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Diffstat (limited to 'claude-rules/todo-format.md')
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diff --git a/claude-rules/todo-format.md b/claude-rules/todo-format.md index 09b39cf..a4ffc34 100644 --- a/claude-rules/todo-format.md +++ b/claude-rules/todo-format.md @@ -64,6 +64,48 @@ step** in the task-review and task-audit workflows, so the run-time gate can trust the tag. A review or audit that skips the `:solo:`/`:quick:` assessment is incomplete. +### Making an open-ended task measurable (so it can be `:solo:`) + +A task phrased as the *absence* of something — "find bugs until none are +visible," "refactor until no worthwhile opportunities remain," "clean this +up until it's good" — cannot be `:solo:`, because it fails the +*verifiable-by-the-agent* gate. Absence isn't falsifiable: an agent can +always look once more, so "done" is a judgment call, which is exactly what +`:solo:` forbids. The fix is not to drop the task but to give it an +objective completion criterion. Four moves convert a fuzzy goal into a +measurable one: + +1. **Bound the surface.** Enumerate the concrete units the task covers (the + N functions, the M files, the named code paths). The done-set is that + list, not the platonic set of all possible defects. Every claim is made + against the list, so "covered" is checkable where "found everything" + isn't. +2. **Net the behavior.** Bring the surface under characterization tests + (Normal/Boundary/Error per unit — see `testing.md`) before changing + anything. This is the objective floor: writing a characterization test is + mechanical (record what the code does, not what it should), so it scales + across the surface, and it doubles as the safety net that makes any + later refactor falsifiable. +3. **Disposition every finding.** Run the relevant audits (a fixed + footgun/OWASP checklist, `/refactor`, `/review-code`) and give **every** + finding a verdict: fixed, filed as its own task, or declined with a + one-line reason. "Looked and it's fine" is not a disposition. The + measurement is zero undispositioned findings, not zero findings. +4. **Gate on an objective floor.** Static analysis clean (linter, + type-checker, `shellcheck`), the test suite green before and after, and + coverage of the enumerated surface (a per-unit test checklist, or a real + coverage number where the tooling exists). + +The **qualifying answer** is then a dispositioned report — surface split +covered/uncovered, tests before → after, static-analysis result, the audit +matrix fully dispositioned, all green — not a claim of perfection. The +honest limit stays honest ("no visible bugs" means "every enumerated path +passes its characterization set and clears the audit," never "zero bugs +exist"), but the criterion is now falsifiable, which is what lets the task +carry `:solo:`. Write these criteria into the task body at creation or +review time; a task that can't be given them stays non-`:solo:` until it +can. + ### Bug priority from severity × frequency (mandatory where a codebase exists) Some projects carry a codebase — source the project maintains under version |