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.

Install it, pinned
mdr add reticlehq/reticle/false-green-tests@v3.9.0

Pins 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

The exact contents, by fingerprint
mdr add reticlehq/reticle/false-green-tests@sha256:594dd18febb9d1d5

The 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.

Badge

mdr badge

[![mdr](https://markdownregistry.com/badge/art_w3ri6amr2pxk6nxk.svg)](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.

versioncommittedcommitsizeaudit
v3.9.0 latest2026-10-29 f2e07e0 4,396 BA view · diff
v3.8.22026-10-26 f8a40d5 4,396 BA view · diff
v3.8.12026-10-26 a6b11ca 4,396 BA view · diff
v3.8.02026-10-25 68dd8a1 4,396 BA view · diff
v3.7.02026-10-09 4019204 4,398 BA view · diff
v3.6.02026-10-07 c08be48 4,398 BA view · diff
v3.5.02026-10-01 14085e6 4,398 BA view · diff
v3.4.02026-09-30 2685d9a 4,398 BA view · diff
v3.3.02026-09-30 f9b1ada 4,398 BA view · diff
v3.3.02026-09-26 9af7d09 4,376 BA view · diff
v3.3.02026-09-25 0b8afcc 4,341 BA view · diff
v3.2.02026-09-23 d400c5d 4,341 BA view · diff
v3.1.02026-09-18 5d475e0 4,341 BA view · diff
v2.14.02026-09-09 f3be3a9 4,342 BA view · diff
v2.13.12026-09-02 96d872c 4,342 BA view · diff
v2.13.02026-09-02 a6ee238 4,342 BA view · diff
v2.12.02026-09-02 9814709 4,342 BA view · diff
v2.9.02026-08-27 33ad411 4,341 BA view · diff
v2.9.02026-08-21 9d5de92 4,339 BA view

Audit of the latest version

A  17 of 17 checks passed. Fixed automatic checks with no AI involved, so the same checks give the same answer every run.
  • 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

GitHub

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.

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