test-audit skill

Test Audit

Reduce execution and maintenance cost while preserving meaningful failure detection. Investigate aggressively; delete only with evidence. Retaining an area after review is a valid result. This skill is self-contained; upstream attribution is in NOTICE.md.

Choose the scope

candidate evidence guide before editing.

• Focused cleanup: follow this entry point and read the

whether the work is a targeted sweep or an exhaustive subsystem audit.

• Multiple owners, agents, or PRs: also read CAMPAIGN.md. Declare

references/paperclip.md alongside repository instructions.

• Validation and cost claims: read references/validation.md.
• Paperclip commands, invariants, and delivery: read

Decision gate

For every proposed removal, answer:

production code? Otherwise, why is the assertion vacuous or contract retired?

1. Which observable contract and plausible regression do the assertions cover?
2. Which retained file/case detects that regression through the responsible

storage boundary, platform, default, or other independent failure mode?

1. Does this candidate uniquely cover a transport, permission, lifecycle,

1. What improves: executions, fixtures, processes, maintenance, or runtime?

Prefer the smallest test that reaches the code responsible for the contract. A broader suite is not automatically stronger proof. Similarity, size, slowness, or suspected AI authorship alone never justify deletion.

Prevent new duplication

Apply this gate to tests added or changed during gardening:

or table before adding another suite; another layer needs a distinct risk.

• Name the regression that existing proof misses. Extend an appropriate owner

the result being asserted or a production hook solely for convenient testing.

• Exercise the responsible production behavior. Do not add a mock that supplies

negative case must reach its named guard with otherwise valid inputs.

• Check observable outcomes that survive behavior-preserving refactors. A

Focused workflow

callers, history, and CI routing. Preserve unrelated work.

1. Inspect: pin the base; read candidates, keepers, fixtures, production

proof and assertions to move; look for redundant suites as well as cases.

1. Plan: mark retain, repair, consolidate, delete, or defer. Name remaining

CI. Diagnose failures before treating them as cleanup candidates.

1. Prove: establish the affected baseline locally or from matching-revision

support. Production-seam deletion needs its own caller/contract evidence.

1. Edit: move unique assertions first, then retire duplicates and unused

the validation guide's intended-failure controls where needed.

1. Validate: run keepers and affected siblings, verify selection, and apply

only within the task's authorization.

1. Review: reconcile deleted contracts with retained proof. Publish or merge

Completion and reporting

Keep audit decisions, plans, ledgers, and validation evidence in the task and PR description. Do not create or modify repository documentation, including doc/plans/ audit receipts or reports, unless the human explicitly requests documentation changes. A test cleanup does not need a repository report.

Report removals and keepers, retained/deferred candidates, checks and limitations, distinct cases versus repeated executions, and test/support versus production LOC. Label cost evidence as measured, estimated, or historical; a proven simplification does not require a measurable speedup.

State the actual endpoint: findings, validated local patch, published PR, intermediate merge, or landed in the intended target. Stop at the requested scope/time limit or completed delivery, not a deletion quota. For another pass, refresh the base and prior findings; revisit retained tests only with new evidence.