Honest-reporting

Why

The orchestrator (Claude) has a tendency to confidently report success on things it hasn't actually checked — "tests pass" without running them, "install path verified" when only checked locally, "both parts of the release gate cleared" when only one was actually exercised. The v0.8.1 honest-reporting hook surfaces this mechanically: a deterministic scanner over the last assistant turn (or recent turns, on git tag / git push / gh release create / npm publish) checks for high-precision claim vocabulary and requires nearby evidence.

This skill defines the vocabulary you should reach for so the hook stays out of the way — and so reports remain trustworthy when the hook isn't active.

Three-tier reporting vocabulary

• VERIFIED — I ran a tool in this turn (or the immediately prior turn) and its output established this. Cite the tool name and the relevant output. Example: "VERIFIED: npm test exited 0 with 88 tests passing (see test output above)."
• ASSUMED — based on prior session state or unverified inference. Honest about the lack of evidence in this turn. Example: "ASSUMED stable from prior session: the v0.8.0 install was confirmed at session start; I have not re-checked this turn."
• UNTESTED — deferred or known-not-yet-verified. Useful for surfacing coverage gaps. Example: "UNTESTED: cross-platform (Linux/Windows); only macOS was exercised."

When the hook fires

The hook activates when <repo-root>/.codex-paired/honest-reporting-active.json is present and its expiresAt is in the future. It fires on:

• Stop — after every assistant turn. Scans the turn's text for claim vocabulary; exit 2 (block + show stderr) if any match lacks nearby evidence.
• PreToolUse:Bash — when Claude is about to run git tag, git push, gh release create, or npm publish. Scans the last 1–2 assistant turns the same way.

The exit-2 message names each unsourced claim and asks you to rewrite the turn citing the tool call OR reclassifying as ASSUMED / UNTESTED.

Excluded regions (won't trigger the scanner)

The scanner strips these before scanning:

• Fenced code blocks (``` ... ```)
• Codex verdict blocks (<<<VERDICT>>> ... <<<END>>>)
• ## Machine Result sections
• Blockquoted lines (> ...)
• Content inside single backticks (the backticks themselves remain as evidence markers)
• Short double-quoted mentions (≤3 words) — the flagged word "shipped" is a meta-mention, not a claim (v0.15.0; this is what previously caused re-block loops when a rewrite discussed the word the hook flagged)

So you can quote user text or include verdict blocks without false positives.

Evidence markers the scanner accepts

Anywhere in the same message as a claim match (v0.15.0 — previously the window was "same paragraph ±200 chars", which punished the honest tool-output-then-summary shape):

• Inline backticks (any short code reference)
• Tool/CLI references: Bash, Edit, Read, Write, gh , git , node , npm , pnpm, pytest, jest, etc.
• File paths matching dir/file.ext
• Line-number references (:42)
• Caveat markers: ASSUMED, UNTESTED, not verified, haven't checked, based on prior session, recall from memory
• The word ran (e.g., "ran npm test")
• The phrase exit code

Phrasing patterns

Activation marker

The marker file is <repo-root>/.codex-paired/honest-reporting-active.json:

{
  "skillName": "autopilot",
  "sessionStartedAt": "2026-05-11T14:30:00.000Z",
  "expiresAt":         "2026-05-11T22:30:00.000Z",
  "specPath":          "/abs/path/to/spec.md"
}

Default TTL: 8 hours. After expiry, the hook is inactive. Skills GC stale markers (>24h old) on their next entry.

The marker is written by the entry block of each codex-paired skill — they invoke:

node "$CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT/lib/codex-bridge/cli.js" honest-reporting-mark-active --skill <name> [--spec <path>] [--ttl-hours N]

Clearing on completion (v0.15.0). The TTL is the backstop, not the lifecycle. When the workflow finishes — the loop double-SHIPs, autopilot writes halt_reason: "completed" or halts, or the skill's work is otherwise wrapped up — clear the marker so the hook stops policing unrelated work in the same repo for the rest of the TTL window:

node "$CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT/lib/codex-bridge/cli.js" honest-reporting-clear

This mirrors autopilot's anchor-clear. Sessions that die without cleanup are still covered by TTL expiry. The marker also now resolves slice worktrees (.git-worktrees/slice-N) to the main repo root, so implementer subagents are policed by the same marker.

One block per stop (v0.15.0). The Stop hook honors stop_hook_active: it blocks a turn at most once. The rewrite goes through even if imperfect — fix the substance, don't fight the hook. When rewriting, do NOT quote or discuss the flagged word; state the evidence or reclassify.

When NOT active

The hook respects normal-user freedom. Outside of codex-paired skill sessions, you can use any phrasing; the scanner doesn't run. The discipline is still good practice, but only the codex-paired workflows enforce it.

Disabling temporarily

If a particular session needs to bypass the hook (e.g., demos, deliberate prose writing about past releases), delete or expire the marker:

rm <repo-root>/.codex-paired/honest-reporting-active.json

Re-running any codex-paired skill re-creates it.