false-green-tests SKILL.md skillA
false-green-tests from reticlehq/reticle is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add reticlehq/reticle/false-green-tests@v3.9.0Pins v3.9.0 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- reticlehq/reticle
- Path
skills/false-green-tests/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 19
- Latest version
- v3.9.0, committed Oct 29, 2026
- First version recorded
- Aug 21, 2026
- Size
- 4,396 bytes
- Repository stars
- 1,249
- License
- a license file GitHub does not identify
Find out why the tests pass but the app is broken. Catches false greens: a green suite over a feature that does not work, a mocked API standing in for a real one, an assertion that holds no matter what the app does, a click handler wired to nothing. Use when the suite is green and the user says it is broken, when a test never fails, when coverage looks fine but bugs still ship, or before trusting a passing run you did not watch.
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
# The suite is green and the app is broken
A green test is evidence about the test, not about the app. This skill separates the two by running the real app and comparing what it _does_ against what the test _claims_.
It uses **Reticle**, which observes the running app from the inside: DOM, network, console, routing, and framework state. Not set up? Follow the [`reticle`](https://github.com/reticlehq/reticle/blob/main/skills/reticle/SKILL.md) skill: it installs Reticle, asks the user before `init` changes the app's files, and proves one flow.
## The five shapes, in the order they are worth checking
**1. The assertion cannot fail.** Read the test the user trusts. If it only asserts absence (no console error, no thrown exception, no rejected promise) it passes on a control wired to nothing. A dead button throws nothing, fires nothing, and changes nothing. Prove it in the app instead:
```
reticle_act_and_wait({ sessionId, ref, action: "click", until: { kind: "allOf", predicates: [
{ kind: "net", method: "POST", urlContains: "/api/...", status: 200 },
{ kind: "signal", name: "..." },
]}})
```
A verdict of `no` here, against a green suite, is the false green.
…Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add reticlehq/reticle/false-green-tests@sha256:594dd18febb9d1d5The line at the top of this page pins the label v3.9.0, 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_w3ri6amr2pxk6nxk)
3 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 19 versions of this file, between Aug 21, 2026 and Oct 29, 2026, about one every 4 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| v3.9.0 latest | 2026-10-29 | f2e07e0 | 4,396 B | A | view · diff |
| v3.8.2 | 2026-10-26 | f8a40d5 | 4,396 B | A | view · diff |
| v3.8.1 | 2026-10-26 | a6b11ca | 4,396 B | A | view · diff |
| v3.8.0 | 2026-10-25 | 68dd8a1 | 4,396 B | A | view · diff |
| v3.7.0 | 2026-10-09 | 4019204 | 4,398 B | A | view · diff |
| v3.6.0 | 2026-10-07 | c08be48 | 4,398 B | A | view · diff |
| v3.5.0 | 2026-10-01 | 14085e6 | 4,398 B | A | view · diff |
| v3.4.0 | 2026-09-30 | 2685d9a | 4,398 B | A | view · diff |
| v3.3.0 | 2026-09-30 | f9b1ada | 4,398 B | A | view · diff |
| v3.3.0 | 2026-09-26 | 9af7d09 | 4,376 B | A | view · diff |
| v3.3.0 | 2026-09-25 | 0b8afcc | 4,341 B | A | view · diff |
| v3.2.0 | 2026-09-23 | d400c5d | 4,341 B | A | view · diff |
| v3.1.0 | 2026-09-18 | 5d475e0 | 4,341 B | A | view · diff |
| v2.14.0 | 2026-09-09 | f3be3a9 | 4,342 B | A | view · diff |
| v2.13.1 | 2026-09-02 | 96d872c | 4,342 B | A | view · diff |
| v2.13.0 | 2026-09-02 | a6ee238 | 4,342 B | A | view · diff |
| v2.12.0 | 2026-09-02 | 9814709 | 4,342 B | A | view · diff |
| v2.9.0 | 2026-08-27 | 33ad411 | 4,341 B | A | view · diff |
| v2.9.0 | 2026-08-21 | 9d5de92 | 4,339 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 (4396 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
reticlehq/reticle · 1,249 stars · license a license file GitHub does not identify · pushed 2026-11-07 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_w3ri6amr2pxk6nxk GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=reticlehq/reticle/false-green-tests GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/594dd18febb9d1d5989e5b1a755f8c4afddab86e7341396b8c4398083d7c7fff
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.