Auditing Project

Overview

You are the coordinator for project audit. You re-evaluate an already-bootstrapped project — drift, incoherence, improvement opportunities. The per-file discovery skills (the seven ss-bs-discovering-<topic> skills) are loaded inline in audit mode; you don't reach inside their work, you route to them.

Audit ≠ bootstrap re-run. Bootstrap re-run with SUGGEST=on adds missing entries and surfaces suggestions, but doesn't compare the existing artifact against current code state. Audit does — that's the drift check (Step 1.6 per discovery skill). Audit also commits stage-by-stage, so the user can accept some changes and decline others.

Sibling relationship: This skill mirrors ss-bs-bootstrapping-project's structure (Hard Gates, Checklist, Step-by-step, Common Mistakes, Red Flags) but diverges in three fundamental ways: coherence runs FIRST (drives the per-stage loop, not just a gate before commit), SUGGEST is always on (no opt-out), and commits are per-stage rather than bundled. The bootstrap coordinator handles first-time setup, config copy, and directory creation; this skill assumes all of that is already done.

Announce at start: "I'm using the ss-bs-auditing-project skill to audit your bootstrap artifacts for drift and opportunities."

What This Skill Doesn't Do

• It does NOT bootstrap a project that has no artifacts yet. That's ss-bs-bootstrapping-project. Audit's preflight verifies config + ≥1 artifact and redirects if missing.
• It does NOT auto-fix problems in the codebase. Audit suggests changes to documentation; humans make code changes.
• It does NOT bundle commits. Each audited stage is its own commit so the user can accept selectively.
• It does NOT persist a report file. Findings and summary are conversation-only.
• It does NOT maintain multiple memory files (same constraint as bootstrap — one per project).

Hard Gates

• Do NOT run on an un-bootstrapped project. Preflight (Step 1) hard-gates this.
• Do NOT skip Step 2 (cross-artifact coherence). It runs FIRST and drives the per-stage loop's prioritization — coherence is not a trailing gate here, it is the input to step selection.
• Do NOT bundle audit changes into one commit. Each stage gets its own commit so the user can accept selectively.
• Do NOT persist the audit report to a file. Conversation-only.
• Do NOT dispatch any discovery skill as a subagent. All seven are loaded inline (same constraint as bootstrap).
• Do NOT run audit on every stage by default. Step 3 asks the user which stages to revisit; respect the choice.
• ALWAYS surface coherence findings VERBATIM. Do not summarize, paraphrase, or restructure them — the script's canonical format is what the user sees.
• ALWAYS pass SUGGEST=on to every discovery skill invocation (audit's prescriptive-by-default rule; there is no opt-out).
• ALWAYS use the harness's interactive question tool for Step 3 (scope picker) and per-stage user prompts. Do NOT fall back to plain-text prompts.
• ALWAYS use the harness's todo/task tool. Build the audit todo list right after Step 2's coherence pass — one todo per chosen stage + final coherence re-check + summary report. Mark each in_progress when you start it and completed the instant it's done.

Checklist

1. Preflight (verify config + ≥1 artifact; redirect to bootstrap if missing)
2. Cross-artifact coherence pass (Tier 1 — runs FIRST, drives the loop)
3. User picks scope (one of: prioritized fix / user-picks / full audit / report-only)
4. Build the audit todo list (one item per chosen stage + final coherence re-check + summary)
5. Per-stage audit loop: for each picked stage, load discovering-X with MODE=audit, SUGGEST=on; commit immediately on stage completion
6. Final coherence re-check
7. Summary report (conversation-only)

Step 1: Preflight

1a. Verify config exists and validates

test -f .sublime-skills/config.yml || {
  echo "No bootstrap config at .sublime-skills/config.yml — this project hasn't been bootstrapped."
  echo "Run ss-bs-bootstrapping-project first."
  exit 1
}
"${SUBLIME_SKILLS_HOME:?SUBLIME_SKILLS_HOME is not set; see Sublime-Skills README for setup}"/skills/spec-driven-development/framework/validate-config.sh

If config is missing → halt; redirect user to ss-bs-bootstrapping-project. Do NOT auto-invoke bootstrap from here (that would surprise the user — confirm interactively first).

