Challenge Maintenance

Challenge Maintenance Skill

Use this skill when you need to add new challenges, update existing ones, or verify that the documentation is in sync with the source of truth: docs/modules/ROOT/assets/data/challenges.yml.

Core Principles

1. Source of Truth: Always use challenges.yml as the authoritative source for challenge names, descriptions, categories, difficulties, and hints.
2. Alphabetical Order: Maintain strict alphabetical order by challenge name in all summary tables (README.adoc, category files).
3. Consistency: Ensure hints and solution placeholders exist for every challenge.
4. Cross-Referencing: Use consistent anchor names derived from section headers.
5. Quality Descriptions: Write unique prose for challenge descriptions. Do not copy the description from challenges.yml 1:1, and do not just concatenate hints.

Adding a New Challenge

When a new challenge is added to challenges.yml, follow these steps:

1. Identify the Target Files

• Category File: Locate the .adoc file in docs/modules/ROOT/pages/part2/ corresponding to the challenge's category (e.g., injection.adoc for 'Injection').
• Hints File: Hint partials are managed by the partialize_hints.yml pipeline. AI agents must not create or modify them.
• Master List: Update docs/modules/ROOT/pages/part2/README.adoc.
• Solutions: Update docs/modules/ROOT/pages/appendix/solutions.adoc.

2. Update the Category File

• Add a row to the "Challenges covered in this chapter" table.
• Add a detailed section:

  [[_{anchor_name}]]
  == {Section Header}
  
  {Description}
  
  include::../../partials/hints/{challengeKey}.adoc[]
  

• {Description}: A paragraph introducing the challenge. This should be original text, not a verbatim copy of the YAML description or a mere mash-up of the hints.
• Section Header: Usually the first sentence of the description or a concise instruction.
• Anchor Name: Lowercase version of the Section Header with spaces replaced by underscores and special characters removed.

3. Hint Partials

• Hint partials in docs/modules/ROOT/partials/hints/ are managed exclusively by the partialize_hints.yml pipeline.
• AI agents MUST NOT create or modify these files.
• Exception: The 'Score Board' challenge (scoreBoardChallenge) does not have hints and must NEVER have a hint partial file.

4. Update the README.adoc

• Add the challenge to the "Challenge hunting" table in alphabetical order.
• Add the challenge to the "Challenge hunting (CTF mapping)" table in alphabetical order.
• Use xref links to the category file and the solution section.

5. Update the Solutions Appendix

• Locate the section for the challenge's difficulty (e.g., == ⭐⭐⭐ Challenges).
• Add a subsection === {Section Header}.
• Add the placeholder: // TODO Add solution for {challengeKey}.
• Ensure subsections are sorted alphabetically within the difficulty level.

6. Update Tags (if necessary)

• If the challenge introduces a new tag not yet documented, update docs/modules/ROOT/pages/part1/challenges.adoc in alphabetical order.

Verification & Cleanup

When asked to verify if the documentation is up to date:

1. Gaps: Compare challenges.yml with README.adoc. Identify any missing challenges.
2. Leftovers: Identify sections or files referring to challenges no longer in challenges.yml.
3. Desyncs: Check if descriptions or hints in the docs match the latest YAML content.
4. Broken Links: Verify that all xref and <<anchor>> links point to existing targets.

See checklists/challenge_verification.md for a detailed verification procedure.