task-audit

name	task_audit
description	Audit one implemented or finished task against the actual codebase. Use after implementation or for drift checks before close out. Inspect code and tests, run verification, stamp audited only on clean implemented work, and report gaps otherwise.
version	1.0.8
author	Andreas F. Hoffmann
license	MIT

task_audit

<task_audit_skill>

task_audit verifies whether a task's *claimed* completion is *real*, by checking the codebase rather than the prose. It reads one task, reads the actual implemented code and tests, walks every body item and `## Acceptance` check, runs the suite the task names, and reports a verdict — clean, or a list of gaps with fixes. It is a gate with one allowed lifecycle mutation: on a clean, complete verdict over a current `implemented` task, it stamps `status: audited` and bumps `updated`; a clean re-check of an archived `finished` task leaves it `finished`, and any gap leaves the status at `implemented`. It answers "is this task genuinely done?"; `task_finish` answers "now close it." On a clean pass it hands the close-out to `task_finish`; on gaps it hands the remaining work to `task_implement`.

<when_to_activate> Activate when the user wants a task's done-ness checked against reality:

• "Is <task> actually done?" / "audit this task" / "verify the work is really implemented."
• "Check <task> against the code before I close it."
• "Re-check this archived task — did the codebase drift from it?"

Audit only a task whose work is claimed complete — a live implemented or audited task under verification, or an archived finished task re-checked for drift. Decline a task whose body is still a plan.

Route elsewhere when the user wants to assess a task's readiness before building (task_check), automatically repair readiness issues before building (task_auto_check), choose what to work on next (task_select), do the implementation work (task_implement), close and archive a task (task_finish), or audit the whole tree's lint health (task_fix). </when_to_activate>

The base `task` skill's `SKILL.md` is the source of truth for the task-file shape; read it and use its `` step to locate `tasks/` and its `` / `` sections to read the task under audit. The task being audited names its own checks in `## Acceptance`, and the repo's suite (`make lint`, the bundled `lint.py`, the matching `tests//script_tests`) is the verification surface — run what the task and repo name.

<path_resolution> The bundled scripts (discover_tasks.sh, lint.py) ship in scripts/ next to the base task skill's SKILL.md, not next to this one. After reading that base SKILL.md (per <authority>), resolve each script's absolute path by combining the directory you loaded it from with scripts/<script-name> and invoke that absolute path — never a bare scripts/..., which resolves against the current working directory (the target project) rather than the skill, and so finds the project's own scripts/ or nothing. If the first invocation reports a missing file, re-resolve the absolute path once before treating the script as failed. </path_resolution>

Run in order. Change no code and change the task only for the clean-verdict `audited`/`updated` stamp described here.

1. Read the task end-to-end. Understand the desired behaviour, the ## Approach, the scope / non-goals, and every ## Acceptance item. This is the contract you audit against.
2. Understand what is actually built. Read the implemented code and the existing tests around the work to establish what is really in place — not what the task claims.
3. Verify each item against the code. Walk every body item and every ## Acceptance check and confirm the codebase covers it. Trust the code, not the prose.
4. Audit the tests as first-class. When TESTING.md exists at the project root, read it for project-specific testing details — stack, runner, layout, thresholds — before judging the test surface. When it is absent, continue with the repo and task context already loaded. Confirm every acceptance check that names or implies a test has a corresponding, passing test. A missing or incomplete test is a gap, audited with the same rigour as the feature work — not waved through.
5. Run the suite and attribute every failure. Execute the verifications the task and repo name, recording each failure or warning as evidence. Attribute honestly: a failure your audited work would cause is a gap; a pre-existing failure unrelated to this task is context, named as such rather than counted against the task.
6. Stamp only a clean current implementation. When every body item, acceptance check, and required test is confirmed and the current task status is implemented, stamp status: audited and bump updated. When the task is already archived as finished, leave it finished. When any gap remains, leave status: implemented and route the gaps to task_implement.

<output_contract> Report a verdict, evidence-based — never on prose alone.

• On full compliance, make the verdict line, on its own line, exactly: Success: full task compliance confirmed. — that literal is the machine-readable signal, so write it bare (no backticks, no surrounding words on that line). Supporting evidence may precede it and the task_finish pointer follows it; the verdict line itself stays exact.
• Otherwise lead with Gaps: followed by a numbered list. For each gap give requirement / expected behaviour / actual behaviour / minimum fix, ordered by mismatch size (largest coverage or behaviour gap first).

Make only the clean-verdict audited/updated stamp described in <workflow>. On a clean pass, point at task_finish to perform the close-out. On gaps, hand the remaining work to task_implement. Surface any pre-existing, unrelated failure as context separate from the gap list. </output_contract>

The `task_*` family — each sibling does one job, then points to the next; the base `task` skill is the hub that can do all of it:

• task_create — write one task file
• task_check — readiness gate before building (read-only)
• task_auto_check — autonomously repair one task until task_check reports ready
• task_explain — explain one task at a high level (read-only)
• task_select — choose and rank the next eligible task/action (read-only)
• task_implement — do the work
• task_audit — verify a believed-done task against the codebase (read-only) (this skill)
• task_finish — close out: set status, bump updated, archive
• task_fix — audit and repair the whole tasks tree

These ship together as a family; any sibling may be absent if a deployment excluded it. The default manual chain is create → check → select → implement → audit → finish, with task_auto_check as an opt-in readiness repair loop and fix maintaining the tree.

</task_audit_skill>