Check Completion

Two-phase audit-and-remediate skill. Phase 1 — Audit: scan task / session / plan / branch claims, classify every item into one of 22 statuses with cited evidence, deliver a markdown table. Phase 2 — Remediate: drive every in-scope row to a terminal status — Implemented for finished work, or a deliberate-stop terminal (Deferred to Human, Deprioritized, Cancelled, Out of Scope, Superseded with replacement verified, or Blocked — unresolvable with concrete next step). No mid-task pauses. No defaulting to Implemented on faith.

When to use

• "are we done?" / "what's left?" / "did we actually finish X?"
• verifying a claimed-done session, plan, branch, or PR before declaring complete
• producing a status report on a multi-step task with evidence per item
• catching silent gaps — tasks that were started, assumed complete, deferred, or forgotten
• recovering from a crashed / interrupted / half-finished execution by enumerating what remains
• converting a casual "I think we're good" into a rigorous completion audit
• triaging a TodoList where statuses drifted from reality

Do NOT use when:

• verifying a single claim before making it — use the Gate Function inline as a local verification gate, not the full audit
• evaluating reviewer comments, bot comments, or external review docs → run-review Mode C
• planning upcoming work from GitHub issues → the gh CLI directly (the run-issue-tree skill was retired)
• reviewing someone else's PR or branch diff → run-review Mode A
• debugging a runtime failure → use the repository's debugging workflow

The 22-status taxonomy (load-bearing)

Every task gets exactly one status. If tempted to invent a 23rd, don't — pick the closest existing one and explain the borderline in the Evidence column. Full definitions, detection rules, evidence patterns, and borderline examples live in references/status-taxonomy.md.

Terminal statuses (allowed in the Phase 2 completion report): Implemented, Deferred to Human, Deprioritized, Cancelled, Out of Scope, Superseded (replacement verified), Blocked — unresolvable (with concrete next step). Any other status in the final report is a failure of this skill.

Non-negotiable rules

1. Two phases, not one. The audit table is a discrete artifact delivered before any remediation begins. Quietly fixing things while auditing defeats the audit.
2. Never default to Implemented. Any doubt → not Implemented. Pick the most-pessimistic applicable status.
3. Assumed Complete is suspect. Every Assumed Complete row gets a follow-up verification or a status downgrade.
4. Every non-Implemented row has a concrete Action Required. "Revisit later" is a failure — state what to run, what to check, what to decide.
5. Evidence before status. Each Implemented row names specific evidence (test output, commit SHA, file state, observed behavior). No evidence → no Implemented.
6. Remediation order is blockers → broken → missing → untested. Not the order tasks were written.
7. Never pause mid-Phase-2 for confirmation. Halt only when the work is complete or a blocker is genuinely unresolvable and documented with a concrete next step.
8. Total terminal coverage. Every in-scope row ends at a terminal status. Rows left at Partially Implemented, Stalled, etc. in the completion report are a failure.

Required workflow

Phase 1 — Audit

Step 1. Disambiguate scope

State what "in scope" means for this audit before enumerating tasks. See references/scope-disambiguation.md for picking when the user's ask is broad.

Options: session (everything this conversation has been asked to do) · plan (tasks in a specific plan/TodoList) · branch (everything on the current git branch since divergence) · PR (commits + TODO comments + linked issues on an open PR) · custom (explicit list).

If no scope was named, pick the most comprehensive that still produces a finite list, and state the choice.

Step 2. Enumerate tasks from all six sources

Scan every source — silent sources become silent gaps. Extraction recipes per source are in references/audit-sources.md.

Combine into a deduplicated flat list.

Step 3. Classify each task with the Gate Function

For status = `Implemented`:
  1. IDENTIFY what evidence would prove this task is complete
  2. RUN the verification (or locate existing evidence in this session)
  3. READ the output / diff / state
  4. VERIFY the evidence matches the task
  5. ONLY THEN assign `Implemented`

For any other status:
  - Pick the most-pessimistic applicable status
  - Cite the specific evidence that rules out `Implemented`

What "real evidence" looks like per status class is in references/evidence-patterns.md. The discipline of distrust — when to downgrade vs. upgrade, borderline cases — is in references/ruthless-auditing.md.

Step 4. Deliver the audit table

## Audit

Scope: <which scope + source list>
Sources scanned: <6 sources with one-line summary each>

| # | Task | Status | Evidence | Blocking? | Action Required |
|---|------|--------|----------|-----------|-----------------|
| 1 | <task> | `Implemented` | <evidence citation> | No | — |
| 2 | <task> | `Implemented but Broken` | <evidence + what broke> | No | Fix <failure>; re-run <command> |
| 3 | <task> | `Blocked` | <what's blocking> | Yes | <concrete next step to unblock> |

Every non-Implemented row MUST have Action Required. Rows with Yes in Blocking rise to top of Phase 2. Full formatting rules and citation style live in references/output-format.md.

