Documentation verification

scripts/check-docs.mjs is the drift detector for facts that are mirrored out of source into Markdown, POM.yml, package.json, and RELEASE.json. Every fact POM documents has exactly one canonical owner in src/, scripts/, or package.json; the checker fails when a mirror stops matching its owner.

The checker is read-only, self-contained ESM, and imports only node:fs, node:path, and node:url. It never writes files, never runs a build, and needs no node_modules, so it stays runnable while the npm registry is unreachable.

Running the checker

node scripts/check-docs.mjs

Each check prints one line, with actionable detail indented beneath a failure:

PASS  check 1/6 resource-package-parity
PASS  check 2/6 command-parity
      note: /pom resume is absent from src/command.ts HELP; allowlisted in KNOWN_COMMAND_DIVERGENCES
FAIL  check 3/6 layout-contract
      docs/INVENTORY.md:43 names "06_exports", which src/persistence.ts bootstrapProject never creates; the canonical names are 06_ledgers and 07_exports
POM docs verification FAIL (1/6: layout-contract)

The final line is POM docs verification PASS with exit code 0, or POM docs verification FAIL (<count>/7: <check names>) with exit code 1. All seven checks always run; one failure never hides another.

The seven checks

#	Name	Canonical owner	Mirrors checked
1	resource-package-parity	src/prompts.ts, src/themes.ts, src/events.ts	package.json files
2	command-parity	src/command.ts HELP	README.md command map, POM.yml commands:
3	layout-contract	src/persistence.ts bootstrapProject	docs/INVENTORY.md, skills/pom/references/artifacts.md
4	prompt-order-contract	src/prompts.ts composePromptStack and renderStagePrompt	POM.yml prompt_precedence
5	link-and-orphan	the docs/ tree on disk	every docs/*.md page
6	release-evidence	scripts/release-manifest.mjs gate readers	RELEASE.json verification
7	package-metadata	package.json repository, homepage, bugs	canonical loca.zone hosts, no placeholders

1. resource-package-parity

Defends the published tarball against missing runtime resources. The checker regex-matches new URL("../<root>", import.meta.url) in the three resource-loading modules, then asserts every discovered root is listed in package.json files and exists in the repository. The root list is derived from source on every run, so a newly bundled resource directory cannot be added in code and silently left out of the package.

Historical defect: prompts was loaded by src/prompts.ts and src/events.ts but omitted from package.json files, so an installed copy of the extension shipped without any prompt fragments while the repository checkout worked. A hardcoded root list would not have caught it, and would rot the next time a root is added, so discovery failure is itself a failure: if the regex matches nothing the check reports a broken checker rather than an empty pass.

2. command-parity

Defends the advertised command surface. The verbs are extracted from the HELP template literal in src/command.ts, from the ## Command map table in README.md, and from the commands: block in POM.yml. A bare /pom normalizes to the verb dashboard, and only the first token after /pom is significant, so /pom theme install contributes theme. The three sets must agree.

Historical defect: /pom settings and /pom doctor were implemented and advertised by HELP but missing from both documented command maps, so operators had no written record of two shipped verbs.

3. layout-contract

Defends the generated project layout. 06_exports and 06_logs are forbidden in docs/INVENTORY.md and skills/pom/references/artifacts.md, and the canonical 06_ledgers and 07_exports must both appear in docs/INVENTORY.md. Failures cite the offending line numbers.

Historical defect: docs described the export directory as 06_exports and invented a 06_logs directory. bootstrapProject creates neither, so operators looked for output in paths that never exist and scripted against directory names the kernel never writes.

4. prompt-order-contract

Defends prompt provenance ordering. POM.yml prompt_precedence must open with the immutable POM production law that composePromptStack prepends, must state that project-local fragments replace bundled fragments by matching ID, and must close with the executable stage contract. The stage contract must appear only as the final entry.

Historical defect: the manifest listed the executable stage contract mid-list, contradicting renderStagePrompt, which appends it last. Anyone reasoning about prompt precedence from the manifest inferred the wrong effective law, since a later fragment overrides an earlier one.

5. link-and-orphan

Defends wiki navigability in two independent directions, reported separately. Every relative Markdown link in docs/*.md must resolve to a path that exists on disk, with fragments and query strings stripped and absolute, anchor-only, and scheme-qualified links skipped. Separately, every docs/*.md page except index.md must be linked from docs/index.md or docs/navigation.md.

Historical defect: navigation entries used repository-root paths such as README.md and skills/pom/references/commands.md from inside docs/, where they resolve to docs/README.md and docs/skills/... and render as dead links. New pages were also added without a navigation entry, leaving them reachable only by direct URL. The reachability half applies to this page too: a new docs/*.md file, including VERIFICATION.md, must be linked from docs/index.md or docs/navigation.md or the check reports it as unreachable.

