pharaoh-verify

---

name: pharaoh-verify description: Use when checking whether one sphinx-needs artefact actually addresses the substance of every parent it links to via :satisfies: or :verifies:. Cross-need content check — distinct from structural MECE, schema-level tailor-review, and per-axis req-review/arch-review. chains_from: [pharaoh-author, pharaoh-req-draft, pharaoh-arch-draft, pharaoh-vplan-draft] chains_to: [pharaoh-mece]

pharaoh-verify

When to use

Invoke when the user has one need-id (drafted, modified, or already-published) and wants to know whether its body actually addresses the substance of its parent — does the architecture element discharge the requirement, does the test case exercise the requirement's claim, does the decision close the question its :decides: target raised.

This is a cross-need content check. It is the only Pharaoh skill that compares two needs' bodies for substantive coverage.

How it differs from the neighbouring review skills:

Skill	Scope	Question answered
pharaoh-mece	full corpus	Are required links present? Are there orphans / gaps? (structural)
pharaoh-tailor-review	tailoring files	Does .pharaoh/project/ validate against the schemas? (schema-level)
pharaoh-req-review	one requirement	Does this requirement pass the 11 ISO 26262 §6 axes? (per-axis prose rubric)
pharaoh-arch-review	one architecture element	Same axes plus arch-specific axes (per-axis prose rubric)
pharaoh-vplan-review	one test case	Same axes plus vplan-specific axes (per-axis prose rubric)
pharaoh-verify	one child + its parents	Does the child's body actually address the parent's substance? (content-level satisfaction)

Do NOT use when:

• The user wants per-axis prose grading — use pharaoh-req-review / pharaoh-arch-review / pharaoh-vplan-review.
• The user wants gap or orphan analysis across the corpus — use pharaoh-mece.
• The user wants to know if the tailoring files are well-formed — use pharaoh-tailor-review.

---

Inputs

• need_id (from user): the child need-id to verify. Must exist in needs.json.
• transitive (from user, optional, default false): if true, walk every :satisfies: / :verifies: link transitively and verify each ancestor pair (child↔direct-parent, direct-parent↔grandparent, …). If false, verify only the direct parents.
• tailoring (from .pharaoh/project/):
  • artefact-catalog.yaml — read the link-relationship map: which link types carry the "satisfies its parent" semantics for each artefact type. Defaults: :satisfies: for requirements and architecture; :verifies: for test cases; :decides: for decisions.
  • id-conventions.yaml — only used when reporting parent IDs that fail the regex
• needs.json: required for body lookup on both child and every parent

---

Outputs

A single JSON document. Shape:

{
  "need_id": "<child-id>",
  "child_type": "<type>",
  "parents": [
    {
      "parent_id": "<id>",
      "parent_type": "<type>",
      "link_field": "satisfies|verifies|decides",
      "verdict": "addresses|partial|absent|unresolved",
      "score": 3,
      "reason": "one-sentence justification",
      "missing_aspects": ["..."]
    }
  ],
  "overall": "addresses|partial|absent",
  "action_items": ["..."]
}

Verdict scale

Per parent, score the child body on a 0-3 ordinal:

Score	Verdict	Definition
3	addresses	Child body explicitly covers every claim, condition, or actor named in the parent. No substantive aspect of the parent is missing.
2	addresses	Child covers all major claims; minor wording or a marginal sub-claim is paraphrased rather than restated.
1	partial	Child covers some but not all of the parent's substantive claims. Concrete missing aspects are listed in missing_aspects.
0	absent	Child body is generic, off-topic, or names the parent ID without substantively addressing the parent's claim.
n/a	unresolved	Parent ID does not resolve in needs.json — record as unresolved and skip scoring this pair.

Overall

Computed across all parent pairs (excluding unresolved):

• addresses — every pair scores ≥ 2
• partial — at least one pair scores 1, no pair scores 0
• absent — at least one pair scores 0

If every parent is unresolved, set overall to "absent" and add an action item naming the unresolved parents.

---

Process

Step 1: Resolve child

Find needs.json (check docs/_build/needs/needs.json, then _build/needs/needs.json, then any needs.json under a _build directory). If not found, FAIL:

FAIL: needs.json not found. Build the Sphinx project first
(`sphinx-build docs/ docs/_build/`), then re-run this skill.

Look up need_id. If not present, FAIL:

FAIL: need_id "<id>" not found in needs.json.
Verify the ID or build the project.

Extract the child's type, body, and the values of every parent-link field that applies to its type per artefact-catalog.yaml (default mapping: requirements → :satisfies:; architecture → :satisfies:; test cases → :verifies:; decisions → :decides:).

If the child has no parent-link values at all, emit:

{
  "need_id": "<id>",
  "child_type": "<type>",
  "parents": [],
  "overall": "absent",
  "action_items": [
    "Child has no :satisfies:/:verifies:/:decides: link. Add a parent before verifying."
  ]
}

and stop.

---

Step 2: Resolve parents

For each parent ID listed in the child's link fields, look it up in needs.json:

• If found, capture the parent's type and body.
• If not found, mark the pair verdict: "unresolved" and continue.

