Checks & Lenses
Verify structure without making a model the judge.
Checks are standalone standard-library scripts returning exit 0 (done or clean), 1 (findings), or 2 (unable to run). They identify concrete file:line defects and do not decide whether to ship. Construction asks whether a thing was built correctly; conformance asks whether it matches an independently authored specification, including both missing and undeclared elements. Three lenses cover architecture, engineering review, and documentation coherence.
Deterministic Checks
File:line evidence and explicit exit codes
Checks use standalone Python standard-library scripts and run locally. They report concrete findings rather than asking a language model for a verdict. Exit 0 means completed or clean, 1 means the check ran and found violations, and 2 means it could not run. A skipped or broken check must never be mistaken for a passing check. Findings inform the owner; they do not decide release.
Independent Conformance
Specification and implementation must not grade themselves
Construction checks whether an implementation obeys engineering constraints. Conformance compares it to an independently authored declaration of what should exist. It must catch both omissions and unapproved additions. If the declaration is generated from the implementation on every run, the comparison is circular and incapable of detecting drift. Independence is a property of the evidence, not just the tooling.
Findings & Verdicts
Evidence is distinct from authority
A finding records severity, file, rule, and message. The controlled severity vocabulary is Blocker, Major, Minor, and Nit. Review dispositions are Ship, Revise, or Rework. These are separate concepts: deterministic checks report violations, review disciplines interpret evidence, and the repository owner decides whether the result is acceptable. Green checks are not an automated merge verdict.