How the Plugin Mall scans, scores, and prunes itself. The Mall is a self-curating repo; this skill is its operational playbook for the weekly catalog refresh and trust scoring. Use when working on the scan pipeline, debugging a stuck weekly PR, or onboarding to Mall internals.

2026-05-291

meditation

fabioc-aloha/Alex_Skill_Mall

Consolidate session learning into permanent architecture — extract patterns into skills, instructions, prompts, or memory

2026-05-291

source-inventory

fabioc-aloha/Alex_Skill_Mall

Maintain the source registry in sources/supported-stores.json — add a new third-party plugin store, retire one, refresh metadata, validate the schema. Use when proposing a registry change, after the weekly cron flags a source as unhealthy, or when a candidate store needs evaluation before adding.

2026-05-291

staleness-discipline

fabioc-aloha/Alex_Skill_Mall

Detect, classify, and prune stale source stores in the Mall — define what stale means and how to remove gracefully without breaking downstream consumers.

2026-05-291

store-evaluation

fabioc-aloha/Alex_Skill_Mall

Evaluate a proposed store for inclusion in Alex_ACT_Plugin_Mall using a quality scorecard

2026-05-291

evaluation

fabioc-aloha/Alex_Skill_Mall

This skill should be used when building agent evaluation systems: deterministic checks, regression suites, multi-dimensional rubrics, quality gates, production monitoring, baseline comparison, and outcome measurement for agent pipelines.

2026-05-271

name	currency-audit
description	Comprehensive brain file review — external freshness, internal consistency, semantic accuracy — stamp only after full assessment
lastReviewed	"2026-05-26T00:00:00.000Z"

Currency Audit

Full assessment: external freshness + internal consistency + semantic accuracy. Stamp only when all pass.

brain-qa.cjs checks the date mechanically (the lastReviewed field). This skill defines the full review that earns that date. A re-stamp means both "content matches external reality" AND "content is internally consistent."

Critical Thinking Discipline

Every audit item must pass through critical thinking — not just mechanical verification. Apply these disciplines throughout:

Discipline	Application to Currency Audit
Alternative hypotheses	"This API exists" isn't enough — is the usage correct? Could the documented pattern be outdated even if the API isn't?
Missing data	What's NOT in the file that should be? Missing caveats, undocumented prerequisites, absent error handling?
Evidence quality	Is the file's advice based on official docs, or a single blog post from 2021?
Self-report skepticism	"Best practice" claims — verified against what source? "Works on current versions" — actually tested?
Bias detection	Anchoring on the file's current content. Challenge: would you write this the same way from scratch today?
Falsifiability	What would prove this advice wrong? If nothing could, the claim may be unfalsifiable hand-waving
Materiality gate	If this item were stale, would it cause real harm? Prioritize fixes that affect decisions over cosmetic accuracy

The key question at every checklist item: "Am I verifying this is correct, or am I assuming it's correct because it looks plausible?"

When to Use

brain-qa shows files with expired or missing lastReviewed dates
Before a release that ships brain files to heirs
On a scheduled cadence (target: full audit every 90 days)
After a major external change (new API version, deprecated pattern, VS Code update)

Quick Reference

Step	Action	Outcome
Triage	Run `node scripts/brain-qa.cjs`, read the stale-file output	Ordered work list
Research	Check latest docs, changelogs, releases for the file's domain	Delta list
Compare	Diff current content against latest practices	Stale advice identified
Audit	Check terminology, cross-references, claims, process logic	Internal consistency verified
Update	Fix stale content, wrong terms, broken references, contradictions	Full assessment complete
Stamp	Set `lastReviewed: YYYY-MM-DD` to today in frontmatter	Pass restored
Verify	Re-run brain-qa, confirm file passes	Clean output

Audit Process

1. Triage

Run brain-qa and read the stale-file output:

node scripts/brain-qa.cjs

brain-qa surfaces files whose lastReviewed exceeds the 180/365-day thresholds (warn/fail). Work the failures first, then the warnings, oldest first.

Batch size: 10-15 files per session. Larger batches cause quality drift.

2. Per-File Review Checklist

For each file, work through this checklist:

Frontmatter Check

lastReviewed field exists and is a valid YYYY-MM-DD date
description accurately reflects current content (not stale summary)
For instructions: applyTo patterns still match the intended activation scope
No dropped legacy fields present (type, application, tier, currency, inheritance, lifecycle) — see scripts/brain-qa.cjs for the canonical drop list

Content Freshness Check

API references: Do referenced APIs still exist? Check for deprecations, renamed methods, new parameters
Version numbers: Are pinned versions still current? (Node.js, VS Code API, Azure SDKs, etc.)
URL links: Do referenced URLs still resolve? Are they the canonical location?
Best practices: Has the community consensus changed? Check official docs, changelogs
Tool availability: Are referenced CLI tools, extensions, or services still available?
Code examples: Do code snippets still compile/run against current versions?

