Verify External Claims

Before encoding any external claim into a skill, code, doc, or review, verify it against a primary source. Feedback is a lead, not a source. An LLM can generate plausible CLI flag tables, exact error messages, and version numbers without ever running the tool. Specificity is not evidence.

This skill covers inbound verification — claims entering your work from outside. For outbound verification — verifying your own diagnosis before proposing changes to an external project (issues, PRs, feature requests) — use verify-before-filing.

1. What Counts as an External Claim

Treat these as claims that need verification:

• CLI tool names, subcommands, flags, and flag values
• Exit codes and error message strings
• Library versions, API signatures, and import paths
• URLs, package names, and registry locations
• Statistics, percentages, and counts
• Tool behaviors, defaults, and side effects
• Dependency availability and license status

2. Verify Before Encoding