Artifact Verification

---
name: artifact-verification
description: Orchestrator checklist to verify worker outputs against the approved plan before accepting artifacts. Phase 2 of orchestrator/worker context enforcement (#2020).
version: 1.0.0
category: coordination
tags: [orchestrator, worker, verification, governance, artifacts]
related_skills:
  - cross-review-policy
  - issue-planning-mode
  - engineering-issue-workflow
issue_ref: "#2020"
---

# Artifact Verification — Orchestrator Checklist

When a worker (subagent, Codex, Gemini, or parallel terminal) returns results,
the orchestrator MUST verify those results against the approved plan before
accepting them. This skill provides the verification protocol.

## Why This Exists

Workers optimize for task completion, not plan adherence. Without verification:
- Workers skip optional deliverables that the plan required
- Workers modify files outside their assigned scope (contention risk)
- Workers produce code that passes tests but drifts from the spec
- Orchestrators rubber-stamp results because the output "looks right"

## When to Use

- After any worker/subagent returns results
- After overnight batch runs (morning review)
- Before merging worker-produced branches
- Before closing a GitHub issue completed by a worker

## Verification Checklist

For each worker output, the orchestrator checks:

### 1. Scope Alignment

- [ ] Files changed match the plan's "Files to Change" list
- [ ] No files outside the worker's assigned scope were modified
- [ ] No files from other workers' negative write boundaries were touched

### 2. Acceptance Criteria

- [ ] Each acceptance criterion from the approved plan is satisfied
- [ ] Evidence exists for each criterion (test output, file content, command result)
- [ ] No acceptance criteria were silently dropped

### 3. Test Coverage

- [ ] Tests were written/updated as specified in the plan
- [ ] Tests pass (verify via `uv run pytest` or equivalent)
- [ ] Test names and coverage match the plan's TDD test list

### 4. Artifact Completeness

- [ ] All deliverables listed in the plan are present
- [ ] Documentation updates (if required by plan) are included
- [ ] Commit messages follow conventional format and reference the issue

### 4A. Generated Artifact Freshness

For generated artifacts (manifests, reports, schemas, indexes, lockfiles, static outputs):

- [ ] Prefer regenerating artifacts from the currently checked-out generator/validator over restoring stale artifact snapshots from patches or archives.
- [ ] If recovering from an archived patch, treat restored generated outputs as a bootstrap only: rerun the committed generator before validation or commit.
- [ ] Verify the generator CLI and validator CLI from the current checkout before rerunning old commands; stale renamed flags can create false failures.
- [ ] When validation reports mass schema-version or missing-field failures across generated outputs, assume generator/artifact schema drift first, regenerate artifacts, then re-run targeted validation before editing validator expectations.
- [ ] Do not close an issue on recovered generated artifacts until the artifacts have been regenerated or proven byte-for-byte compatible with the current generator and validator contract.
- [ ] After pulling/rebasing while generated reports or schemas are in flight, re-run targeted tests that reference canonical generated paths; patch tests to discover the latest canonical artifact or regenerate test fixtures instead of hardcoding stale date/version filenames.
- [ ] Treat a passing validator CLI plus a failing artifact test as a fixture-contract drift signal until proven otherwise: inspect whether the test points at an older generated report/schema path before changing validator semantics.

### 4B. Historical Artifact Location / Checkout-Absent Verification

When the user asks to locate an existing report/output artifact from prior work:

- [ ] Search prior session records for the exact artifact path and issue context if the local checkout does not contain the sibling repo or output tree.
- [ ] Verify the artifact against the remote canonical repo using GitHub Contents/API metadata (`path`, `size`, `sha`, `download_url`) before telling the user it exists.
- [ ] Keep the distinction explicit: "remote artifact exists" is not the same as "local checkout exists". If the repo is absent locally, say that follow-up edits require clone/sync first.
- [ ] For generated HTML reports, capture the report path, raw URL, owning issue, size, and SHA; this is enough for a fresh follow-up prompt to resume without regenerating the artifact.
- [ ] Do not retry the same missing local path repeatedly. After one missing-path failure, inventory available repo roots and switch to session/remote verification.

### 4C. Nested Checkout Relocation / Duplicate Removal Verification

When a worker claims to have moved, removed, or preserved a nested Git checkout under a parent repo:

- [ ] Verify source and destination roles independently: remotes, branch, HEAD SHA, upstream ahead/behind, and dirty status.
- [ ] If deleting a duplicate checkout, require matching canonical remote and HEAD SHA, clean status, and `0 0` ahead/behind unless the plan explicitly preserves divergent work.
- [ ] If preserving untracked/dirty artifacts from a nested checkout, copy only intended relative paths and verify byte-identical copies (`cmp`/checksum) before deletion.
- [ ] Before `rm -rf` or `mv`, scan `/proc/*/cwd` for processes under the source path; identify and clear stale cwd holders, then repeat the scan.
- [ ] After the move/delete, re-run destination clean/upstream checks and parent-repo path status; do not accept worker self-report alone.
- [ ] For delegated default-branch pushes, expect some harnesses to require explicit scoped authorization; the orchestrator may push directly only after verifying the exact commit and files.

