Bewerbungszauberer/src/.claude/commands/validate-application.md

Validate that `application.md` is completely filled out and ready for document generation.

# Instructions

You are validating a job application to ensure it's ready for generating tailored CV, cover letter, and email.

## Step 1: Location Detection

### Determine Which Application to Validate

**If NO parameter provided:**
1. Check current working directory
2. Verify if you're inside an application folder by checking:
   - Path pattern: ends with `applications/pending/[folder-name]/`
   - File existence: `application.md` exists in current directory
3. If yes → validate this application
4. If no → show error with available applications (see Error Handling section)

**If parameter PROVIDED:**
1. Parameter can be:
   - Folder name: `2025-11-02-TechCorp-Developer`
   - Relative path: `applications/pending/2025-11-02-TechCorp-Developer`
   - Absolute path: `/full/path/to/application/folder`
2. Resolve to application folder: `applications/pending/[folder-name]/`
3. Check if `application.md` exists in that location
4. If yes → validate that application
5. If no → show error with available applications

### Error Handling: Wrong Location / Not Found

**If running from wrong location without parameter:**
```
❌ Not in an application folder

Please either:
1. Navigate to an application folder:
   cd applications/pending/[application-folder]/
   /validate-application

2. Or provide the application folder name:
   /validate-application [application-folder-name]

Available applications:
[List output of: ls applications/pending/]

Example:
/validate-application 2025-11-02-TechCorp-Developer
```

**If application doesn't exist with parameter:**
```
❌ Application not found: [provided-name]

Available applications:
[List output of: ls applications/pending/]

Usage:
/validate-application [folder-name]
```

**If application.md missing in found folder:**
```
❌ No application.md found in [path]

This doesn't appear to be a valid application folder.
Did you create this application with /new-application?
```

## Step 2: Read application.md

Read the entire `application.md` file in the detected/specified application folder.

**If file is corrupted or unreadable:**
```
❌ Could not read application.md

The file exists but cannot be read. It may be corrupted or have permission issues.
Please check the file: [full-path-to-application.md]
```

## Step 3: Parse Sections

Extract content for each section by markdown headings. Recognize sections case-insensitively:

**Required Sections** (validation checks these):
- "Organization Information" / "organization information"
- "Job Information" / "job information"
- "Job Description Summary" / "job description summary"

**Optional Sections** (don't cause validation failure):
- Match Strategy
- Key Messages
- Tone of Voice
- Research Notes
- Document Checklist
- Application Strategy Notes
- Timeline
- Metadata

## Step 4: Detect Placeholders

Check for these placeholder patterns that indicate incomplete data:

### Placeholder Patterns

**Square brackets:**
- `[To be filled]`
- `[Organization name]`
- `[Job Title]`
- `[Company Name]`
- `[...]`
- `[Any text in brackets]`

**Generic template text:**
- "Add information here"
- "To be filled"
- Text that matches the template unchanged

### Context-Aware Detection

**DO flag as placeholders:**
- `[To be filled]`
- `[Company Name]`
- `[Job Title]` as the only content
- `[Organization name here]`

**DON'T flag as placeholders:**
- `[PhD]` after a name in context
- `[Acquired by Google]` in a company description
- `[Remote]` as a job location descriptor
- Other brackets used meaningfully in normal text

If placeholder text is longer than 100 characters, truncate it in the error message: `"[First 100 chars...]"`

## Step 5: Validate Required Sections

### Organization Information

**Must have:**
- Organization Name field with real content (not placeholder)

**Check:**
- Look for "Organization Name:", "Company:", or similar field labels
- Extract the value after the label
- Check if value contains placeholders
- Check if value is empty or only whitespace

**If incomplete:**
- Flag: `Organization Name: Contains placeholder "[exact-text]"`
- Or: `Organization Name: Missing or empty`

### Job Information

**Must have:**
- Job Title field with real content (not placeholder)

**Check:**
- Look for "Job Title:", "Position:", or similar field labels
- Extract the value after the label
- Check if value contains placeholders
- Check if value is empty or only whitespace

**If incomplete:**
- Flag: `Job Title: Contains placeholder "[exact-text]"`
- Or: `Job Title: Missing or empty`

### Job Description Summary

**Must have:**
- At least SOME content in one or more subsections:
  - Responsibilities / Key Responsibilities
  - Required Skills / Qualifications
  - Preferred Skills
  - Requirements
  - Keywords

**Check:**
- Verify section exists
- Check if section has any real content (not just placeholders)
- Check if at least one subsection has meaningful text

**If incomplete:**
- Flag: `Job Description Summary: No content found`
- Or: `Responsibilities: Contains placeholder "[exact-text]"`
- Or: `Required Skills: Missing or empty`

### Missing Sections

If an entire required section is missing from the document:
- Flag: `Missing required section: [Section Name]`

## Step 6: Check Population Status

### Input Folder Check

**Check if `input/` folder exists and has files:**

1. Check for `input/` subfolder in the application directory
2. List files in `input/` folder
3. Count supported files (exclude .gitkeep, .DS_Store, etc.)

