ln-625-dependency-reuse-auditor

Paths: File paths (references/, ../ln-*) are relative to this skill directory.

Dependencies & Reuse Auditor (L3 Worker)

Type: L3 Worker

Specialized worker auditing dependency health and reuse risk.

Purpose & Scope

• Supports vulnerabilities_only mode for vulnerability-only runs
• Audit dependency and reuse risk (Categories 7+8: Medium Priority)
• Check outdated/unmaintained packages, unused deps, CVE vulnerabilities, and generic custom utility/integration modules that should use native/existing/OSS alternatives
• Emit PATCH_DEPENDENCY, REMOVE_DEPENDENCY, or REPLACE_CUSTOM_UTILITY
• Calculate compliance score (X/10)

Parameters

Param	Values	Default	Description
mode	full / vulnerabilities_only	full	full = all 5 checks, vulnerabilities_only = only CVE scan

Inputs

MANDATORY READ: Load references/audit_worker_core_contract.md and references/mcp_tool_preferences.md. Tool policy: You may run as an isolated subagent where host AGENTS.md is not in scope, so default to hex-line MCP first for file reads, search, and edits. Load references/mcp_integration_patterns.md only when MCP behavior is unclear.

Receives contextStore with tech stack, package manifest paths, codebase root, output_dir.

Use mode=full by default. Use mode=vulnerabilities_only when only package vulnerability findings are requested.

Use hex-graph first when dependency references or code reuse evidence materially improve the audit. Use hex-line first for local code reads when available. If MCP is unavailable, unsupported, or not indexed, continue with built-in Read/Grep/Glob/Bash and state the fallback in the report.

Workflow

Detection policy: use two-layer detection (candidate scan, then context verification); load references/two_layer_detection.md only when the verification method is ambiguous.

1. Parse context + mode parameter + output_dir
2. Run dependency checks (Layer 1: audit tools, based on mode)
3. Analyze context per candidate (Layer 2):
   • Available Features: read usage -- is lodash used for 1 function (easy replace) or deeply integrated (hard)?
   • Custom Utility Replacement: read code -- truly generic utility/integration, or domain-specific logic?
   • Vulnerability: read code -- is the vulnerable API actually called in this project?
4. Collect findings
5. Calculate score
6. Write Report: Build full markdown report in memory per references/templates/audit_worker_report_template.md, write to {output_dir}/ln-625--global.md in single Write call
7. Return Summary: Return minimal summary

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Audit Rules (5 Checks)

1. Outdated Packages

Mode: full only

Detection:

• Run npm outdated --json (Node.js)
• Run pip list --outdated --format=json (Python)
• Run cargo outdated --format=json (Rust)

Severity:

• HIGH: Major version behind (security risk)
• MEDIUM: Minor version behind
• LOW: Patch version behind

Recommendation: Update to latest version, test for breaking changes

Effort: S-M (update version, run tests)

2. Unused Dependencies

Mode: full only

Detection:

• Parse package.json/requirements.txt
• Grep codebase for import/require statements
• Find dependencies never imported

Severity:

• MEDIUM: Unused production dependency (bloats bundle)
• LOW: Unused dev dependency

Recommendation: Remove from package manifest

Effort: S (delete line, test)

3. Available Features Not Used

Mode: full only

Detection:

• Check for axios when native fetch available (Node 18+)
• Check for lodash when Array methods sufficient
• Check for moment when Date.toLocaleString sufficient

Severity:

• MEDIUM: Unnecessary dependency (increases bundle size)

Recommendation: Use native alternative

Effort: M (refactor code to use native API)

4. Generic Custom Utility / Integration Replacement

Mode: full only

Detection:

• Find significant custom utility/integration files in utils/, lib/, helpers/, common/, shared/, pkg/, internal/
• Look for names such as parser, formatter, validator, converter, encoder, serializer, logger, cache, queue, scheduler, mailer, http, client, wrapper, adapter, connector
• Read code to classify purpose before recommending replacement
• Prefer native platform APIs, existing project dependencies, then well-maintained OSS packages

Severity:

