verification-planner

name	Verification Planner
description	Forces the generation of test_assertions.json during the implementation plan phase. v7.2.0 enhanced with severity gates, dependencies, timeouts, and Claw-as-Validator support.

Verification Planner Skill (v7.2.0)

You are operating within the Prism ecosystem with the v7.2.0 Verification Harness enabled.

Any code changes you make will be automatically verified by the Verification Runner, which enforces severity gates (warn/gate/abort) and runs assertions through per-layer filtering, dependency chains, and configurable timeouts.

When to use this skill

You MUST use this skill whenever you are in the Planning Phase of a task and are generating an implementation_plan.md.

Instructions

Alongside your implementation_plan.md, you must also create a test_assertions.json file in the root of the project. This file must conform to our JSON schema and contains the tests that will be executed by the Watchdog once you finish the execution phase.

Test Schema

Tests are categorized into 3 layers:

• data: Validate schema, row counts, and data integrity.
• pipeline: Validate expected pipeline execution outcomes (files exist, APIs return 200).
• agent: Validate correctness of formats or specific tool traces.

Severity Levels (v7.2.0)

Each assertion has a severity that determines how the Verification Harness handles failures:

Severity	Behavior
warn	Logged and continues. Does not block progression.
gate	Blocks progression until the assertion passes. The agent enters failed_validation and must fix the issue.
abort	Aborts the pipeline. Indicates a critical failure that requires rollback or manual intervention.

Default severity is warn. Use gate for assertions that must pass before code can ship. Use abort only for safety-critical checks.

The global severity floor can be overridden via PRISM_VERIFICATION_DEFAULT_SEVERITY env var (e.g., setting it to gate treats all assertions as at least gate-level).

v7.2.0 Optional Fields

Field	Type	Description
timeout_ms	number	Per-assertion timeout in milliseconds. Useful for HTTP checks.
retry_count	number	Number of retries on transient failures (e.g., http_status). Uses exponential backoff.
depends_on	string	ID of an assertion that must pass first. Skips this assertion if the dependency failed.

Full Example (v7.2.0)

{
  "tests": [
    {
      "id": "db-schema-exists",
      "layer": "data",
      "description": "Ensure the users table exists",
      "severity": "abort",
      "assertion": {
        "type": "sqlite_query",
        "target": "SELECT name FROM sqlite_master WHERE type='table' AND name='users'",
        "expected": [{ "name": "users" }]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "db-user-count",
      "layer": "data",
      "description": "Ensure exactly 50 test users were inserted",
      "severity": "gate",
      "depends_on": "db-schema-exists",
      "assertion": {
        "type": "sqlite_query",
        "target": "SELECT COUNT(*) as c FROM users",
        "expected": [{ "c": 50 }]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "api-health",
      "layer": "pipeline",
      "description": "API health endpoint returns 200",
      "severity": "gate",
      "timeout_ms": 5000,
      "retry_count": 2,
      "assertion": {
        "type": "http_status",
        "target": "http://localhost:3000/health",
        "expected": 200
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "output-file-check",
      "layer": "pipeline",
      "description": "Check that the output file exists",
      "severity": "warn",
      "assertion": {
        "type": "file_exists",
        "target": "output/results.json",
        "expected": true
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "config-has-key",
      "layer": "pipeline",
      "description": "Config contains the required API key placeholder",
      "severity": "gate",
      "assertion": {
        "type": "file_contains",
        "target": ".env.example",
        "expected": "API_KEY="
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "complex-logic",
      "layer": "agent",
      "description": "Custom validation of business logic",
      "severity": "warn",
      "assertion": {
        "type": "quickjs_eval",
        "code": "return inputs.amount > 100;",
        "inputs": {
          "amount": 150
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Supported Assertion Types

1. sqlite_query:
   • target: The raw SQL query to run.
   • expected: The exact expected JSON array outcome.
2. http_status:
   • target: The URL to fetch (GET).
   • expected: Numeric HTTP status code (e.g., 200).
3. file_exists:
   • target: Path to the file.
   • expected: Boolean indicating expected existence.
4. file_contains:
   • target: Path to the file.
   • expected: String that must be present in the file content.
5. quickjs_eval:
   • For anything that cannot be expressed declaratively.
   • code: Valid Javascript. Must return a boolean true (pass) or false (fail).
   • inputs: Optional dictionary of any JSON data to inject into the execution scope context.

Severity Guidelines

• Always start with warn for non-critical assertions during exploration.
• Promote to gate when an assertion guards a feature's correctness (schema migrations, API contracts).
• Use abort only for safety-critical or data-destructive scenarios.
• Use depends_on to create assertion chains (e.g., check table exists → check row count).
• Use timeout_ms on all http_status assertions (recommend 5000ms).
• Use retry_count for flaky network checks (recommend 2).

Claw-as-Validator (Adversarial Mode)

When PRISM_VERIFICATION_HARNESS_ENABLED=true, the system can optionally delegate your test suite to the local Claw agent for adversarial review before execution. Claw will:

1. Check for missing layer coverage
2. Identify potential false positives/negatives
3. Suggest additional assertions
4. Flag incorrect severity levels

This creates a host ↔ Claw dialectic that catches issues before the automated runner executes.

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
PRISM_VERIFICATION_HARNESS_ENABLED	false	Master switch for v7.2.0 enhanced verification
PRISM_VERIFICATION_LAYERS	data,agent,pipeline	Comma-separated list of active layers
PRISM_VERIFICATION_DEFAULT_SEVERITY	warn	Global severity floor override