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Tc9d1d9# Skill: exploratory-testing

Hunt bugs with explicit hypotheses and oracle-backed confirmation. Use when the user asks to find bugs, fuzz a subsystem, or audit edge cases beyond happy-path unit tests.

Tc9d1d9## When to use

Tff7b72- New or recently changed mesh protocols (RNS, LXMF, LXST, RRC)

Tff7b72- Security-sensitive surfaces (ACL, keys, auth, path handling)

Tff7b72- After a feature lands and needs adversarial review

Tff7b72- Soft fuzz suites that need real oracles

Tc9d1d9## Method

Tff7b721. Map the state machine or ACL matrix from code (not from memory alone).

Tff7b722. Write 5 to 15 concrete hypotheses (Hn) with file references and predicted wrong behaviour.

Tff7b723. For each high-priority hypothesis, write a failing oracle test first when possible.

Tff7b724. Confirm with a focused pytest or vitest run. Fix only confirmed bugs unless asked to report only.

Tff7b725. Record intentional behaviours (example IRC-style outside messages without +n) instead of changing them by accident.

Tc9d1d9## Hypothesis quality

Good:

Tff7b72- Non-member PART fans PARTED to real members (server.py _handle_part)

Tff7b72- Kick ERROR leaves client still in hub.rooms (manager.py _handle_error)

Bad:

Tff7b72- Maybe something is wrong with chat

Tff7b72- Fuzz random bytes and ensure no crash

Tc9d1d9## Priority order for mesh hubs and clients

Tff7b721. ACL ordering (founder/op promotion before +k / +i)

Tff7b722. Membership lies (phantom JOIN/PART, kick without peer notify)

Tff7b723. Client/hub desync on ERROR

Tff7b724. Persistence roundtrips (TOML, CBOR history, encrypted keys)

Tff7b725. Rate limits and DoS stuck states

Tff7b726. Cross-identity leakage

Tc9d1d9## Deliverable shape

When reporting to the user:

Tff7b72- Confirmed bugs (fixed or still open)

Tff7b72- Oracle tests added

Tff7b72- Intentional behaviours left alone

Tff7b72- Remaining hypotheses not yet tested

Tc9d1d9## Related

Tff7b72- Ta5d6ff`docs/agents/skills/test-oracles/SKILL.md`

Tff7b72- Ta5d6ff`docs/agents/skills/rrc-relay-chat/SKILL.md`

Tff7b72- Ta5d6ff`docs/agents/skills/reticulum-design-gates/SKILL.md`

Tff7b72- Ta5d6ff`docs/agents/conventions/tests.md`