6. release-evidence

Defends release honesty. Every key under RELEASE.json verification must be an object carrying a status string of PASS, FAIL, NOT RUN, or BLOCKED. A bare string, number, null, or array value fails, and so does an unrecognized status. scripts/release-manifest.mjs produces these objects from evidence files under 00_admin/validation/; this check is the regression guard that keeps them evidence-bound.

Historical defect: the manifest carried hard-coded "PASS" strings for gates that had never been executed, so the release claimed verification it could not support.

7. package-metadata

Defends canonical project coordinates. package.json repository, homepage, and bugs must each be a string or an object carrying a string url, must not retain the UNRESOLVED placeholder, must parse as absolute URLs, and must resolve to loca.zone or a subdomain of it, because no third-party forge mirror has been confirmed for this package. A repository.url on owned infrastructure prints a note: line recording its serving state.

Historical defect: the metadata fields carried UNRESOLVED placeholders, and later recorded a repository.url that was reserved but not serving Git while the prose claimed it was usable.

Known divergences

KNOWN_COMMAND_DIVERGENCES in scripts/check-docs.mjs is the only escape hatch, and it contains exactly one entry: resume. /pom resume [state-path] is documented in the README.md command map and in the POM.yml commands: block but is deliberately absent from HELP. HELP stays canonical for what the built-in help advertises, the docs keep the verb, and check 2 prints the divergence as a note: line so it stays visible while the check still passes deterministically. Any divergence not in the allowlist fails.

Mutation proofs

Each row is a specified procedure for proving that a check actually defends its contract: apply the mutation, run node scripts/check-docs.mjs, confirm the named check reports FAIL with the expected message, then revert the mutation and confirm the run returns to POM docs verification PASS. Mutations are destructive edits to canonical files and must be reverted before any commit or package step. Rows 1–6 specify the procedure and expected output without recorded results. Row 7 was executed on 2026-08-19: pointing homepage at https://example.com/ produced FAIL check 7/7 package-metadata and POM docs verification FAIL (1/7: package-metadata) with exit code 1, and restoring the file returned POM docs verification PASS with exit code 0.

Check	Mutation to apply	Expected failure
1 resource-package-parity	Remove "prompts" from the files array in package.json	FAIL check 1/7 resource-package-parity — package.json: files must contain "prompts" because src/prompts.ts and src/events.ts load it at runtime
2 command-parity	Delete the /pom status [--json] row from the ## Command map table in README.md	FAIL check 2/7 command-parity — /pom status is documented in src/command.ts HELP, POM.yml commands: but absent from README.md ## Command map
3 layout-contract	Rename 06_ledgers to 06_logs on the ledger line of skills/pom/references/artifacts.md	FAIL check 3/7 layout-contract — skills/pom/references/artifacts.md:10 names "06_logs", which src/persistence.ts bootstrapProject never creates
4 prompt-order-contract	In POM.yml prompt_precedence, move the executable stage contract entry above the project-local fragment entry so it is no longer last	FAIL check 4/7 prompt-order-contract — POM.yml: prompt_precedence must end with the executable stage contract appended by renderStagePrompt, plus the misplaced-entry position
5 link-and-orphan	In docs/index.md, change the Package inventory link target from INVENTORY.md to INVENTORY-old.md	FAIL check 5/7 link-and-orphan — docs/index.md: broken relative link INVENTORY-old.md resolves to docs/INVENTORY-old.md, which does not exist on disk, and docs/INVENTORY.md: unreachable page if docs/navigation.md no longer links it either
6 release-evidence	Replace the verification.runtimeSmoke object in RELEASE.json with the bare string "PASS"	FAIL check 6/7 release-evidence — RELEASE.json: verification.runtimeSmoke is the bare string "PASS"; every gate must be an evidence object carrying a status
7 package-metadata	Point homepage in package.json at https://example.com/	FAIL check 7/7 package-metadata — package.json: homepage points at "example.com", which is outside the canonical loca.zone infrastructure

Row 5 mutates a link rather than deleting a file, so the mutation is a one-token edit and the revert is exact. Row 6 must be reverted by regenerating the manifest with npm run release:manifest rather than by hand, so the recorded hashes stay consistent with the packaged files.

Relationship to the other gates

node scripts/check-docs.mjs is a documentation-contract gate, not a replacement for the release ladder in package.json. It complements node scripts/verify.mjs, which checks structure and counts, and npm run release:check, which proves RELEASE.json matches the packaged tree. The documentation checker is the only gate that reads prose, so it is the only one that can catch a doc that quietly contradicts source.