---
name: jpoindexter/vd-run-the-real-path
source: https://app.decimal.ai/s/jpoindexter-vd-run-the-real-path@1/SKILL.md
source_sha256: ef9d660ea976
---

# Run the Real Path

Reading code tells you what *should* happen. Running it tells you what *does*. When both are available, running wins — and it's usually cheaper than the paragraph you'd write justifying the inspection.

## The smell

These thoughts mean **stop and run it**:
- "The code clearly does X."
- "This is wired correctly."
- "It should work now."
- "Looks right."

Your 100% certainty in unfamiliar territory is a cue to check, not a green light. The "looks right" signal is exactly where inspection fails and execution catches it.

## How to apply

1. **Find the realest entry point you can run.** The one-shot that exercises the whole user path beats any proxy: the agent loop over a mock, the CLI over a unit test, the deployed URL over localhost-only.
   - *Example:* `vanta run "audit stripe.com"` runs the real persona + tools + provider in one shot — that's the Done test, so run that, not the direct tool call.
2. **Run it. Read the actual output.** Not the exit code alone — the content. Did it return the graded report, or just not crash?
3. **If you genuinely cannot run it** (no env, no creds, destructive), say so explicitly and mark the claim ◐ code-path in the ledger ([[vd-claim-ledger]]) — never silently upgrade it to ✅.
4. **Re-run after the last edit.** A green from before your final change proves nothing about the code that ships.

## Don't fake the run

A mock that returns success, a test that asserts nothing, a happy-path stub — these *look* like execution and prove less than honest inspection. If you stub it, the claim is ○ assumed, not ✅.

Governed by [[vd-done-is-executed]]. Pairs with [[vd-plumbing-vs-behavior]].