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Agent skill

False Green Test Detection

by reticlehq in reticlehq/reticle

Finds out why a passing test suite sits on top of a broken app by comparing what the running app does with what the tests claim, using Reticle.

Apache-2.0Auto-check passedTesting & QA

Install False Green Test Detection

skills CLI
$ npx skills add reticlehq/reticle --skill false-green-tests -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install reticlehq/reticle false-green-tests --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/reticlehq/reticle.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/false-green-tests .claude/skills/false-green-tests && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
false-green-tests
GitHub stars
1.2k
Token cost
~1.1k tokens
SKILL.md length
517 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
19
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
Apache-2.0

At a glance

Finds out why a passing test suite sits on top of a broken app by comparing what the running app does with what the tests claim, using Reticle.

  • The test suite is green but the feature does not work
  • SKILL.md covers The five shapes, in the order…, What counts as proof and Then fix the test, not just…
  • Calls npx and curl; reaches docs.reticle.sh
  • A test has never failed, and you suspect it asserts nothing useful

What it does

A green test is evidence about the test, not the app, so this skill runs the real app and checks it against five shapes of false green in order. An assertion that only checks for absence of errors passes on a button wired to nothing. A test that drove a mock may never match the requests the app really makes, and a stale client cache such as TanStack Query's looks the same. The UI can move while the store does not, a successful response may never be read by the app, and whole surfaces may never have been exercised, which a click sweep can reveal.

Reticle supplies the evidence by observing the running app from the inside: DOM, network, console, routing and framework state. The skill gives its install command and points to an install-and-verify skill. If no store is registered, state checks are meaningless and the agent is told to say so. It fits when the suite is green but you say the app is broken, when a test never fails or coverage looks fine while bugs still ship.

When your agent uses it

  • The test suite is green but the feature does not work
  • A test has never failed, and you suspect it asserts nothing useful
  • Before trusting a passing run you did not watch

Example prompts

  • “All tests pass but the checkout button does nothing; find out why the suite missed it.”
  • “Check whether our signup test is only asserting against a mocked API.”
  • “Crawl the running app and list the screens none of our tests exercise.”

Requirements

  • Reticle installed and connected to the running app
  • Node.js with npx to run the Reticle installer

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 178e5c0. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • npx
    • curl

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    Hosts in commands or code, which the agent is likely to contact:

    • docs.reticle.sh

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

False Green Test Detection loads about 1.1k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 113 tokens; SKILL.md has 517 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~113
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.1k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from reticlehq/reticle at commit 178e5c0, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© reticlehq). 517 words, ~1,100 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/false-green-tests/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
false-green-tests
description
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.
license
Apache-2.0
metadata.version
3.7.0
metadata.homepage
https://www.reticle.sh
metadata.repository
https://github.com/reticlehq/reticle

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 installed? RETICLE_INSTALL_SOURCE=npx_skill npx @reticlehq/server@latest init, then see the install-and-verify skill.

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.

2. The test drove a mock and the app drives an API. Compare what the app actually requested with what the test stubbed:

reticle_observe({ action: "network", sessionId, since })

No request where the test asserted one means the suite verified a fixture. A stale client cache is the same failure with no request at all to look at, which is why registering TanStack Query matters: the cache is the only witness.

3. The UI moved and the state did not. The strongest false green, and invisible to any DOM or screenshot check:

reticle_look({ action: "state", sessionId, store, path })

A view rendering one value while the store holds another is a bug the render tree cannot show you. If this returns empty or hasCapabilities is false, no store was registered: say so, because every state check above is vacuous until it is.

4. Nobody read the response. A 2xx that the app never consumed shows as verified: "unknown" with verifiedReason: "outcome_unread". That is usually a real app bug, and a test asserting on the request alone would call it a pass.

5. Whole surfaces nobody exercised.

reticle_run({ tool: "reticle_verify", sessionId, args: { action: "crawl" } })      // click sweep, returns anomalies
reticle_run({ tool: "reticle_verify", sessionId, args: { action: "coverage" } })   // { total, exercised, untouched }

crawl exists because the obvious hand-rolled sweep (click each control, assert no console error) is itself shape 1.

