Charter — AI-Agent Readiness Scanner

Rule ID: AE-AUTO-001 · Severity: Medium · Category: Autonomy · Auto-fixable: No

Why this rule

Even with tests present, an agent needs to know how to run them. A discoverable command closes the agent’s work loop — run, observe, fix, repeat — without guessing. When a test command is missing, the agent either skips verification entirely or attempts to infer the command, risking a wrong invocation. Neither outcome is acceptable for an agent that is supposed to be self-correcting.

AE-AUTO-001 only applies when at least one code language is active in the repo. A docs-only or config-only repo is not evaluated.

What triggers it

Charter checks whether a test or verification command is discoverable from the repo’s tracked files. A command is considered discoverable if any of the following signals exist:

Signal	Example
`Makefile` with a `test:` or `check:` target	`make test`
`justfile` / `.justfile` with a `test` or `check` recipe	`just test`
`Taskfile.yml` / `Taskfile.yaml` with a `test:` or `check:` task	`task test`
`moon.yml` task named `test` or `check`	`moon run :test`
`mise.toml` / `.mise.toml` with `[tasks.test]` or `[tasks.check]`	`mise run test`
`package.json` with a `test` key (or `test:*` variant) under `scripts`	`npm test`

For languages with a well-known conventional test command, no task runner is required:

Language	Conventional command	Condition
Go	`go test ./...`	`go.mod` present
Rust	`cargo test`	`Cargo.toml` present
Python	`pytest`	pytest config present (`pytest.ini`, `tox.ini`, or `[tool.pytest.ini_options]` in `pyproject.toml`)

The finding fires when none of these signals exist for an active language.

Examples

Failing
Passing

A TypeScript project with source files and tests in place, but no test script in package.json and no task runner configured:

package.json

{
  "name": "my-app",
  "scripts": {
    "build": "tsc",
    "lint": "eslint src/"
    // no "test" key
  }
}

An agent reading this repo has no reliable way to invoke the test suite → flagged Medium.

A Go module — go test ./... is always discoverable, no extra config needed:

my-service/
├── go.mod   ✓ (conventional command applies)
└── internal/
    └── scorer_test.go

A JavaScript project with an explicit test script:

package.json

{
  "scripts": {
    "test": "jest"
  }
}

A multi-language repo using mise tasks:

mise.toml

[tasks.test]
run = "moon run :test"
description = "Run all tests"

How to fix

Add a task runner target that runs your tests. Charter reads the task runner file — no extra Charter configuration is needed.

Choose a task runner

If you already have a Makefile, package.json, or moon.yml, add a test target there. If you have none, mise.toml tasks are the lowest-friction option for multi-language repos.

Wire up the test command

The target just needs to invoke your existing test command:

test:
	go test ./...

Verify discoverability

Run charter explain AE-AUTO-001 to confirm Charter now recognizes the command.

Score impact

Medium (−4); no hard cap.

Edge cases

Go and Rust — no task runner required

Single-language Go and Rust repos are never penalized for lacking a Makefile or other task runner. Their toolchain is the contract.

Python — pytest config required

Conventional Python detection requires a pytest config file (pytest.ini, tox.ini, or [tool.pytest.ini_options] in pyproject.toml). The mere presence of .py files is not enough, because python alone is not a zero-config test command.

No active language

When no language is active (docs/config/tooling-only repos), AE-AUTO-001 does not fire. See AE-TEST-001 for how active language detection works.

AE-TEST-001

Checks that test files actually exist — a prerequisite for this rule to be meaningful.

AE-ENV-001

Reproducible toolchain — required for the discoverable test command to work reliably.

CLI

charter explain AE-AUTO-001

​Why this rule

​What triggers it

​Examples

​How to fix

​Score impact

​Edge cases

​Related rules

AE-TEST-001

AE-ENV-001

​CLI

Why this rule

What triggers it

Examples

How to fix

Score impact

Edge cases

Related rules

CLI