Fact Check

Fast, source-backed answer to a factual question or "is it true that…" claim, returned within a hard time budget (simple ≤2 min, complex ≤5 min) — speed is the goal. Use for a quick verified answer: "fact-check this", "is it true Y", "$fact-check". NOT for an exhaustive research REPORT (→ deep-research).

Answer a factual question fast and sourced. The whole flow is time-boxed: simple ≤2 min, complex ≤5 min. Speed comes from four levers — triage the effort, search in parallel, read snippets before fetching, and stop the moment the answer is corroborated. Never rabbit-hole; never exceed the tier budget; never emit an uncited or confident-but-unverified claim.

If the request is for a comprehensive / exhaustive multi-source report, this is the wrong skill — defer to deep-research. This skill returns a bounded, bottom-line answer, not a report.

Steps

0 — Preflight. Restate the question in one line; extract the precise claim/entity to verify. If it is subjective/opinion or answerable without the web, stop and say so (don't fabricate a "fact").

1 — Triage → budget. Load rules/triage.md. Decide simple vs complex (when genuinely unsure, or the topic is contested, treat as complex) and adopt that tier's budget: rounds, parallel width, fetch cap, source bar, time target.

2 — Round 1: parallel search. Load rules/search-protocol.md. Decompose the question into angles and issue the tier's searches as parallel tool calls in a single message — never one at a time. Read result snippets first.

3 — Corroborate & early-exit. WebFetch a full page only when a snippet is insufficient or a number/quote must be verified (≤ the tier's fetch cap). The moment the bottom line is corroborated to the tier's source bar, stop searching and go to Step 5.

4 — One more round (complex only). If still under-corroborated or sources conflict and a round remains, run one targeted round to fill the specific gap or triangulate the conflict. Still short → declare uncertain.

5 — Synthesize the answer. Load rules/output-contract.md and fill assets/answer-template.md: a one-line Answer up front, a Confidence label (High/Medium/Low), the Tier, 2–4 cited evidence bullets, a numbered Sources list, and Caveats only if needed. Every load-bearing claim carries a citation.

6 — Self-check, then emit. Verify against the contract; optionally run node scripts/check_answer.mjs <answer.md> to confirm the structure (every [n] resolves, confidence set, per-tier source bar met). Emit; stop — do not exceed the budget.

Controls (hard, externalized in rules/triage.md)

• Time/effort budget per tier — simple: ≤2 min, 1 round, width 1–3, ≤1 fetch, ≥1 source. complex: ≤5 min, ≤2 rounds, width 3–5, ≤3 fetch, ≥2 independent sources. When a cap is hit, stop and report at current confidence.
• Citation — every load-bearing claim cites a source; uncorroborated → Low confidence / "could not confirm", never fabricated.
• Speed-safety — speed must not produce confident-wrong; below the source bar → explicit uncertainty, not a guessed High-confidence answer.

Modules

File	When to load
rules/triage.md	Step 1 — simple/complex rubric + the per-tier budget table + the uncertain path.
rules/search-protocol.md	Step 2–4 — query decomposition, parallel fan-out, snippet-first, early-exit on saturation, conflict triangulation, claim→evidence.
rules/output-contract.md	Step 5–6 — the BLUF format, confidence labels, citation rules, the self-check.
references/source-reliability.md	When grading sources or a fact is volatile (freshness / as-of date).
references/metrics.md	When measuring the skill (speed, traceability, confident-wrong rate).

Scripts

File	Usage
scripts/check_answer.mjs	node scripts/check_answer.mjs <answer.md> — deterministic answer-contract validator (BLUF, confidence, tier, citation resolution, per-tier source bar). The release gate + optional Step-6 self-check.

Assets

File	Usage
assets/answer-template.md	The fill-in answer skeleton (Answer / Confidence / Tier / Key evidence / Sources / Caveats).