Show full SKILL.md (184 more words)Show less

What counts as proof

A false green is confirmed when the app contradicts the test, not when you feel uneasy. Reticle names that case directly: verified: "no" with verifiedReason: "contradicted" means a channel observed something incompatible with what the UI claimed: a request that failed while the screen advanced, a signal disagreeing with the DOM, a field echoing a value nobody asked for.

unknown is not a false green and not a pass. It means Reticle could not tell. Report it as unknown.

Then fix the test, not just the app

For every false green you confirm, the test that missed it is still there and will miss it again. Rewrite its assertion to name a consequence the app must produce (a request with a status, a signal, a state path) rather than an absence. Never weaken a check to make a verdict green; that is how the false green got in.

Index of everything, one page at a time: curl https://docs.reticle.sh/llms.txt. Found a case Reticle could not see? reticle_session { action: "feedback" } with kind: "gap": that is the signal that decides what gets built.

© reticlehq, Apache-2.0. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/false-green-tests of reticlehq/reticle.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 178e5c0

Compare with similar skills

False Green Test Detection next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

False Green Test Detection compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
False Green Test Detection this skillreticlehq/reticle1.2k—~1.1kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Acceptance Evidence for Deliverieslobehub/lobehub83k—~9.7kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Senior QAnicepkg/auto-company1953 repos~1.1kAutomated safety check: NotesNone
Designing TestsCloudAI-X/claude-workflow-v21.4k1 repos~1.5kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Test Pyramidkubernetes-sigs/agent-sandbox4.2k—~1.6kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Studio Testingsupabase/supabase111k—~2.2kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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Works with

Categories

Questions about False Green Test Detection

What does False Green Test Detection do?

Finds out why a passing test suite sits on top of a broken app by comparing what the running app does with what the tests claim, using Reticle. A green test is evidence about the test, not the app, so this skill runs the real app and checks it against five shapes of false green in order. An assertion that only checks for absence of errors passes on a button wired to nothing.

When should I use False Green Test Detection?

False Green Test Detection fits situations like: the test suite is green but the feature does not work; A test has never failed, and you suspect it asserts nothing useful; before trusting a passing run you did not watch.

How do I install False Green Test Detection in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add reticlehq/reticle --skill false-green-tests -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/false-green-tests in reticlehq/reticle) into .claude/skills/false-green-tests in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install False Green Test Detection in Codex?

Run `npx skills add reticlehq/reticle --skill false-green-tests -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/false-green-tests in reticlehq/reticle) into .agents/skills/false-green-tests in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use False Green Test Detection in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add reticlehq/reticle --skill false-green-tests -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/false-green-tests, .gemini/skills/false-green-tests, .github/skills/false-green-tests and .opencode/skills/false-green-tests in your project.

What does False Green Test Detection need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, False Green Test Detection needs the command-line tools its instructions call (npx and curl). Our summary lists: Reticle installed and connected to the running app; Node.js with npx to run the Reticle installer.

Does False Green Test Detection access the network?

SKILL.md names 1 domain. In commands or code: docs.reticle.sh; the agent is likely to contact it when it follows the instructions. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is False Green Test Detection safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does False Green Test Detection use?

False Green Test Detection is published under the Apache-2.0 licence (declared in SKILL.md). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does False Green Test Detection use?

About 1.1k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4.4k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to False Green Test Detection?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with False Green Test Detection: Acceptance Evidence for Deliveries (lobehub/lobehub, 83k stars), Senior QA (nicepkg/auto-company, 195 stars), Designing Tests (CloudAI-X/claude-workflow-v2, 1.4k stars) and Test Pyramid (kubernetes-sigs/agent-sandbox, 4.2k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains False Green Test Detection?

reticlehq (a GitHub organization) maintains it in reticlehq/reticle, which has 1,199 GitHub stars. The repository holds 19 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 9, 2026.

Source: reticlehq/reticle on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.