Date Validation

Overview

Prevent day-of-week errors, countdown mistakes, and timeline inconsistencies before they reach files.

Core principle: Trust but verify. Establish independent ground truth, validate every date systematically, block edits until all pass.

CRITICAL: This skill exists because baseline testing showed agents:

•Trust anchor dates without verification (propagates errors)
•Spot-fix obvious errors, miss related ones (incomplete fixes)
•Trust sequential patterns without individual validation (consistent ≠ correct)
•Only verify when suspicious (errors slip through)

When to Use

Auto-Triggers (Mandatory)

This skill MUST activate before Edit/Write when:

File patterns:

•*Planning-Hub.md
•*Timeline*.md
•*Checklist*.md
•calendar/day/*.md
•calendar/week/*.md
•Filename contains: "schedule", "deadline", "milestone"

Content patterns:

•Day-name + date: Wed Nov 12, Monday, November 11
•Relative dates: today, tomorrow, yesterday, in X days
•Countdowns: X days until, X days remaining, X days from today

Manual Use

Invoke when:

•User says "check the dates" or "verify timeline"
•You notice day-name + date combinations while reading
•After making date-related errors (systematic revalidation)

Ground Truth Protocol

CRITICAL: Verify "today" using TWO independent sources. If they disagree, BLOCK ALL EDITS.

Step 1: Get Both Sources

Source A - Environment Tag:

code

Parse: <env>Today's date: YYYY-MM-DD</env>
Example: "2025-11-12"

Source B - System Command:

bash

date +"%Y-%m-%d %A"
# Output: "2025-11-12 Wednesday"

Step 2: Cross-Validate

Extract components:

•env_date: Date from <env> tag
•sys_date: Date from system command
•sys_day: Day-of-week from system command

If dates MATCH:

code

✓ Ground truth established
Today is: Wednesday, November 12, 2025

If dates DON'T MATCH:

code

❌ GROUND TRUTH MISMATCH - BLOCKING ALL EDITS

Environment says: 2025-11-11
System says: 2025-11-12 Wednesday

Reason: <env> tag likely stale from context compression
Action: User must restart session

STOP: Do not proceed with validations or edits

Why two sources: Baseline testing showed agents "trust user-provided context completely" without verification. If anchor is wrong, all calculations are wrong.

Step 3: Calculate Reference Values

Once verified:

•today_date: 2025-11-12
•today_day: Wednesday
•tomorrow_date: 2025-11-13 (today + 1)
•yesterday_date: 2025-11-11 (today - 1)

Validation Checklist

Run ALL validations before presenting errors. Don't stop at first error.

☐ Check 1: Day-Name ↔ Date Matching

What to find:

Patterns where day-name appears with date:

•Wed Nov 12
•Wednesday, November 12
•Thu 11/14/2025
•Mon Nov 11, Tue Nov 12, Wed Nov 13 (sequences)

Regex:

python

r'(Monday|Tuesday|Wednesday|Thursday|Friday|Saturday|Sunday)\s*,?\s*([A-Z][a-z]+)\s+(\d{1,2})'
r'(Mon|Tue|Wed|Thu|Fri|Sat|Sun)\s+([A-Z][a-z]+)\s+(\d{1,2})'

For each match:

•Parse date (US MM/DD format for numeric dates)

•Calculate actual day-of-week:

python

from datetime import datetime
date_obj = datetime.strptime("2025-11-12", "%Y-%m-%d")
actual_day = date_obj.strftime("%A")  # "Wednesday"

•Compare stated vs. actual

If mismatch:

code

❌ Error: Day-name mismatch
Found: "Wed Nov 12"
Truth: November 12, 2025 is Tuesday

Options:
1. Tue Nov 12 (correct day name)
2. Wed Nov 13 (correct date)
3. Something else (I'll type it)

CRITICAL: Validate EACH date individually. Baseline showed "sequential pattern feels right" even when all wrong.

☐ Check 2: Relative Date Calculations

What to find:

•today → should match ground truth
•tomorrow → ground truth + 1 day
•yesterday → ground truth - 1 day
•in X days → ground truth + X days

Validation: For each term, check surrounding text (~50 chars) for date mentions. Verify alignment.

Example error:

code

Text: "tomorrow (Wed Nov 13)"
Today: Wednesday, Nov 12
Tomorrow should be: Thursday, Nov 13 (not Wed)

If mismatch:

code

❌ Error: Relative date incorrect
Found: "tomorrow (Wed Nov 13)"
Truth: Tomorrow is Thursday, Nov 13

Options:
1. tomorrow (Thu Nov 13)
2. today (Wed Nov 12)
3. Something else

☐ Check 3: Countdown Math

What to find:

•X days until [date]
•X days remaining
•X days to [date]

Regex:

python

r'(\d+)\s+days?\s+(until|to|before)\s+([A-Za-z]+\s+\d{1,2})'
r'(\d+)\s+days?\s+remaining'

Validation:

•Extract countdown number
•Find target date
•Calculate: actual = target_date - ground_truth_date
•Compare stated vs. actual

If mismatch:

code

❌ Error: Countdown math incorrect
Found: "December 1, 2025 (18 days from today!)"
Truth: Dec 1 - Nov 12 = 19 days

Options:
1. (19 days from today!)
2. (18 days from tomorrow!)
3. Something else

☐ Check 4: Comprehensive Scan

CRITICAL: Baseline showed agents "fix obvious error" but miss others.