Semantic Consistency Check

Terminology: File uses current terms, not deprecated synonyms (e.g., "skills" not "DK files", "skills/" not "domain-knowledge/")
Claims match reality: Do documented features, commands, or capabilities actually exist in code?
Cross-references: Links to other skills, agents, instructions, or files are correct and targets exist
No contradictions: File doesn't conflict with related files covering the same topic
Process logic: If the file documents a workflow, each step's prerequisites exist and outputs are real
Architecture alignment: Any structural claims (counts, relationships, directory layouts) match current state

Structural Check

No token waste: Remove Mermaid diagrams in non-teaching skills, redundant examples, excessive prose
Progressive disclosure: Most important info first, advanced topics later
Actionable content: Every section helps the LLM produce better output

3. Update and Stamp

Stamp only after ALL checklist sections pass — frontmatter, freshness, semantic consistency, and structural. A partial review does not earn a date stamp.

Make all content fixes (freshness + semantic + structural)
Update lastReviewed: YYYY-MM-DD in frontmatter to today's date
If the file's description changed meaning, update it

4. Verify

Re-run brain-qa to confirm the file now passes:

node scripts/brain-qa.cjs --stdout | grep "filename"
# PowerShell: node scripts/brain-qa.cjs --stdout | Select-String "filename"

Type-Specific Guidance

Skills

Check	What to Verify
Domain accuracy	Does the skill reflect current state of its domain?
Trifecta link	If workflow skill, does matching `.instructions.md` exist and align?
Reference files	Are `references/` or `scripts/` subdirectories still accurate?
Examples	Do code examples work with current tool versions?

Instructions

Check	What to Verify
Routing accuracy	Does `applyTo` glob match when this instruction should load?
Skill reference	If instruction references a skill, is the skill still current?
Rule validity	Are the rules still correct given current tooling?

Agents

Check	What to Verify
Model availability	Is the specified model still available and appropriate?
Tool references	Do referenced tools still exist in the extension?
Handoff targets	Do handoff agent names match actual agent files?

Prompts

Check	What to Verify
Agent reference	Does the `agent` field point to an existing agent?
Workflow steps	Are the prompted steps still valid for current tools?

Muscles

Check	What to Verify
Runtime compatibility	Does the script run without errors on current Node.js?
Dependencies	Are `@requires` dependencies still available?
Output format	Does the output match what consumers expect?
Dead code	Variables computed but never stored/used? Branches that can never match? Fields extracted but never displayed?

Batch Audit Workflow

For auditing many files efficiently:

Sort by category: Group files by domain (Azure, VS Code, testing, etc.) so research carries across files
Research once per domain: Check the domain's latest changelog/release notes once, apply to all files in that domain
Parallel reads: Read 5-6 files at once, note which need changes, then edit in sequence
Stamp in bulk: After verifying all changes, stamp dates. Use brain-qa to confirm all pass

Common Findings

Finding	Fix
Deprecated API method	Replace with current equivalent, cite migration guide
Stale version pin	Update to current stable version
Dead URL	Find new canonical URL or remove reference
Outdated best practice	Revise to current recommendation with rationale
Redundant Mermaid diagram	Replace with concise prose description
Missing `lastReviewed` field	Add field with today's date after completing review
Legacy frontmatter field (`tier`, `currency`, `type`, `application`, `inheritance`, `lifecycle`)	Drop it; see `scripts/cleanup-frontmatter.cjs` for the canonical drop list

Stale File Decision Table (AC2)

When a file's currency stamp is expired or missing, decide before acting:

Condition	Content Changed?	Action	Stamp?
Stamp expired, content still accurate	No	Re-stamp unchanged	Yes — review confirmed validity
Stamp expired, minor drift (terminology, links)	Yes — minor	Edit then re-stamp	Yes — after fixes land
Stamp expired, material staleness (deprecated APIs, wrong patterns)	Yes — major	Full rewrite of stale sections, then stamp	Yes — after full review
Stamp missing, file is active and current	N/A	Add stamp with today's date	Yes — review confirms currency
Stamp expired, file covers a dead domain (sunset API, retired tool)	N/A	Add a `## Deprecated` section + `docs/deprecations.md` row + `supersededBy` link if a successor exists	No — deprecated files don't get stamped
Stamp expired, file is historical record (plan, ADR, postmortem)	N/A	Re-stamp with long `reviewEvery` (or exempt via doc-hygiene convention)	Yes — stamp means "confirmed intentionally historical"
Stamp expired, file documents an upstream-dependent capability (SDK, MCP server, external API)	Check upstream	Research latest upstream docs before deciding; record the pinned upstream version in the file body	Only after upstream verification

Rule: Never re-stamp without reviewing. A stamp is an attestation, not a date bump.

Related Skills

doc-hygiene — Anti-drift rules for living documents
skill-review — Five-gate audit (Gate 5 Currency & Coherence is the semantic companion to this skill's mechanical re-stamp)

Would Revise If

Revisit this skill by 2026-08-26 (90 days) or sooner if any of the following fires:

Files stamped through this audit are flagged later by self-audit or coherence sweeps as carrying stale content the audit should have caught — ≥3 occurrences in a quarter
Re-stamps without content change recur ≥3 times for the same file in a quarter (rubber-stamp pattern)
Decisions on equivalent Stale File Decision Table entries diverge across audits ≥2 times in a quarter (decision table too soft)
brain-qa.cjs changes the lastReviewed threshold defaults (currently 180-day warn / 365-day fail) — re-tune the 90-day audit cadence accordingly

Track these in docs/ledgers/curation-log.md tagged [CURRENCY-AUDIT-DRIFT].