Requirement validator

Requirement Validator Skill

Validates pseudo-code specifications across 6 critical dimensions with customizable checks per tech stack and severity levels.

What This Skill Does

Validates pseudo-code specifications to catch missing details before implementation:

VALIDATION REPORT

✓ PASSED CHECKS
  ✓ Error codes defined
  ✓ Security requirements specified
  ✓ Timeouts included

✗ CRITICAL ISSUES (Must Fix)
  - No rate limiting on public endpoint

⚠ HIGH WARNINGS (Should Fix)
  - Token refresh concurrency not handled

📋 MEDIUM (Nice to Have)
  - Consider adding request tracing

Key features:

• 6 dimensions: Security, completeness, error handling, data handling, performance, edge cases
• Severity levels: CRITICAL (must fix), HIGH (should fix), MEDIUM (nice to have)
• Tech-stack aware: Validation rules customized for detected tech stack
• Actionable: Each issue includes explanation and suggested fix

When to Use

• Before implementing—catch issues early
• Reviewing specifications from team members
• Quality gate for specification release
• Validating pseudo-code across all dimensions

6 Validation Dimensions

1. Security

Checks for authentication, authorization, data protection, and attack prevention.

Questions:

• Is authentication specified? (type, providers, tokens)
• Is authorization (access control) defined?
• Input validation mentioned?
• Rate limiting specified?
• Sensitive data encryption required?
• Secure communication (HTTPS)?
• Secure cookie settings?

CRITICAL issues:

• No authentication for sensitive operations
• SQL/command injection vulnerability
• Plaintext secrets or PII
• No authorization checks
• Missing rate limiting on public endpoints

HIGH issues:

• Weak hashing algorithms
• Overly broad permissions
• Missing input sanitization
• No CSRF protection

Customization by tech stack:

Node.js/Next.js:

• Check for CORS configuration
• Check for helmet/security middleware
• JWT secret management

Python/Django:

• Check for CSRF middleware
• Check for permission classes
• Password validation rules

Go:

• Check for middleware chain
• Check for goroutine safety
• Context timeout usage

2. Completeness

Checks that all required parameters and details are specified.

Questions:

• All function parameters named and valued?
• Data types clear or implied?
• Constraints documented? (max length, valid values)
• Data provenance clear? (where does it come from)
• File paths mentioned?
• External dependencies called out?
• Tech stack context clear?

CRITICAL issues:

• Key parameters missing
• Vague requirements ("make it secure")
• No data types for complex objects
• Missing timeouts

HIGH issues:

• Constraints not documented
• File paths not specified
• Dependencies unclear

3. Error Handling

Checks that all error scenarios have defined handling with status codes.

Questions:

• Error codes defined for each scenario? (400, 401, 403, 404, 500, 503)
• Every error path covered?
• Retry strategies specified?
• Fallback behavior defined?
• Error logging enabled?
• Timeout scenarios handled?
• Rate limit exceeded handling specified?

CRITICAL issues:

• No error codes defined
• Silent failures
• Missing auth failure handling (no 401)
• Missing authorization failure handling (no 403)
• Unhandled exceptions

HIGH issues:

• Inconsistent error codes
• No retry logic for transient failures
• No timeout handling
• Inadequate logging

4. Data Handling

Checks how data flows through the system and is protected.

Questions:

• Data source clear? (user input, database, cache, API)
• Validation strategy specified?
• Storage location mentioned?
• Data lifecycle clear? (retention, deletion)
• Sensitive data handling? (PII, passwords, tokens)
• Safe serialization? (prevent XXE, injection)
• Concurrency considered? (race conditions)

CRITICAL issues:

• No data validation
• Sensitive data in logs
• Unencrypted sensitive data
• Injection vulnerability
• Unencrypted storage of PII

HIGH issues:

• Data lifetime not specified
• Missing encryption in transit
• No input sanitization
• Concurrent modification not handled

5. Performance

Checks for scalability, resource management, and optimization.

Questions:

• Timeouts specified? (API calls, queries, operations)
• Caching strategy defined?
• Database queries optimized?
• Scalability considered? (10x load)
• Rate limits specified?
• Resource usage bounded? (memory, CPU)
• Pagination used for large datasets?

CRITICAL issues:

• No timeout specified (can hang indefinitely)
• Unbounded loops or recursion
• No rate limiting on expensive operations

HIGH issues:

• Inefficient queries (full table scans)
• Missing caching
• Unbounded result sets
• No pagination

6. Edge Cases

Checks for boundary conditions and failure modes.

Questions:

• Concurrent requests handled?
• External service downtime handled?
• Network failures considered?
• Partial failures handled?
• Boundary conditions checked? (empty, zero, max)
• Resource cleanup specified?
• Recovery specified?
• Retryable operations idempotent?