After finding first error, DON'T stop. Scan ENTIRE content:

•Check ALL lines with date references
•Include lines without day-names (might need them)
•Check headers, footers, tables, lists

Example from baseline: Agent fixed line 239 but missed line 74 (complex) and line 285 (no day-name).

Solution: Regex scan catches ALL occurrences before presenting errors.

Error Correction Flow

Step 1: Collect All Errors

Run all validations. Group results:

code

Found 3 errors:

CRITICAL:
- Error #1: Day-name mismatch at line 174
- Error #2: Countdown math at line 163

WARNINGS:
- Warning #1: Sequential inconsistency at line 240

Step 2: Present Interactive Corrections

For each error:

•Show context
•Show what was found
•Show what ground truth says
•Offer 2-3 correction options
•Wait for user choice

Step 3: Apply and Re-Validate

•Apply all corrections
•Re-run ALL validations
•If new errors → Return to Step 1
•If all pass → Allow Edit/Write

Red Flags - STOP and Verify

If you catch yourself thinking:

•❌ "Trust the user-provided context completely"
•❌ "Would NOT naturally use a calendar tool"
•❌ "Only check if something felt obviously wrong"
•❌ "Fix the most obvious error"
•❌ "Quick scan with shallow verification"
•❌ "Might have trusted the sequential pattern"
•❌ "Internal consistency feels right"
•❌ "Not verified each date individually"
•❌ "Without explicit contradiction, accept at face value"

All of these mean: Use two-source ground truth, validate systematically, check every date.

Common Rationalizations

These are from baseline testing - agents said these things when NOT using this skill:

Excuse	Reality	Why It Fails
"Trust user-provided context"	Context can be wrong. Verify independently.	Anchor errors propagate
"Wouldn't naturally use calendar tool"	Tools exist for a reason. Use bash date.	Manual calculation fails
"Only check if feels wrong"	Errors don't "feel" wrong. Systematic check required.	Misses consistent errors
"Fix most obvious error"	Related errors exist. Comprehensive scan required.	Incomplete fixes
"Quick scan, shallow verification"	Shallow = misses errors. Deep required.	Misses edge cases
"Trust sequential pattern"	Sequential errors look consistent. Validate each.	All wrong together
"Internal consistency feels right"	Consistent ≠ correct. All could be wrong.	False confidence
"Not verified individually"	Individual check catches propagation.	Sequential bias
"Accept at face value"	Errors exist without contradictions. Always verify.	Needs suspicion

Edge Cases

Ambiguous Dates

Problem: 11/12 could be Nov 12 or Dec 11

Solution:

•Default: US format (MM/DD) = November 12
•Check context for month names
•If ambiguous: Prompt user

Past Dates in Future Tense

Problem: tomorrow (Nov 13) but today is Nov 15

Solution:

•Warning only (don't block)
•Show: ⚠️ Note: Nov 13 was 2 days ago
•Ask: Is this an old document? (y/n)

Year Boundaries

Problem: Dec 30 → Jan 2 crosses years

Solution:

•Show year explicitly in corrections
•Handle leap years with Python datetime

Success Criteria

Before allowing Edit/Write:

•✅ Ground truth verified (env + system agree)
•✅ ALL date patterns scanned
•✅ EACH date validated individually
•✅ All errors corrected by user
•✅ Re-validation passed

Only after ALL criteria → Proceed with edit.

Example Session

code

User: "Update Move Planning Hub with Nov 13 events"

[Skill auto-triggers on "Planning Hub" filename]

Step 1: Ground truth
  ENV: 2025-11-12
  SYS: 2025-11-12 Wednesday
  ✓ Verified: Wednesday, November 12, 2025

Step 2: Scan content
  Found: 15 date references

Step 3: Validate
  ✓ Day-name matching (8/8)
  ❌ Relative dates (1 error)
  ❌ Countdown math (1 error)

Found 2 errors:

❌ Error #1: "TODAY - NOVEMBER 13"
Truth: Today is November 12
Options: 1. TODAY - NOVEMBER 12  2. TOMORROW - NOVEMBER 13

User choice: 2

❌ Error #2: "(18 days from today)"
Truth: Dec 1 - Nov 12 = 19 days
Options: 1. (19 days)  2. Keep 18

User choice: 1

Step 4: Re-validate
  ✓ All validations passed

✅ Proceeding with Edit...

Anti-Patterns from Baseline

DON'T:

•Trust anchor without two-source verification
•Fix one error and move on (scan comprehensively)
•Trust sequential patterns (validate each)
•Only verify when suspicious (always verify)
•Do mental math instead of bash date calculation
•Skip re-validation after corrections

DO:

•Establish ground truth first (env + system)
•Scan ALL content before presenting errors
•Validate EACH date individually
•Auto-trigger before edits (no manual check needed)
•Use Python datetime for calculations
•Re-validate after applying corrections