Reference: `references/nested-checkout-relocation-verification.md`.

### 4D. Machine-Readable Evidence Sidecars and Redaction Safety

When a readiness script, dashboard, or generated report accepts machine-readable evidence sidecars from local or remote hosts:

- [ ] Validate evidence shape fail-closed before trusting nested data: required top-level keys, `checks` object type, expected check keys, and required per-check fields such as `status`, `message`, and `details`.
- [ ] Treat missing evidence and malformed evidence as distinct blockers; both should block remote readiness, but use separate codes/messages so tests and operators can diagnose the cause.
- [ ] Add tests for both missing evidence and malformed/partial evidence; do not stop at the happy path where the sidecar exists.
- [ ] Run output through the production redaction path in tests when blocker codes are part of the emitted artifact; redactors can mutate seemingly harmless machine codes.
- [ ] Keep machine-readable blocker/status codes redaction-safe: avoid substrings like `token`, `secret`, `api_key`, `password`, `credential`, and ambiguous words that may match broad secret scanners. Prefer neutral codes like `repo_placement_missing` and `repo_placement_malformed` over `repo_placement_evidence_*`.
- [ ] Do not weaken secret redaction just to preserve a diagnostic code. Rename the code or split human-readable detail from machine-readable status.

Reference: `references/evidence-sidecar-redaction-safety.md`.

### 5. No Unplanned Side Effects

- [ ] No unrelated files were modified (check `git diff --stat`)
- [ ] No new dependencies added that weren't in the plan
- [ ] No configuration changes outside plan scope

## Verification Markers

After verification passes, the orchestrator creates a marker:

```bash
REPO_ROOT="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
ISSUE=NNN
mkdir -p "$REPO_ROOT/.planning/verified"
cat > "$REPO_ROOT/.planning/verified/$ISSUE.md" << 'MARKER'
# Verification: Issue #NNN

- verified_by: <orchestrator agent or user>
- verified_at: <timestamp>
- worker: <worker agent identity>
- plan: docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-issue-NNN-slug.md
- verdict: PASS | PARTIAL | FAIL

## Checklist Results
- [x] Scope alignment
- [x] Acceptance criteria
- [x] Test coverage
- [x] Artifact completeness
- [x] No unplanned side effects

## Notes
<any deviations, partial passes, or follow-up items>
MARKER
```

### Verification Verdicts

| Verdict | Meaning | Action |
|---------|---------|--------|
| **PASS** | All checklist items satisfied | Accept artifacts, proceed to merge/close |
| **PARTIAL** | Most items pass, minor gaps identified | Accept with noted follow-ups |
| **FAIL** | Critical items missing or wrong | Reject, provide specific feedback to worker |

### On FAIL: Feedback Protocol

When verification fails, the orchestrator provides specific feedback:

1. List each failed checklist item with the expected vs actual result
2. Reference the exact plan section that was not met
3. Do NOT give generic rejection ("this doesn't meet the spec")
4. Re-dispatch the worker with the feedback and the relevant plan section

## Integration with Existing Workflow

This skill fits between the implementation step and the close step of
`issue-planning-mode`:

```
Plan Approved --> Worker Implements --> ARTIFACT VERIFICATION --> Cross-Review --> Close
```

The verification step is distinct from cross-review:
- **Verification**: Did the worker build what the plan specified? (scope check)
- **Cross-review**: Is what was built correct and well-engineered? (quality check)

## Overnight Batch Integration

For overnight batch runs with multiple terminals:

1. Each terminal produces its output
2. Morning review runs this checklist for each terminal's output
3. Verification markers are created for each terminal
4. Only verified outputs proceed to cross-review and merge

## References

- Generated artifact schema drift recovery: `references/generated-artifact-schema-drift.md`
- Historical HTML/report location recovery: `references/historical-html-report-location.md`
- Nested checkout relocation / duplicate removal verification: `references/nested-checkout-relocation-verification.md`
- Machine-readable evidence sidecars and redaction safety: `references/evidence-sidecar-redaction-safety.md`
- Orchestrator-worker methodology: `docs/methodology/orchestrator-worker.md`
- Plan approval gate: `.claude/hooks/plan-approval-gate.sh`
- Cross-review policy: `.claude/skills/coordination/cross-review-policy/SKILL.md`
- Session governance: `docs/governance/SESSION-GOVERNANCE.md`