CRITICAL issues:

• Race condition causes corruption
• No handling for service downtime
• Partial failures crash system

HIGH issues:

• Concurrency not considered
• No idempotency for retries
• Boundary conditions untested (empty, zero, max)
• Resource leaks on failure

Tech Stack Customization

Validation rules adapted per tech stack:

Node.js/Next.js-Specific

• Check for route handler error boundaries
• Check for middleware chain completeness
• Database connection pooling
• Async/await error handling

Python/Django-Specific

• Check for middleware registration
• Check for decorator usage (login_required, permission_required)
• ORM query optimization
• Signal handler cleanup

Go-Specific

• Check for error unwrapping (errors.Is, errors.As)
• Goroutine cleanup (WaitGroup, context cancellation)
• Channel close semantics
• Defer block cleanup

Rust-Specific

• Check for Result/Option handling
• Check for lifetime annotations
• Check for mutex deadlock prevention
• Check for panic handling

Severity Guidelines

CRITICAL (Must Fix)

• Security vulnerabilities (injection, auth bypass, data breach)
• System crashes or infinite loops
• Race conditions causing data corruption
• Missing required functionality
• Prevents production deployment

HIGH (Should Fix)

• Important edge cases not handled
• Incomplete implementations
• Performance issues
• Security best practices violated
• Should fix before deployment, but not blocking

MEDIUM (Nice to Have)

• Optimizations
• Observability improvements
• Unlikely edge cases
• Code quality suggestions
• Can defer to future iterations

Non-Applicable Checks

Some checks don't apply to all specifications. Handle gracefully:

Security: [SKIPPED - not a security-sensitive operation]
  Reasoning: This is data formatting, not authentication

Performance: [SKIPPED - batch operation, not real-time]
  Reasoning: Specification doesn't require response time guarantees

Validation Report Format

PSEUDO-CODE VALIDATION REPORT
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

✓ PASSED CHECKS
  ✓ Check description here
  ✓ Another passed check
  [... list all passed checks ...]

✗ CRITICAL ISSUES (Must Fix)
  Issue Title
    Problem: [Explanation of what's wrong]
    Impact: [Why this matters]
    Fix: [Specific recommendation]

⚠ HIGH WARNINGS (Should Fix)
  Warning Title
    Problem: [What's missing or incorrect]
    Impact: [Consequence if not fixed]
    Fix: [Suggested improvement]

📋 MEDIUM (Nice to Have)
  Suggestion Title
    Why: [Why this would improve the spec]
    How: [Suggested approach]

═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
DIMENSION SUMMARY

  Security:     ✓ PASSED (5/5 checks)
  Completeness: ⚠ 1 ISSUE (4/5 checks)
  Error Hdlg:   ✓ PASSED (6/6 checks)
  Data Hdlg:    ✓ PASSED (4/4 checks)
  Performance:  ⚠ 1 ISSUE (3/4 checks)
  Edge Cases:   ⚠ 1 ISSUE (3/4 checks)

OVERALL STATUS: [READY / NEEDS REVIEW / BLOCKED]

RECOMMENDATION:
  [Specific guidance on priority and next steps]

═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Example Validations

Example 1: Authentication Spec

INPUT:

implement_oauth_authentication(
  providers=["google", "github"],
  token_type="jwt",
  access_token_ttl="15m",
  refresh_token_enabled=true,
  session_timeout="24h",
  rate_limiting={"login_attempts": "10/1h"},
  error_handling={
    "invalid_provider": 400,
    "token_expired": 401,
    "insufficient_scope": 403,
    "rate_limit_exceeded": 429
  },
  security={
    "validate_redirect_uri": true,
    "use_pkce": true,
    "secure_cookie": true
  },
  logging=true,
  timeout="5s",
  retry={"max_attempts": 3}
)

OUTPUT:

✓ PASSED CHECKS
  ✓ Security: All OAuth best practices (PKCE, secure cookies)
  ✓ Error Handling: Comprehensive error codes
  ✓ Performance: Timeout specified
  ✓ Logging: Enabled

✗ CRITICAL ISSUES
  None

⚠ HIGH WARNINGS
  ⚠ Token refresh concurrency
    Problem: No mutex or lock specified for concurrent token refresh
    Fix: Add refresh_token_lock="redis" or equivalent

📋 MEDIUM
  → Consider token rotation strategy
  → Consider adding device tracking

OVERALL STATUS: READY

Tips for Validators

1. Skip gracefully: If a dimension doesn't apply, explain why
2. Explain severity: Users should understand why each issue matters
3. Be specific: Don't say "add error handling"—specify which error codes
4. Prioritize: CRITICAL first, then HIGH
5. Provide solutions: Don't just identify problems
6. Consider context: Same issue could be CRITICAL in one context, MEDIUM in another

See Also

• prompt-structurer/ - Requirements transformation
• /pseudo-code:validate command - User-facing validation
• /pseudo-code:transform command - Transformation to pseudo-code