auditing-canonical-reference-freshness

Audits whether canonical changes propagate to all active references, consumers, and derivatives.

Updated Jul 9, 2026
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/alsdmlals4-eng/Base --skill auditing-canonical-reference-freshness-alsdmlals4-eng
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: auditing-canonical-reference-freshness
Source: https://github.com/alsdmlals4-eng/Base/tree/main/skills/auditing-canonical-reference-freshness
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/alsdmlals4-eng/Base --skill auditing-canonical-reference-freshness-alsdmlals4-eng

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

What problem does it solve? When a canonical file, path, ID, schema, or generator changes, stale references and untouched consumers often survive unnoticed, causing new sessions or automation to treat outdated files as current truth. This Skill systematically detects stale references, orphaned links, missing propagation, content drift, and outdated derivatives before merge or release. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Impact Mapping and Reference Scanning: Builds an impact map from changed canonical sources to direct and indirect consumers, then scans for stale paths, IDs, commands, and orphaned references across code, Markdown links, JSON paths, and workflow files. - Derivative and Propagation Verification: Checks that manifests, hashes, generated outputs, tests, and templates were regenerated or updated after canonical changes, and classifies untouched consumers as defects or justified. - Use Case: After renaming a Skill ID and updating the registry, run this audit to find every active document, test fixture, and template still referencing the old ID, while preserving intentional legacy aliases and historical records. ## Quick Start Audit the current diff for stale references and missing propagation of the renamed Skill ID across all active documents, registries, tests, and templates.

Frequently Asked Questions about auditing-canonical-reference-freshness

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I find stale references after renaming files or IDs in a repository?

Freeze the base and head commits, identify changed canonical sources, then scan active files for old paths, IDs, commands, and versions. Classify each consumer as must-update, inspect, history-only, or unrelated, and report findings as blocking, fix-now, or allowed legacy.

What is the difference between a stale reference and an allowed legacy reference?

A stale reference is an active file pointing to a deprecated or moved path, ID, or command. An allowed legacy reference is intentionally preserved in history, alias, or migration documents and must not be rewritten to current values.

How do I verify generated files and manifests are up to date?

Compare manifest source, generator, and output hashes against the current files, and confirm derivatives were regenerated after generator changes. File existence alone does not prove freshness; actual render or execution checks may be required.

When should I not run a reference freshness audit?

Skip it for typo-level changes with no external references, reruns of the same check on unchanged inputs, or pure content-quality reviews. It is also wrong to force historical records and past PR descriptions to match current terminology.

Why do tests pass even though a successor state was not propagated?

Predecessor ceiling freeze occurs when current-mutable consumers or regression assertions still demand old values after a verified successor state exists. Classify assertions as current-mutable versus historical, advance the former, and preserve the latter.