If transitive = true, push each resolved parent onto a queue and repeat Step 2 for its own parents. Maintain a visited set to avoid cycles. The output parents list is flattened — each parent appears once with its direct child noted in link_field.

---

Step 3: Score each pair

For each (child, parent) pair, read both bodies and answer the satisfaction question for the relevant link semantics:

Link field	Question to answer
satisfies	Does the child's prose discharge the parent requirement's claim — i.e. would building only what the child describes satisfy what the parent demands?
verifies	Does the test case's inputs / steps / expected outcome exercise the specific behaviour the parent requires? Would a passing run of this test give evidence the parent is met?
decides	Does the decision body resolve the design question that the affected need raises — alternatives weighed, choice stated, rationale matches the parent's concern?

Score on the 0-3 scale above. Be concrete in reason — name the parent claim that is or is not covered. When score < 2, populate missing_aspects with the specific claims, actors, or conditions from the parent that the child fails to address.

For test cases, also flag partial when the test only exercises a happy path while the parent requires negative or boundary cases.

---

Step 4: Compute overall and action items

Compute overall per the table above. For every pair with score < 2 or verdict == "unresolved", add a concrete action item naming the parent and the missing aspect:

"satisfies <parent_id>: child does not cover <missing aspect>; rewrite the body to address it"

If every pair scores ≥ 2, action_items is an empty array.

---

Step 5: Emit JSON

Emit the JSON document only. No prose wrapper.

If overall != "addresses", append below the JSON a single advisory line:

Consider `pharaoh-author <need_id>` to revise the body, or `pharaoh-req-regenerate <need_id>`
for a per-axis driven rewrite. Re-run `pharaoh-verify <need_id>` after the edit.

This is the only prose permitted after the JSON.

---

Guardrails

G1 — Child not found

need_id absent from needs.json → FAIL (Step 1).

G2 — Child has no parent links

Emit a JSON document with empty parents and a clear action item, then stop (Step 1). Do not guess a parent.

G3 — All parents unresolved

Set overall = "absent"; do not crash. Action items must list every unresolved parent ID so the user can fix the link or build the project first.

G4 — Empty bodies

If either the child's body or a parent's body is empty (only the title is set), score that pair 0 with reason: "<role> body is empty — substantive verification not possible" and add an action item to populate the body before re-running.

---

Advisory chain

This skill has chains_to: [pharaoh-mece] because content satisfaction is the natural sibling of structural MECE. After verifying one need, the user often wants the corpus-wide structural view next:

Consider running `pharaoh-mece` to confirm the surrounding link structure
(orphans, gaps, status inconsistencies) is also healthy.

Show this line only when overall == "addresses".

---

Worked example

User input:

need_id: arch__abs_pump_driver transitive: false

Step 1: child resolves; type arch. Parent-link field for arch is :satisfies:. Value: gd_req__abs_pump_activation.

Step 2: parent resolves. Body: "The brake controller shall engage the ABS pump when measured wheel slip exceeds the calibrated activation threshold."

Step 3: child body: "The ABS pump driver component manages the pump drive circuit, controlling output PWM duty cycle and providing over-current protection for the pump motor."

The child names the pump drive circuit and the actuation mechanism (PWM, over-current) but does not state how the wheel-slip-threshold trigger reaches the driver. Score 2 — addresses the actuation claim but the trigger linkage is implicit.

Step 4: overall = "addresses"; one minor missing_aspect recorded.

Step 5 output:

{
  "need_id": "arch__abs_pump_driver",
  "child_type": "arch",
  "parents": [
    {
      "parent_id": "gd_req__abs_pump_activation",
      "parent_type": "gd_req",
      "link_field": "satisfies",
      "verdict": "addresses",
      "score": 2,
      "reason": "child covers pump actuation and protection; the wheel-slip trigger linkage is implicit, not restated",
      "missing_aspects": ["wheel-slip-threshold trigger pathway from sensor to driver"]
    }
  ],
  "overall": "addresses",
  "action_items": []
}

Consider running `pharaoh-mece` to confirm the surrounding link structure is also healthy.

---

Variant: child does not address the parent

Same parent, but the child body reads: "The ABS pump driver component logs telemetry every 100 ms to the CAN bus." Logging is unrelated to the parent's actuation claim.

{
  "need_id": "arch__abs_pump_driver",
  "child_type": "arch",
  "parents": [
    {
      "parent_id": "gd_req__abs_pump_activation",
      "parent_type": "gd_req",
      "link_field": "satisfies",
      "verdict": "absent",
      "score": 0,
      "reason": "child describes telemetry logging only; does not address pump engagement on slip threshold",
      "missing_aspects": [
        "ABS pump engagement actuation",
        "wheel-slip-threshold trigger pathway"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "overall": "absent",
  "action_items": [
    "satisfies gd_req__abs_pump_activation: child does not cover pump engagement; rewrite the body to describe the actuation pathway and the slip-threshold trigger"
  ]
}

Consider `pharaoh-author arch__abs_pump_driver` to revise the body, or `pharaoh-req-regenerate
arch__abs_pump_driver` for a per-axis driven rewrite. Re-run `pharaoh-verify
arch__abs_pump_driver` after the edit.