If validate-config fails → halt; surface the findings verbatim; suggest ss-bs-bootstrapping-project re-run to fix config issues. Audit cannot proceed against an invalid config.

1b. Verify at least one artifact exists

Run:

"$SUBLIME_SKILLS_HOME/skills/spec-driven-development/framework/discover-context.sh"

Read the discover-context.sh JSON output for the 6 context artifact paths. Additionally, read memory_file.path directly from .sublime-skills/config.yml (the memory-file path lives in its own config block, not in context.*). Check that at least one of these 7 paths resolves to an existing file.

If 0 artifacts exist, ask:

Question: "Config exists but no artifacts have been created yet. Audit needs at least
one artifact to evaluate. Options:"

  - "Run bootstrap instead (recommended)"
  - "Continue anyway — I'll skip stages with no artifact"

On "Run bootstrap instead" → halt; surface the recommendation to the user and exit. On "Continue anyway" → proceed; the per-stage loop (Step 5) will skip stages whose artifact doesn't exist.

Step 2: Cross-Artifact Coherence Pass

Run the coherence checker:

"$SUBLIME_SKILLS_HOME/skills/spec-driven-development/framework/coherence-check.sh"

The exit codes and their meanings:

When findings are present, group them by which discovery skill would fix them (read from each finding's fix: line). This grouping informs the prioritized-fix ordering in Step 3 — stages with CRITICAL findings cluster first, then WARNING, then INFO.

Step 3: User Picks Scope

After surfacing the coherence findings (or the PASS message), ask:

Question: "How would you like to proceed?"

Options:
  - "Fix the top N coherence findings stage-by-stage (Recommended)" — auto-orders
    by where findings cluster; covers the stages with the most CRITICAL/WARNING
    findings first
  - "I'll pick which stages to revisit" — multi-select from the 7 stages
  - "Run a full audit on every stage" — invoke all 7 in audit mode
  - "Skip — I just wanted the coherence report" — exit with the findings as the report

Record the chosen stages list. If "Skip", jump to Step 7 (summary report) immediately.

For "Fix the top N coherence findings":

• If 0 coherence findings, fall back automatically to "I'll pick" (there is nothing to prioritize). Inform the user of the fallback.
• Otherwise, derive the prioritized list: stages whose findings include ≥1 CRITICAL first, then stages with WARNING only, then stages with INFO only.

For "I'll pick which stages to revisit":

Question: "Which stages would you like to audit?"

Multi-select from:
  - Constitution (docs/CONSTITUTION.md)
  - Architecture (docs/ARCHITECTURE.md)
  - Testing (docs/TESTING.md)
  - Glossary (docs/GLOSSARY.md)
  - Domain model (docs/DOMAIN.md)
  - Design (docs/DESIGN.md)
  - Memory file (CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md / GEMINI.md / .agents.md)

(Pre-check stages with coherence findings as a visual hint.)

For "Run a full audit on every stage": Order is the same as bootstrap: constitution → architecture → testing → glossary → domain → design → memory file. Skip stages whose artifact doesn't exist (noting the skip in the summary).

Step 4: Build the Audit Todo List

Using the harness's todo/task tool, create one todo per chosen stage plus two trailing todos:

1. \<Stage 1 from Step 3's chosen list\>
2. \<Stage 2\>

... (one per additional chosen stage) ... N. Final coherence re-check N+1. Summary report

Mark each todo in_progress when you start it and completed the instant it is done. Never batch updates — the user reads this list to follow along.

Step 5: Per-Stage Audit Loop

For each stage in the chosen list, in priority order:

5a. Load the discovering-X skill in audit mode

Load the matching skill inline (via the harness's skill mechanism). Pass these inputs:

Load skill: ss-bs-discovering-<topic>

REPO_ROOT:        <absolute path to repo root>
MODE:             audit
SUGGEST:          on    ← always on for audit, no exception
EXISTING_CONTENT: <verbatim current artifact content, read fresh from the config'd path>
FILE_PATH:        <config'd path for this artifact>

The mapping from stage to skill:

The skill runs its full audit flow — Step 1 (silent scan) + Step 1.5 (diagnose, always on) + Step 1.6 (drift check) + Step 2 (announce findings + drift + diagnoses) + Step 3 (Q0 drift resolution → Q1 observed → Q1.5 suggested → Q2-Q5 per skill) + Step 4 (synthesize draft) + Step 5 (refine, cap 3) + Step 6 (atomic write). You do NOT reach inside this flow.

