validate

name	validate
description	This skill should be used when the user asks to "create a PHP test", "run the PHP tests", "create a Jest test", "run the Jest tests", "create an e2e test", "run the e2e tests", or validate a UCSC block plugins (ucsc-blocks, ucsc-gutenberg-blocks) feature, fix, or Jira acceptance criterion with an automated test suite. Use verify instead for live editor or frontend behavior.
version	0.1.0
argument-hint	[php|jest|e2e|all] [create|run] [block|feature|Jira]
allowed-tools	["Read","Grep","Bash(bash:*)","Bash(docker:*)","Bash(npm:*)","Bash(yarn:*)","Bash(wp:*)","Bash(python3:*)"]

Validate

Implements

implements: ADR-019-VALIDATE-CHECKIN-TEXT, ADR-030-VALIDATE-SEPARATION, ADR-042-VALIDATE-REFERENCES, ADR-050-VALIDATE-NO-LOCAL-DEPS, ADR-066-VALIDATE-DRIVER, ADR-087-VALIDATE-RENAME, ADR-088-VALIDATE-MODES, ADR-093-VALIDATE-BLOCK-TARGET, ADR-101-VALIDATE-ALL-SEQUENTIAL, ADR-102-VALIDATE-OUTPUT-ISOLATION, ADR-103-VALIDATE-VERIFY-STACK-DEPENDENCY

Launcher

• launcher.md — slash-command launcher (ADR-086): if a mode (create/run) is given, run it; otherwise load skill-menu-mode.md and show the mode menu before acting.

Universal Command Intake

Resolve the test target, natural-language test goal, and optional Jira key/URL from the full input.

Block target (ADR-093). Resolve the block target with the shared contract in ../develop/references/block-target-session.md: ARGUMENTS → persisted session value (develop/scripts/session-target.sh" get) → cwd inference → prompt. Validate an inferred directory with develop/scripts/block-target-check.sh before adopting it, and persist a newly resolved target with session-target.sh" set.

Test Driver

Prefer a single-call driver over ad-hoc Docker commands. The validate skill is now multi-environment aware: when invoked it uses the environment detection router (via skills/run/lib/detect-environment.sh) and routes to the appropriate validation flow for the detected environment (dockerized wp-dev.ucsc, wp-env, LocalWP, WP Engine, or BYO). When a repo-local bin/validate*.sh exists prefer it; otherwise the plugin-level validators (skills/validate/validate-*.sh) handle routing and provide BYO guidance.

Repo-local battery (ucsc-gutenberg-blocks). When the target repo ships bin/validate*.sh, use them — they realize the full per-type + battery design ADR-066 envisioned, with distinct per-suite logs. All run in Docker when the environment supports it; non-docker environments will be given BYO instructions.

Logs land in $UCSC_LOG_DIR (default /tmp). The e2e suite requires the site be up; if the environment is not running the validator will prompt to bring it up (or use the run skill's driver to launch it when supported). PHP and Jest can run offline when the environment provides the necessary runtimes.

Output isolation (ADR-102). Test logs and artifacts must be session- and block-target-specific — never static global paths — to avoid concurrent runs stomping each other, stale-log false results, or cross-target contamination.

Plugin driver (ucsc-blocks). For the ucsc-blocks plugin, which ships no bin/ runners, use the plugin-side driver; it detects and routes automatically:

bash "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/validate/validate-php.sh"
bash "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/validate/validate-jest.sh"
bash "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/validate/validate-e2e.sh"

See ../run/references/environments.md for detection rules and per-environment guidance, and references/run.md for per-type Docker commands and stack gotchas.

Modes

• validate php [create|run] — PHP test coverage.
• validate jest [create|run] — JavaScript editor/unit test coverage.
• validate e2e [create|run] — browser-driven end-to-end coverage.
• validate all — run every suite in one battery (run-only; does not create).

all mode (ADR-101). Run the suites sequentially — PHP → Jest → E2E — confirming each result before the next; never dispatch them as parallel commands and never spawn a subagent per suite (single-agent, ADR-003). When the target repo ships the battery, that is the single call: bash bin/validate.sh (or a named subset like bash bin/validate.sh php jest); otherwise run the per-suite commands from references/run.md one at a time.

Confirm Type And Mode

Before reading files, creating coverage, or running commands, explicitly confirm both:

1. Type — php, jest, or e2e.
2. Mode — create tests or run existing tests.

Always ask one concise question only: confirm the resolved values and request any missing value in the same question. Example: "Should I create or run Jest tests for Class Schedule?" Wait for the answer before using tools, even when one value appears inferable from context.

Use these test types:

Type	Use for
php	Render callbacks, sanitization, REST routes, transient behavior
jest	Block registration, attributes, editor controls, client behavior
e2e	WordPress editor insertion, frontend rendering, Docker/browser integration

After confirmation, read exactly one mode reference:

• For create, read references/create.md.
• For run, read references/run.md.

Examples

Copy-adapt working test stubs for new blocks:

• examples/jest-test.js — Jest test template with @wordpress/* virtual mocks and @testing-library/react
• examples/php-test.php — Standalone PHP test template with WP stubs; runs via php:8.1-cli, no PHPUnit

Jira acceptance criteria may define assertions, but Jira is optional.