| name | validate |
| description | Validate a MECE decomposition for compliance, structural integrity, and SDK readiness. Use when user says "validate decomposition", "check MECE compliance", "run validation", or wants to verify a decomposition tree passes quality gates. |
| metadata | {"author":"Fred Bliss","version":"0.4.1","last_verified":"2026-04-02"} |
/validate
Check a MECE decomposition for structural integrity, MECE compliance, and Agent SDK readiness.
Usage
/validate <decomposition JSON or file path>
Examples:
/validate then paste decomposition JSON/validate output.json/validate after a /decompose or /interview session (validates the last output)
Validation Layers
1. Structural Validation (deterministic)
uv run mece-decomposer/skills/mece-decomposer/scripts/validate_mece.py <decomposition.json>
Checks:
- Schema compliance (required fields, types, valid enums)
- Hierarchical ID consistency (parent-child prefix pattern)
- Cross-branch dependency validity (IDs exist, no self-references)
- Fan-out limits (2-7 children per branch, max 7 parallel)
- Atom completeness (all atoms have
atom_spec, all branches have orchestration)
- Prompt/tool limits (flag atoms with >5 tools or >500 word prompts)
- Depth limits (warn at >5 levels)
2. MECE Quality Assessment (judgment-based)
Using the scoring rubrics from the mece-decomposer skill:
- ME testing: definition-based, example-based, boundary-case at each level
- CE testing: scenario enumeration, negation test, stakeholder test
- Depth-adaptive rigor: L1 full, L2 pairwise, L3 spot-check, L4+ trust
- Weighted score aggregation
Output
## Validation Report
**Status:** PASS / FAIL
**ME Score:** 0.XX -- [interpretation]
**CE Score:** 0.XX -- [interpretation]
**Overall:** 0.XX -- [interpretation]
### Issues
| Severity | Location | Type | Description |
|----------|----------|------|-------------|
| error | node:1.2 | gap | Missing ... |
| warning | node:2 | depth| Tree depth ... |
### Recommendations
- [Fix for each error]
- [Improvement for each warning]
Interactive Report (when MCP server connected)
The mece-validate MCP tool renders a visual report with clickable issue locations that navigate to the problem node in the tree.
Score Interpretation
| Range | ME | CE |
|---|
| 0.85-1.0 | Strong: no overlap | Strong: no gaps |
| 0.70-0.84 | Acceptable: minor boundary issues | Acceptable: minor gaps documented |
| 0.50-0.69 | Weak: redefine boundaries | Weak: add missing components |
| < 0.50 | Failed: re-cut this level | Failed: restructure |
Quality gate: >= 0.70 for export, >= 0.85 for confidence.
Next Steps
- Score too low? "Let me fix the issues" -> re-run
/validate
- Ready? "Export as Agent SDK code" ->
/export
