independent-verification SKILL.md skillA
independent-verification from d-padmanabhan/agent-engineering-handbook is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add d-padmanabhan/agent-engineering-handbook/independent-verification@git:20260926.6d34982Pins git:20260926.6d34982 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- d-padmanabhan/agent-engineering-handbook
- Path
skills/independent-verification/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 3
- Latest version
- git:20260926.6d34982, committed Sep 26, 2026
- First version recorded
- Aug 14, 2026
- Size
- 12,825 bytes
- Repository stars
- 20
- License
- MIT
Independent, read-only verification workflow for consequential AI-generated changes. Use when security, IAM, production infrastructure, destructive migrations, broad architecture, sensitive data, financial logic, or explicit assurance requirements need a verifier distinct from the implementing model or tool. Binds verdicts to an immutable commit and diff hash, requires deterministic evidence first, treats AI verdicts as advisory, and escalates stale targets, disagreement, uncertainty, and…
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Independent Verification
Use this skill to obtain evidence-backed review from a verifier that did not implement the change. This is a risk-control workflow, not a simulated panel and not a substitute for accountable human approval.
The mandatory trigger and release gate are owned by the workflow rule (`${HANDBOOK_ROOT}/rules/010-workflow.mdc`). This skill owns the verification procedure and artifact contract.
## Non-Negotiable Principles
1. **Deterministic evidence comes first.** Run applicable tests, lint, type checks, builds, policy checks, security scans, plans, and schema validation before asking a model to interpret the result.
2. **Freeze the review target.** Bind the request to an exact commit SHA and SHA-256 digest of the reviewed diff or patch. Moving branches and mutable working trees are not approval targets.
3. **Separate implementer and verifier.** Prefer a different tool and model provider. At minimum, use a fresh session with no implementer reasoning or hidden chain-of-thought.
4. **Keep the verifier read-only.** It reports findings and a verdict. It does not edit files, run deployments, write Git state, dismiss findings, or approve its own output.
…Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add d-padmanabhan/agent-engineering-handbook/independent-verification@sha256:5cfef1d3a25fd39bThe line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260926.6d34982, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_n5udjn3o5pjglckl)
5 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 3 versions of this file, between Aug 14, 2026 and Sep 26, 2026, about one every 22 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20260926.6d34982 latest | 2026-09-26 | 6d34982 | 12,825 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260819.d23bb73 | 2026-08-19 | d23bb73 | 12,395 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260814.c9b9c20 | 2026-08-14 | c9b9c20 | 12,445 B | A | view |
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (12825 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
d-padmanabhan/agent-engineering-handbook · 20 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-30 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_n5udjn3o5pjglckl GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=d-padmanabhan/agent-engineering-handbook/independent-verification GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/5cfef1d3a25fd39b268845f947cdca5557cde321d9da9b9a772ad598ae6459f8
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.