• HIGH: high-confidence replacement for generic module >200 LOC or custom crypto/serialization with safer established alternative
• MEDIUM: high-confidence replacement for 100-200 LOC, or medium-confidence replacement with clear maintenance win
• LOW: partial replacement opportunity or native API cleanup

Layer 2:

• Skip domain-specific business logic
• Skip when feature parity is <80%
• Before recommending OSS, check maintenance, license compatibility, and known security advisories using available research tools

Recommendation: Replace with native API, existing dependency feature, or vetted OSS alternative

Effort: M (integrate library, replace calls)

5. Vulnerability Scan (CVE/CVSS)

Mode: full AND vulnerabilities_only

Detection:

• Detect ecosystems: npm, NuGet, pip, Go, Bundler, Cargo, Composer
• Run audit commands per references/vulnerability_commands.md
• Parse results with CVSS mapping per references/cvss_severity_mapping.md

Severity:

• CRITICAL: CVSS 9.0-10.0 (immediate fix required)
• HIGH: CVSS 7.0-8.9 (fix within 48h)
• MEDIUM: CVSS 4.0-6.9 (fix within 1 week)
• LOW: CVSS 0.1-3.9 (fix when convenient)

Fix Classification:

• Patch update (x.x.Y) -> safe auto-fix
• Minor update (x.Y.0) -> usually safe
• Major update (Y.0.0) -> manual review required
• No fix available -> document and monitor

Recommendation: Update to fixed version, verify lock file integrity

Effort: S-L (depends on breaking changes)

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Scoring Algorithm

MANDATORY READ: Load references/audit_scoring.md.

Note: When mode=vulnerabilities_only, score based only on vulnerability findings.

Output Format

MANDATORY READ: Load references/templates/audit_worker_report_template.md.

Write JSON summary per references/audit_summary_contract.md. In managed mode the caller passes both runId and summaryArtifactPath; in standalone mode the worker generates its own run-scoped artifact path per shared contract.

Write report to {output_dir}/ln-625--global.md with category: "Dependency & Reuse Risk" and checks: outdated_packages, unused_deps, available_natives, custom_utility_replacement, vulnerability_scan.

Return summary per references/audit_summary_contract.md.

When summaryArtifactPath is absent, write the standalone runtime summary under .hex-skills/runtime-artifacts/runs/{run_id}/evaluation-worker/{worker}--{identifier}.json and optionally echo the same summary in structured output.

Report written: .hex-skills/runtime-artifacts/runs/{run_id}/audit-report/ln-625--global.md
Score: X.X/10 | Issues: N (C:N H:N M:N L:N)

Reference Files

File	Purpose
references/vulnerability_commands.md	Ecosystem-specific audit commands
references/ci_integration_guide.md	CI/CD integration guidance
references/cvss_severity_mapping.md	CVSS to severity level mapping
references/audit_output_schema.md	Audit output schema

Critical Rules

Apply the already-loaded references/audit_worker_core_contract.md.

• Do not auto-fix: Report only, never modify package manifests or lock files
• Mode-aware execution: In vulnerabilities_only mode, skip checks 1-4 entirely
• Effort realism: S = <1h, M = 1-4h, L = >4h
• CVSS-based severity: Map vulnerability severity strictly via references/cvss_severity_mapping.md
• Exclusions: Skip devDependencies for vulnerability severity escalation, skip vendored/bundled deps
• Unique angle: Audit dependency/package health and generic reuse opportunities only. Do not audit application exploitability, architecture modernization, or domain-specific business logic.
• Action required: Every finding uses PATCH_DEPENDENCY, REMOVE_DEPENDENCY, or REPLACE_CUSTOM_UTILITY.

Definition of Done

Apply the already-loaded references/audit_worker_core_contract.md.

• contextStore parsed (including mode parameter and output_dir)
• All applicable checks completed (5 for full, 1 for vulnerabilities_only)
• Generic custom utility/integration candidates classified before replacement recommendations
• Findings collected with severity, location, effort, action, fix_type, recommendation
• Score calculated per references/audit_scoring.md
• Report written to {output_dir}/ln-625--global.md (atomic single Write call)
• Summary written per contract

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Version: 4.0.0 Last Updated: 2026-02-05