If the audit is saved to a markdown file, run bash scripts/check-task-status.sh <audit.md> before Phase 2. The checker reports status counts, invented statuses, and non-Implemented rows missing Action Required. Usage and exit codes are in scripts/check-task-status.md.

Phase 2 — Remediate

Step 5. Execute in priority order

1.  Blockers — resolve, or document why unresolvable
2.  `Implemented but Broken` / `Implemented but Outdated` — fix regressions
3.  `Incorrectly Implemented` — correct misunderstandings
4.  `Stalled` / `Crashed` / `Timed Out` — re-spawn and complete
5.  `Partially Implemented` — finish edge cases, error handling, sub-steps
6.  `Forgotten` / `Not Planned` (relevant) / `Planned / Queued` — implement
7.  `Implemented but Untested` / `Assumed Complete` — verify (retest, re-run, confirm)
8.  `Skipped` (no valid reason) — implement or change to `Out of Scope` with rationale
9.  `Ambiguous` — resolve the ambiguity (ask or pick with justification) then execute
10. `Duplicate` — verify canonical is `Implemented`; mark duplicate `Superseded` with reference
11. `Superseded` — verify replacement is `Implemented`; if not, recurse on replacement
12. `Deferred to Human` / `Deprioritized` / `Cancelled` / `Out of Scope` — terminal; document

Full one-at-a-time remediation discipline and per-status recipes are in references/remediation-workflow.md.

Step 6. Handle blockers surgically

A blocker that cannot be resolved does not justify halting remediation. Document it and continue. Criteria for "genuinely unresolvable" vs. "I just don't want to deal with it," and the documentation format, are in references/blocker-handling.md.

Step 7. Deliver the completion report

## Completion Report

Started: <N tasks audited, M rows needing remediation>
Status totals: audited=<N>; remediation rows=<M>; remediated to `Implemented`=<X>; terminal non-`Implemented`=<Y>; non-terminal remaining=0

| # | Task | Started | Ended | Evidence |
|---|------|---------|-------|----------|
| 1 | <task> | `Implemented but Broken` | `Implemented` | <test output green> |
| 2 | <task> | `Blocked` | `Blocked — unresolvable` | <next step documented> |
| 3 | <task> | `Deferred to Human` | `Deferred to Human` | <named open question + owner> |

Every row ends at a terminal status. If the report is saved, run bash scripts/check-task-status.sh <report.md> before declaring done — the checker fails if any Ended value is invented or non-terminal.

Output contract

Produce these artifacts in order — no batching, no skipping:

1. Scope declaration (after Step 1)
2. Source-scan summary (after Step 2) — one line per source with counts or "no results"
3. Phase 1 audit table (after Step 4) — discrete artifact before any remediation
4. Remediation log (during Steps 5–6) — per-task "Fixed X by Y, evidence: Z" entries
5. Blocker documentation (as they arise in Step 6)
6. Phase 2 completion report (after Step 7) — final table, every row terminal

Artifacts 3 and 6 are the headline deliverables. Everything else is supporting.

Rationalizations to counter

Agents under pressure default to Implemented. High-signal counters:

Full table and pressure scenarios live in references/rationalizations.md. Forbidden phrases ("probably fine", "looks good") and preferred phrasing live in references/voice-discipline.md.

Guardrails and recovery

• Do not deliver the completion report without the audit table preceding it.
• Do not claim Implemented without running the specific verification this message.
• Do not default Assumed Complete rows to Implemented when retesting — pick the actual terminal state.
• Do not leave rows at non-terminal statuses in the completion report.
• Do not pause mid-Phase-2 for confirmation; resolve blockers or document and continue.

Recovery moves:

• Source scan taking too long — set a per-source budget (e.g., 10 min). Noise with no signal → document and move on.
• 100+ tasks — re-disambiguate scope; split into sub-audits.
• Audit revealed the scope itself was wrong — pause once, re-scope, restart Phase 1.
• Remediation surfacing new tasks — add each as a new row with a status; do not let scope creep silently.

Reference routing

Final checks

• scope declared and matches the user's ask
• all 6 audit sources scanned (or explicitly marked unavailable)
• audit table delivered as discrete artifact before any remediation
• every row has exactly one of the 22 statuses (no invented statuses, no multi-status cells)
• every non-Implemented row has a concrete Action Required
• every Implemented row cites specific evidence
• blockers documented with concrete next steps; remediation did not halt on first blocker
• completion report shows every row at a terminal status
• non-terminal rows remaining = 0
• saved markdown passes bash scripts/check-task-status.sh <file>
• zero forbidden phrases (grep-checked)
• rationalizations table consulted before declaring "everything looks done"