Source of Truth Creator v1.1

Create epistemically honest Source of Truth documents that pass verification.

"A Source of Truth that overstates certainty is worse than no Source of Truth — it creates false confidence."

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The Problem

You write a document labeled "Source of Truth" but it contains:

• Estimates formatted like verified data
• Self-assessments that look like external validation
• "No prior art found" stated as verified fact
• URLs verified yesterday that may 404 today

The document looks authoritative. Readers trust it. But it overstates certainty.

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What Is Source of Truth Creator?

A practitioner-accessible methodology and Claude skill for creating documents with calibrated confidence — where readers have accurate trust in each claim.

Novelty disclosure: The eight failure modes below synthesize established frameworks (GRADE, ICD 203, PRISMA, etc.). Our contribution is accessibility and documentation-specific implementation—not inventing new epistemic concepts. See Prior Art & Transparency.

The Eight Failure Modes It Prevents

Failure Mode	Problem	Solution
Verified Header Trap	Header says "VERIFIED" but body has estimates	Qualify: "VERIFIED (with noted exceptions)"
Internal Measurement Trap	Informal timing marked same as benchmarks	Add: [single run, informal]
Self-Assessment Trap	Self-scores look like external validation	Label: "Author judgment, not audited"
Absence-as-Proof Trap	"Not found" stated as verified	Add: "to author's knowledge, [date] search"
Illustrative-as-Data Trap	Examples appear in data tables	Separate: Examples section vs. Verified Data
Staleness Trap	No freshness warnings on volatile claims	Mark: [STABLE] / [VOLATILE] / [CHECK BEFORE CITING]
Temporal Incoherence Trap	"Last Updated: December 2024" when it's 2025	Verify dates against current date; check chronology
Unverified Specific Claims Trap	"$0.005 per call" included without checking	Verify pricing/statistics before adding to Verified Data

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Prior Art & Transparency

This methodology synthesizes established frameworks from healthcare (GRADE), intelligence analysis (ICD 203), auditing (IIA Standards), and systematic reviews (PRISMA/Cochrane). Our innovation is practical accessibility and documentation-specific implementation—not inventing new epistemic concepts.

Full prior art analysis available in docs/PRIOR_ART.md, including:

• Comparison to existing frameworks (Treude, OHAT, Chayka, Tsave, Clark, and others)
• Honest assessment of what's novel vs. repackaged
• All citations verified against primary sources

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Quick Start

Option 1: claude.ai / Claude Desktop

1. Download source-of-truth-creator.zip
2. Go to Settings → Features → Skills → Add
3. Upload the zip file
4. Ask Claude: "Create a source of truth for [topic]"

Option 2: Claude Code

1. Copy SKILL.md to your project's skills folder
2. Claude Code will automatically detect and use it
3. Ask Claude: "Create a source of truth for [topic]"

Option 3: Claude Projects

Add SKILL.md to project knowledge. Claude will search it when needed, though Skills provide better integration.

Option 4: Manual / Other LLMs

For other AI tools or manual use, check documents for these patterns:

Pattern	Action
Header says "VERIFIED" but body has estimates	Qualify: "VERIFIED (with noted exceptions)"
Informal timing ("took about 2 hours")	Add: [single run, informal]
Self-scores without external validation	Label: "Author judgment, not audited"
"No X exists" / "Not found"	Hedge: "to author's knowledge, [date] search"
Examples mixed in data tables	Move to separate "Examples" section
URLs, pricing, feature lists	Mark: [VOLATILE] or [CHECK BEFORE CITING]
"Last Updated" date wrong or >6 months old	Check against current date; update or add staleness note
Version dates out of chronological order	Verify and correct chronology
Specific pricing ("$X.XX per call")	Verify against current official source before including
Statistics ("X% of Y", "averages Z")	Cite source or mark as estimate

For Cursor/Windsurf: Extract the 8 failure modes and templates into your .cursorrules. The methodology is tool-agnostic—only SKILL.md is Claude-optimized.

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How This Compares to Related Frameworks

Framework	Scope	Best For	Trade-off
Treude et al. (2020)	10 dimensions	Comprehensive documentation audits	More thorough; we're a simplified subset
OHAT/Rooney (2014)	7 steps + confidence	Systematic reviews	Industry standard; use if high-assurance needed
Chayka et al. (2012)	Mathematical staleness	Data quality measurement	Use for high-stakes; our approach is practitioner-friendly

When to use Source of Truth Creator: You need structured confidence calibration but lack time for 10-dimensional frameworks.

