Brief Compliance Check

SkillDocs & knowledge

Check a LaTeX coursework submission against the requirements in a supplied PDF assessment brief. Use when verifying format, required sections, word limits, or deliverables before submission. Not for general prose proofreading; use $proofread.

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.

Then ask your AI: use the Brief Compliance Check skill

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by flonat/flonat-research in skills/brief-compliance-check/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

Given a PDF brief and a LaTeX submission, report exactly what is met, missing, or over-limit. Report-only — never modifies files.

Output Path

Per rules/review-artefact-routing.md (auto-loads in research projects (path-scoped to paper-*/ and paper/)):

  • Source slug: brief-compliance-check
  • Write reports to: reviews/<paper-slug>/brief-compliance-check/<YYYY-MM-DD-HHMM>.md inside the project, where <paper-slug> is the paper directory name (e.g., paper-jtp, paper-philtech). Path is relative to the research project root, not the Task-Management repo.
  • Never at project root (./CRITIC-REPORT.md-style filenames are forbidden — pre-rule layout).
  • Idempotency: if today's file exists, append a same-day descriptor ({date}-revision.md, {date}-r2.md, {date}-pre-submission.md) — never overwrite.
  • Index update: if reviews/INDEX.md exists, write a one-line entry under "Latest per source" pointing at the new file. Otherwise review-recap will rebuild the index next time it runs.
  • Infrastructure repos (Task-Management, atlas-workspace, etc.): this section does not apply — the path-scoped rule won't load there.

When to Use

  • "Do we meet the requirements of the brief?"
  • "Check my submission before I submit"
  • Any coursework or report with per-task deliverables and word limits
  • Argument: [brief.pdf] [submission/] or auto-detect from context

Defaults

SettingDefault
Brief pathPrompt if not found automatically
Submission dirCWD or submission/ subdirectory
LaTeX filemain.tex in submission dir
Word countingStrips lstlisting, tikzpicture, tabular/tabularx, LaTeX commands

Protocol

Step 1: Read the Brief

Read the full brief PDF. Extract for each task/section:

  • Deliverables — what files or content must be present
  • Word limits — any "maximum N words" constraints
  • Required files — non-LaTeX files (YAML specs, workflow files, code, etc.)
  • Total marks — note the rubric criteria for context

Present a one-paragraph summary: how many tasks, total marks, submission format.

Step 2: Check Word Counts

For any task with a word limit, count words in the corresponding LaTeX section using this script:

import re

with open('main.tex', 'r') as f:
    tex = f.read()

# Map section headings to task labels and limits
# (fill from brief before running)
sections = {
    'Task X': (r'\section{Heading}', r'\section{Next Heading}', limit),
}

for task, (start, end, limit) in sections.items():
    s = tex.find(start)
    e = tex.find(end) if end else len(tex)
    chunk = tex[s:e]
    # Strip non-prose environments
    chunk = re.sub(r'\\begin\{lstlisting\}.*?\\end\{lstlisting\}', '', chunk, flags=re.DOTALL)
    chunk = re.sub(r'\\begin\{tikzpicture\}.*?\\end\{tikzpicture\}', '', chunk, flags=re.DOTALL)
    chunk = re.sub(r'\\begin\{tabular[x]?\}.*?\\end\{tabular[x]?\}', '', chunk, flags=re.DOTALL)
    # Strip LaTeX commands but keep their text arguments
    chunk = re.sub(r'\\[a-zA-Z]+\*?\{([^}]*)\}', r' \1 ', chunk)
    chunk = re.sub(r'\\[a-zA-Z]+\*?', ' ', chunk)
    chunk = re.sub(r'[{}\$~^%]', ' ', chunk)
    count = len(chunk.split())
    status = 'OK' if count <= limit else f'OVER by {count - limit}'
    print(f'{task}: ~{count} words (limit {limit}) [{status}]')

Adapt section headings and limits from the brief before running.

Step 3: Check File Deliverables

For each required non-LaTeX file, verify existence:

ls submission/          # check submitted PDF and LaTeX
ls openapi/             # check YAML specs if required
ls .github/workflows/   # check CI workflow if required
ls services/*/          # check service implementations if required

Report each as ✅ present / ❌ missing.

Step 4: Report

Produce a compliance table per task. Then summarise overall status.

Output Format

## Brief Compliance Report — [Module/Assessment Name]

### Overview
[1-para summary: N tasks, N marks, submission format]

### Per-Task Compliance

| Task | Requirement | Status |
|------|-------------|--------|
| A    | Architecture diagram | ✅ |
| A    | Written explanation ≤600 words | ✅ ~540 words |
| B    | Security requirements ≤800 words | ✅ ~416 words |
| C    | Five OpenAPI YAML files | ✅ |
| C    | Linting output in PDF | ✅ |
| D    | Test logs | ✅ |
| D    | Written analysis ≤600 words | ❌ ~764 words (OVER by 164) |
| E    | GitHub Actions workflow file | ✅ |
| F    | Reflection ≤700 words | ✅ ~645 words |

### File Deliverables

| File/Directory | Required | Status |
|----------------|----------|--------|
| main.pdf | Yes | ✅ |
| openapi/*.yaml (5 files) | Yes | ✅ |
| .github/workflows/ci.yml | Yes | ✅ |
| services/*/Dockerfile (5) | Yes | ✅ |

### Summary

- ✅ N requirements met
- ❌ N gaps or violations
- ⚠️ N warnings (approaching limit, optional items)

[Action items for any ❌ or ⚠️]

Never Do These

  • Never modify the submission to fix issues — report only
  • Never count words from lstlisting, tikzpicture, or table body content — these are not prose
  • Never guess word limits — read them from the brief before counting
  • Never report "approximately compliant" — every requirement is either met or not
  • Never skip file existence checks — a missing deliverable is a hard gap

Log to REVIEW-STATE.md (final step)

Write the brief-compliance report to reviews/<paper-slug>/brief-compliance-check/<YYYY-MM-DD-HHMM>.md (where <paper-slug> is extracted from the paper directory, e.g. paper-jtp; create mkdir -p reviews/<paper-slug>/brief-compliance-check/ first). Then append a row to the project's REVIEW-STATE.md:

bash <skills-root>/_shared/review-state-log.sh \
  --check brief-compliance-check \
  --paper "<paper-{venue} dir>" \
  --verdict "<PASS|PARTIAL|FAIL>" \
  --score "<met-count>/<total-criteria>" \
  --open-issues "<gap-count>/<total-criteria>" \
  --report "reviews/<paper-slug>/brief-compliance-check/<YYYY-MM-DD-HHMM>.md" \
  --notes "<one-line: e.g. 'over word limit by 250; missing appendix C'>" \
  [--trigger "pre-submission-report|review-cluster"]
  • Verdict: PASS if every criterion met; PARTIAL if some met; FAIL if any hard gap (missing deliverable, over hard word limit).
  • Score: criteria met / total criteria (e.g. 8/10).
  • Open issues: total gaps at run time / total criteria.
  • Trigger: pass orchestrator name only if invoked as a sub-agent. Otherwise omit.

Schema: the installed shared resource shared/review-state-schema.md.

Signals

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Source
github.com/flonat/flonat-research