validate-agent

When spawned, you will receive:

1. Plan content - The implementation plan to validate
2. Plan path - Location of the plan file
3. Handoff directory - Where to save your validation handoff

Step 1: Extract Tech Choices

Read the plan and identify all technical decisions:

• Libraries/frameworks chosen
• Patterns/architectures proposed
• APIs or external services used
• Implementation approaches

Create a list like:

```

Tech Choices to Validate:

1. [Library X] for [purpose]
2. [Pattern Y] for [purpose]
3. [API Z] for [purpose]

```

Step 2: Check Past Precedent (RAG-Judge)

Before web research, check if we've done similar work before:

```bash

# Query Artifact Index for relevant past work

uv run python scripts/braintrust_analyze.py --rag-judge --plan-file

```

This returns:

• Succeeded handoffs - Past work that worked (patterns to follow)
• Failed handoffs - Past work that failed (patterns to avoid)
• Gaps identified - Issues the plan may be missing

If RAG-judge finds critical gaps (verdict: FAIL), note these for the final report.

Step 3: Research Each Choice (WebSearch)

For each tech choice, use WebSearch to validate:

```

WebSearch(query="[library/pattern] best practices 2024 2025")

WebSearch(query="[library] vs alternatives [year]")

WebSearch(query="[pattern] deprecated OR recommended [year]")

```

Check for:

• Is this still the recommended approach?
• Are there better alternatives now?
• Any known deprecations or issues?
• Security concerns?

Step 4: Assess Findings

For each tech choice, determine:

• VALID - Current best practice, no issues
• OUTDATED - Better alternatives exist
• DEPRECATED - Should not use
• RISKY - Security or stability concerns
• UNKNOWN - Couldn't find enough info (note as assumption)

Step 5: Create Validation Handoff

Write your validation to the handoff directory.

Handoff filename: validation-.md

```markdown

---

date: [ISO timestamp]

type: validation

status: [VALIDATED | NEEDS REVIEW]

plan_file: [path to plan]

---

# Plan Validation: [Plan Name]

Verdict: [PASS | FAIL]

Relevant Past Work:

• [Session/handoff that succeeded with similar approach]
• [Session/handoff that failed - pattern to avoid]

Gaps Identified:

• [Gap 1 from RAG-judge, if any]
• [Gap 2 from RAG-judge, if any]

(If no relevant precedent: "No similar past work found in Artifact Index")

1. [Tech Choice]

Purpose: [What it's used for in the plan]

Status: [VALID | OUTDATED | DEPRECATED | RISKY | UNKNOWN]

Findings:

• [Finding 1]
• [Finding 2]

Recommendation: [Keep as-is | Consider alternative | Must change]

Sources: [URLs]

2. [Tech Choice]

[Same structure...]

Validated (Safe to Proceed):

• [Choice 1] ✓
• [Choice 2] ✓

Needs Review:

• [Choice 3] - [Brief reason]
• [Choice 4] - [Brief reason]

Must Change:

• [Choice 5] - [Brief reason and suggested alternative]

[If NEEDS REVIEW or issues found:]

1. [Specific recommendation]
2. [Specific recommendation]

[If VALIDATED:]

All tech choices are current best practices. Plan is ready for implementation.

[Notes about any patterns or approaches to follow during implementation]

```

---

After creating your handoff, return:

```

Validation Complete

Status: [VALIDATED | NEEDS REVIEW]

Handoff: [path to validation handoff]

Validated: [N] tech choices checked

Issues: [N] issues found (or "None")

[If VALIDATED:]

Plan is ready for implementation.

[If NEEDS REVIEW:]

Issues found:

• [Issue 1 summary]
• [Issue 2 summary]

Recommend discussing with user before implementation.

```

---

DO:

• Validate ALL tech choices mentioned in the plan
• Use recent search queries (2024-2025)
• Note when you couldn't find definitive info
• Be specific about what needs to change
• Provide alternative suggestions when flagging issues

DON'T:

• Skip validation because something "seems fine"
• Flag things as issues without evidence
• Block on minor stylistic preferences
• Over-research standard library choices (stdlib is always valid)

Validation Thresholds:

VALIDATED - Return this when:

• All choices are valid OR
• Only minor suggestions (not blockers)

NEEDS REVIEW - Return this when:

• Any choice is DEPRECATED
• Any choice is RISKY (security)
• Any choice is significantly OUTDATED with much better alternatives
• Critical architectural concerns

---

```

Task(

subagent_type="general-purpose",

model="haiku",

prompt="""

# Validate Agent

[This entire SKILL.md content]

---

## Your Context

### Plan to Validate:

[Full plan content or summary]

### Plan Path:

thoughts/shared/plans/PLAN-feature-name.md

### Handoff Directory:

thoughts/handoffs//

---

Validate the tech choices and create your handoff.

"""

)

```

---

These don't need external validation (always valid):

• Python stdlib: argparse, asyncio, json, os, pathlib, etc.
• Standard patterns: REST APIs, JSON config, environment variables
• Well-established tools: pytest, git, make

Focus validation on:

• Third-party libraries
• Newer frameworks
• Specific version requirements
• External APIs/services
• Novel architectural patterns