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When to Use This

Use when:

• Claims will be cited elsewhere
• Decisions depend on accuracy
• Readers don't know your epistemic standards
• Creating authoritative project reference
• Consolidating research from multiple sources

Don't use when:

• Taking meeting notes (use simple markdown)
• Brainstorming (uncertainty is the point)
• Personal project logs (overkill)
• Quick summaries (no verification needed)

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Minimum Viable Template

For simple projects (~40 lines when filled):

# [Topic] — Source of Truth

**Last Updated:** [YYYY-MM-DD]  
**Owner:** [Name]  
**Status:** VERIFIED (with noted exceptions)

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## Verification Status

| Category | Status | Confidence |
|----------|--------|------------|
| External claims | Verified | High |
| Internal claims | Owner verified | High |
| Measurements | [Formal/Informal] | [High/Medium] |
| Estimates | Marked as such | N/A |

**Exceptions:** [Any caveats]

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## Verified Data

| Claim | Value | Source | Verified | Staleness |
|-------|-------|--------|----------|-----------|
| [claim] | [value] | [source] | [date] | [STABLE/VOLATILE] |

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## Estimates (NOT VERIFIED)

| Claim | Value | Basis |
|-------|-------|-------|
| [claim] | ~[value] | [author estimate] |

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## Open Items

| Priority | Description | Status |
|----------|-------------|--------|
| [H/M/L] | [description] | [status] |

Template format adapted from medical/audit documentation standards. See docs/PRIOR_ART.md for sources.

See SKILL.md for the comprehensive template with gap analysis, self-assessment sections, and changelog.

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Quick Checklist

Before finalizing any Source of Truth document:

Check	Pass?
Header status qualified ("with noted exceptions")?
Verification Status box present?
Internal measurements marked with methodology?
Self-assessments labeled as author judgment?
"X doesn't exist" claims hedged?
Illustrative examples NOT in data tables?
Estimates in separate section from verified data?
Volatile claims marked with staleness warnings?
"Re-verify before use" list for URLs/competitors?
Document date matches current date (or intentionally historical)?
Version/event dates in chronological order?
Specific pricing verified against current sources?
Statistics have citations or marked as estimates?

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Staleness Risk Categories

Category	Examples	Shelf Life	Marker
Stable	Historical facts, published papers, standards	Years	[STABLE]
Moderate	Company descriptions, product categories	Months	[CHECK BEFORE CITING]
Volatile	Pricing, feature lists, API endpoints, URLs	Days to weeks	[VOLATILE]
Snapshot	Stock prices, user counts, rankings	Point-in-time only	[SNAPSHOT]

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The Recursion Problem

Source of Truth documents face a unique challenge:

1. A Source of Truth claims to be "VERIFIED"
2. But verification requires... a Source of Truth
3. At some point, claims bottom out in human judgment

This skill doesn't solve the recursion — it makes it visible.

The goal is:

• Clear marking of WHERE claims bottom out
• Honest confidence levels for each claim type
• Visual calibration so readers don't over-trust

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Relationship to Clarity Gate

Source of Truth Creator	Clarity Gate
Creates documents	Verifies documents
Prevents failures during creation	Detects failures after creation
Provides templates	Provides checklists
Focuses on calibration	Focuses on detection

Alignment: v1.1 adds Modes 7-8 to align with Clarity Gate v1.5's new Points 8-9 (Temporal Coherence, Externally Verifiable Claims).

Recommended workflow:

1. Use Source of Truth Creator to draft the document
2. Run Clarity Gate on the result
3. Iterate until PASS

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Prior Art

See Prior Art & Transparency above and docs/PRIOR_ART.md for full analysis, citations, and honest novelty assessment.

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Examples

Example	Description
Clarity Gate Research	Meta-example: research documentation for a sister project

See examples/README.md for more.

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Documentation

Document	Description
SKILL.md	Claude skill with full templates and failure modes
docs/PRIOR_ART.md	Academic and industry sources
examples/	Real-world Source of Truth documents

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Related

Clarity Gate — Verification skill (use after creation)
github.com/frmoretto/clarity-gate

Stream Coding — Documentation-first methodology where these tools originated
github.com/frmoretto/stream-coding

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License

CC BY 4.0 — Use freely with attribution.

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Author

Francesco Marinoni Moretto

• GitHub: @frmoretto
• LinkedIn: francesco-moretto

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Contributing

Looking for:

1. Failure modes — Did we miss common patterns?
2. Templates — Domain-specific variations (legal, medical, technical)?
3. Prior art — Sources we should acknowledge?
4. Real examples — Source of Truth documents to learn from?

Open an issue or PR.