task-validation-loop

A workflow for checking whether a task list is complete and aligned with the product requirements, system architecture, and design system before coding starts.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to have three specialized agents review task coverage and alignment before implementation begins.
Why use it?
It can catch missing or inconsistent tasks early, before they lead to implementation work in the wrong direction.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/etr/groundwork/task-validation-loop
Any agent
npx skills add etr/groundwork --skill task-validation-loop
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/etr/groundwork

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Per session 33 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 2,129 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00033 $0.02129
Opus 5 $0.00016 $0.01064
Sonnet 5 $0.00007 $0.00426
Haiku 4.5 $0.00003 $0.00213

Measured yesterday against content hash 8e5783015110, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

task-validation-loop scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured yesterday.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

skills/task-validation-loop/SKILL.md · 246 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 246 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Task Validation Loop Skill

Autonomous verification loop that runs 3 specialized agents to validate task list completeness and alignment before implementation begins.

Pre-flight: Model Recommendation

Your current effort level is {{effort_level}}.

Skip this step silently if effort is high, xhigh, or max (the scale is low < medium < high < xhigh < max, so xhigh and max are already above high) AND you are Sonnet or Opus. If effort is low or medium (i.e. below high), you MUST show the recommendation prompt — regardless of model. If you are not Sonnet or Opus, you MUST show the recommendation prompt - regardless of effort level.

Otherwise → use AskUserQuestion:

{
  "questions": [{
    "question": "Do you want to switch? Fix loop management across 3 validation agents benefits from consistent reasoning.\n\nTo switch: cancel, run `/effort high` (and `/model sonnet` if on Haiku), then re-invoke this skill.",
    "header": "Recommended: Sonnet or Opus at high effort",
    "options": [
      { "label": "Continue" },
      { "label": "Cancel — I'll switch first" }
    ],
    "multiSelect": false
  }]
}

If the user selects "Cancel — I'll switch first": output the switching commands above and stop. Do not proceed with the skill.

Step 0: Resolve Project Context

Before loading specs, ensure project context is resolved:

  1. Monorepo check: Does .groundwork.yml exist at the repo root?
    • If yes → Is {{project_name}} non-empty?
      • If empty → Invoke Skill(skill="groundwork:select-project") to select a project, then restart this skill.
      • If set → Project is {{project_name}}, specs at {{specs_dir}}/.
    • If no → Continue (single-project repo).
  2. CWD mismatch check (monorepo only):
    • Skip if not in monorepo mode or if the project was just selected in item 1 above.
    • If CWD is the repo root → fine, proceed.
    • Check which project's path CWD falls inside (compare against all projects in .groundwork.yml).
    • If CWD is inside the selected project's path → fine, proceed.
    • If CWD is inside a different project's path → warn via AskUserQuestion:

      "You're working from <cwd> (inside [cwd-project]), but the selected Groundwork project is [selected-project] ([selected-project-path]/). What would you like to do?"

      • "Switch to [cwd-project]"
      • "Stay with [selected-project]" If the user switches, invoke Skill(skill="groundwork:select-project").
    • If CWD doesn't match any project → proceed without warning (shared directory).
  3. Proceed with the resolved project context. All {{specs_dir}}/ paths will resolve to the correct location.

Read the full file on GitHub · 246 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. yesterday First seen · 246 lines · 33 tokens per session scan A 8e5783015110

Subscribe to this mod's changes

task-validation-loop is a skill published in the GitHub repository etr/groundwork (42 stars, last pushed 20d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 33 tokens to every session and 2,129 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

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