constraint-check

Purpose

The internal affairs department for Rune skills. Checks whether HARD-GATEs and mandatory constraints were actually followed during a workflow — not just claimed to be followed. Reads the constraint definitions from skill files and audits the conversation trail for compliance.

While completion-gate checks if claims have evidence, constraint-check checks if the PROCESS was followed. Did you actually write tests before code? Did you actually get plan approval? Did you actually run sentinel?

Triggers

• Called by cook (L1) at end of workflow as discipline audit
• Called by team (L1) to verify stream agents followed constraints
• Called by audit (L2) during quality dimension assessment
• /rune constraint-check — manual audit of current session

Calls (outbound)

None — pure read-only validator.

Called By (inbound)

• cook (L1): end-of-workflow discipline audit
• team (L1): verify stream agent compliance
• audit (L2): quality dimension
• User: manual session audit

Execution

Step 1 — Identify Active Skills

Parse the conversation/workflow to identify which skills were invoked:

Extract from context:
  - Skills invoked via Skill tool (exact list)
  - Skills referenced in agent narrative
  - Phase progression (cook phases completed)

Step 2 — Load Constraint Definitions

For each invoked skill, extract HARD-GATEs and numbered constraints:

For each skill in invoked_skills:
  Read: skills/<skill>/SKILL.md
  Extract:
    - <HARD-GATE> blocks → mandatory, violation = BLOCK
    - ## Constraints numbered list → required, violation = WARN
    - ## Mesh Gates table → required gates

Step 3 — Audit Compliance

Check each constraint against the conversation evidence:

Constraint Type	How to Verify	Evidence Source
"MUST write tests BEFORE code"	Test file Write/Edit timestamps before implementation Write/Edit	Tool call ordering
"MUST get user approval"	User message containing "go"/"yes"/"proceed" after plan	Conversation history
"MUST run verification"	Bash command with test/lint/build output	Tool call results
"MUST show actual output"	Stdout captured in agent response	Agent messages
"MUST NOT modify files outside scope"	Git diff files vs plan file list	Git + plan comparison
"Iron Law: delete code before test"	No implementation code exists before test creation	Tool call ordering

Step 4 — Classify Violations

Violation Type	Severity	Meaning
HARD-GATE violation	BLOCK	Skill says this is non-negotiable
Constraint violation	WARN	Skill says this is required but not fatal
Best practice skip	INFO	Recommended but optional

Step 5 — Report

## Constraint Check Report
- **Status**: COMPLIANT | VIOLATIONS_FOUND | CRITICAL_VIOLATION
- **Skills Audited**: [count]
- **Constraints Checked**: [count]
- **Violations**: [count by severity]

### HARD-GATE Violations (BLOCK)
- [skill:test] Iron Law: implementation code written at tool_call #12 BEFORE test file created at #15
- [skill:cook] Plan Gate: Phase 4 started without user approval message

### Constraint Violations (WARN)
- [skill:verification] Constraint 2: "All tests pass" claimed at message #20 without stdout evidence
- [skill:sentinel] Constraint 3: files scanned list not included in report

### Compliance Summary
| Skill | HARD-GATEs | Constraints | Status |
|-------|-----------|-------------|--------|
| cook | 3/3 ✓ | 6/7 (1 WARN) | WARN |
| test | 0/1 ✗ | 8/9 (1 WARN) | BLOCK |
| verification | 1/1 ✓ | 4/6 (2 WARN) | WARN |
| sentinel | 1/1 ✓ | 7/7 ✓ | PASS |

### Remediation
- BLOCK: test Iron Law — delete implementation, restart with test-first
- WARN: verification — re-run and capture stdout

Constraint Catalog (Quick Reference)

Key HARD-GATEs across skills that constraint-check audits:

Skill	HARD-GATE	Check Method
test	Tests BEFORE code (Iron Law)	Tool call ordering
cook	Scout before plan, plan before code	Phase progression
plan	Every code phase has test entry	Plan content
verification	Evidence for every claim	Stdout capture
sentinel	BLOCK = halt pipeline	No commit after BLOCK
preflight	BLOCK = halt pipeline	No commit after BLOCK
debug	No code changes during debug	No Write/Edit in debug
debug	3-fix escalation	Fix attempt counter
brainstorm	No implementation before approval	User message check

Output Format

Constraint Check Report with status (COMPLIANT/VIOLATIONS_FOUND/CRITICAL_VIOLATION), HARD-GATE violations, constraint violations, compliance summary table, and remediation steps. See Step 5 Report above for full template.

Constraints

1. MUST check all HARD-GATEs for every invoked skill — not just the ones that seem relevant
2. MUST use tool call ordering (not agent narrative) to verify temporal constraints
3. MUST distinguish HARD-GATE violations (BLOCK) from constraint violations (WARN)
4. MUST report specific evidence for each violation — not just "violated"
5. MUST NOT accept agent's self-report as compliance evidence — check independently

Sharp Edges

Failure Mode	Severity	Mitigation
Agent self-reports compliance and constraint-check trusts it	CRITICAL	Constraint 5: check tool calls independently, not agent narrative
Only checking cook constraints, missing test/sentinel/etc	HIGH	Constraint 1: audit ALL invoked skills, not just the orchestrator
Temporal check wrong (tool calls reordered in context)	MEDIUM	Use tool call sequence numbers, not message ordering
Too strict on optional steps (INFO treated as BLOCK)	LOW	Step 4 classification: only HARD-GATE = BLOCK, constraints = WARN

Done When

• All invoked skills identified from context
• HARD-GATEs and constraints extracted from each skill's SKILL.md
• Each constraint checked against conversation evidence
• Violations classified as BLOCK/WARN/INFO
• Compliance summary table emitted per skill
• Remediation steps listed for each violation

Cost Profile

~1000-2000 tokens input, ~500-1000 tokens output. Haiku for speed — reads skill files and checks tool call ordering.