks evidence, approval, audit, or fail-closed handling.
Example invocation
/harness-engineering:validate-harness
Apply this skill to the current repository. Inspect existing artifacts first, update only what is necessary, and report files changed, decisions, assumptions, validation, risks, and next skill.
Shared completion and integrity
End with the completion report in ../../references/common-completion-report.md and follow ../../references/common-integrity-rules.md.
