Validate Summary Output
Did the summary keep its contract? Section presence, preamble detection, and the "Here is the summary" tax — checked and repaired.
Overview
Summary contracts break quietly: a chatty preamble sneaks in, a required section vanishes, and the reader doesn't notice until they need the missing part. This setup validates an executive summary against its three-section contract and catches both classics — the "Here is the summary you asked for:" preamble and a missing What Happens Next section. The repair prompt restores the section (with the honest-fallback instruction to write "Not covered in the source" rather than invent content) and strips the preamble.
Workflow
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List the contract sections in order
The same section names your summary prompt defines — presence and order both get checked.
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Watch the preamble detection
"Here is the summary…" is flagged with the offending text quoted — the politeness tax made visible.
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Repair with the honesty rule
The repair for a missing section includes "write Not covered in the source if there is nothing to put in it" — the fix can't become an invention.
Why This Works
- Section-contract checking catches what skim-reading forwards unnoticed
- Preamble detection enforces the no-preamble rule summaries always carry
- The honest-fallback repair keeps fidelity intact through the fix
Best for
- Recurring summary workflows with a fixed contract
- Briefs that get forwarded without the source attached
- QA on summary prompts after model changes
Not for
- Defining the summary structure — that's the Structured Summary Prompt
- Checking factual fidelity against the source — that needs the source, which the validator doesn't see
Use cases
- Checking recurring summaries keep every required section
- Stripping conversational preambles from forwarded briefs
- Catching summaries that quietly dropped the next-steps section