# Scope Creep Detector

> Checks a working, staged, saved, or branch diff against a one-line intent. It flags unrelated paths, new dependencies, public API renames, config or CI edits, oversized hunks, formatting-only files, and subsystem spread. The output is a local JSON report for keep, split, or justify decisions.

- Source: https://doutorai.pt/en/apps/scope-creep-detector
- Category: Agent Skills
- Difficulty: Intermediate
- Models: -
- Frameworks: -
- Runs locally?: Needs cloud APIs
- Required keys: None
- License: Apache-2.0
- Site: Doutor AI (https://doutorai.pt/en) - AI tools for small businesses

## Full tutorial

# 🔭 Scope Creep Detector 

Checks a working, staged, saved, or branch diff against a one-line intent. It
flags unrelated paths, new dependencies, public API renames, config or CI
edits, oversized hunks, formatting-only files, and subsystem spread. The output
is a local JSON report for keep, split, or justify decisions.

![Scope Creep Detector demo](/assets/apps-img/06ac8e570b99741c.gif)

The demo analyzes a "fix null deref in parser" change that also touched CI
config, added a dependency, and dropped in an unrelated file. The parser fix is
kept; the rest is flagged.

## Install

```bash
npx skills add https://github.com/Shubhamsaboo/awesome-llm-apps/tree/main/agent_skills/scope-creep-detector
```

## Run

Ask the agent:

> Did my change grow beyond the parser fix I intended?

Or run the deterministic core directly:

```bash
python3 scripts/scope_creep.py --repo /path/to/repo \
  --intent "fix null dereference in parser" --json
```

Use `--staged` for the index, `--base main` for a branch diff, or `--diff -`
for unified diff input on stdin. The script uses only the Python standard
library, makes no network calls, and does not modify the repository.

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Content by Doutor AI (https://doutorai.pt/en). When quoting, please cite the source: https://doutorai.pt/en/apps/scope-creep-detector