5b. Skill returns one of these outcomes

• audited (changes made) — the artifact was updated; FILE_PATH points to the new content
• audited (no changes) — drift / diagnose / Q1 produced no updates; the file is byte-identical to before
• skipped (declined mid-skill) — user aborted within the skill

5c. Commit immediately on audited (changes made)

git add <FILE_PATH>
git commit -m "audit: update <basename of FILE_PATH> — <one-line summary of what changed>"

The one-line summary comes from the skill's report — e.g., "declare cross-service boundaries", "fix 2 drift items + 1 suggestion accepted", "update runner from Jest to Vitest". The commit message is the user's audit trail; make it informative, not generic.

Per-stage commits are mandatory even for small changes. Do NOT defer commits to the end of the loop.

5d. No commit on audited (no changes) or skipped

Record in the audit summary that the stage was reviewed (no changes) or declined. No commit is created for these outcomes.

5e. Move to the next todo

Mark the current stage todo completed; move to the next stage in the list.

Step 6: Final Coherence Re-Check

Re-run:

"$SUBLIME_SKILLS_HOME/skills/spec-driven-development/framework/coherence-check.sh"

Compare findings to the Step 2 findings:

• Findings present in Step 2 but NOT in Step 6 — resolved by the audit stages.
• Findings present in both Step 2 and Step 6 — still outstanding (user declined the relevant stage, or the fix didn't address the issue).
• Findings new in Step 6 (not in Step 2) — introduced by audit changes (rare but possible if a newly-added pointer references a file that doesn't yet exist).

Surface the comparison to the user before composing the summary. Do not combine this step with Step 7 — run the check, then compose the report.

Step 7: Summary Report (Conversation-Only)

Surface this block to the user verbatim after Step 6:

Audit complete.

Stages updated:
- <basename> — <drift items fixed: N, suggestions accepted: M> (committed: <short sha>)
- <basename> — ...

Stages reviewed, no changes:
- <basename> — no drift, 0 suggestions accepted

Stages declined:
- <basename> — user declined to revisit

Stages skipped (no artifact):
- <basename> — artifact doesn't exist; run bootstrap to create

Coherence check progression:
- Before audit: <N findings (X CRITICAL, Y WARNING, Z INFO)>
- After audit:  <N findings (X CRITICAL, Y WARNING, Z INFO)>
- Resolved:     <list of resolved finding titles, or "none">
- Outstanding:  <list of outstanding finding titles, or "none">
- New:          <list of newly-introduced finding titles, or "none">

Next steps:
- The bootstrap config is unchanged (audit doesn't touch config; re-run
  ss-bs-bootstrapping-project to address any config-level changes).
- Outstanding coherence findings can be addressed by running
  ss-bs-bootstrapping-project in re-run mode and selecting the relevant
  stages, OR by running ss-bs-auditing-project again on just those stages.

Do NOT persist this report. The user can copy from the conversation if they want a record. Do not create any new files at this step.

Common Mistakes

Red Flags

• About to dispatch a discovering-X as a subagent → STOP; inline only
• About to write a per-stage commit message that doesn't describe what changed → STOP; the message is the user's audit trail
• About to skip a stage's commit because "the change feels small" → STOP; commit anyway, even tiny changes
• About to combine the coherence re-check into the summary report → STOP; they're separate; run the check before composing the summary
• About to bundle multiple stages' diffs into one commit → STOP; per-stage only
• About to pass SUGGEST=off to a discovering skill → STOP; audit is always SUGGEST=on
• About to reach inside a discovering skill's conversation or write flow → STOP; you route to the skill, the skill owns its own flow
• About to run coherence as the last step (like bootstrap) instead of first → STOP; in audit, coherence runs first and drives the scope