**Categorize status:**
- **Empty**: `input/` doesn't exist or has no files (0 files)
- **Populated**: `input/` has 1+ files
- **Not applicable**: Required sections are filled (manual population is fine)

### Population Warning Logic

**Warn about population IF:**
- Input folder is empty (0 files) AND
- Multiple required sections still have placeholders

**Suggest /populate-application IF:**
- Input folder has files (1+ files) AND
- Multiple required sections still have placeholders

**DON'T warn IF:**
- Required sections are filled with real content (manual population is fine, even if input/ is empty)

## Step 7: Generate Validation Report

### Success Format (Validation PASSES)

**If all required sections are complete:**

```
✅ Application Validation: PASSED

Your application is complete and ready for document generation!

Summary:
- Organization: [Extracted Company Name]
- Position: [Extracted Job Title]
- Job requirements: [N] identified
- Input documents: [N] files in input/ folder
[If Match Strategy section has content:]
- Match strategy: Complete
[If Key Messages section has content:]
- Key messages: Defined

You can now proceed with generating tailored CV, cover letter, and application email.
```

**Extract actual values** from application.md for the summary (organization name, position, count requirements/skills mentioned).

### Failure Format (Validation FAILS)

**If any required section is incomplete:**

```
❌ Application Validation: FAILED

Your application has incomplete sections that need attention before document generation.

Issues found:

[Group errors by section - only show sections with errors]

## Organization Information
- [ ] Organization Name: Contains placeholder "[To be filled]"

## Job Information
- [ ] Job Title: Missing or empty

## Job Description Summary
- [ ] Responsibilities: Contains placeholder "[List key responsibilities]"
- [ ] Required Skills: No content found

[If population warning applies:]

## Population Status
⚠️  Input folder appears empty. Consider:
1. Adding job posting and related documents to input/
2. Running /populate-application to extract information

[Or if input has files but sections empty:]

## Population Status
⚠️  Input folder has [N] documents but application seems unpopulated.
Consider running:
   /populate-application

This will analyze your input documents and populate the sections above.

[End with guidance:]

Please update application.md to fill in these sections, then run /validate-application again.

[Alternative if only placeholders:]
Or manually edit application.md to add the missing information, then run /validate-application again.
```

### Error Details Format

**For each issue, use checkbox format:**
```
- [ ] Field Name: Issue description
```

**Quote exact placeholder text:**
```
- [ ] Organization Name: Contains placeholder "[To be filled]"
```

**Group by section:**
```
## Organization Information
- [ ] Organization Name: Issue
- [ ] Location: Issue

## Job Description Summary
- [ ] Responsibilities: Issue
```

## Step 8: Provide Clear Next Steps

### After Success

```
You can now proceed with generating tailored CV, cover letter, and application email.
```

### After Failure

```
Please update application.md to fill in these sections, then run /validate-application again.
```

Or if they should run population:
```
Add documents to input/ folder and run /populate-application to analyze and populate application.md.
Then run /validate-application again to confirm completeness.
```

## Important Notes

### Tone
- Be encouraging - validation is a positive quality check
- Be specific about what's missing
- Provide actionable guidance
- Don't be judgmental about incomplete applications

### Flexibility
- Optional sections can remain incomplete
- Manual population is perfectly fine (don't require /populate-application if sections are filled)
- Input folder can be empty if user manually populated
- Focus on required information only

### Accuracy
- Quote exact placeholder text when reporting issues
- Extract real values from application.md for success summary
- Count actual items (requirements, skills, documents)
- Be precise about what's missing vs what's present

### Integration
- This is a quality gate before document generation
- Match the pattern of `/validate-profile` for consistency
- User can explicitly skip validation if they want (with warning)
- Default behavior: validate before generating any documents

## Edge Cases

### Legitimate Brackets
- `[PhD]` or `[MBA]` in credentials → not a placeholder
- `[Remote]` as location descriptor → not a placeholder
- `[Acquired]` in company history → not a placeholder
- Check surrounding context to distinguish

### Partial Completion
- If Organization Name is filled but Job Title has placeholder → only flag Job Title
- If some job description subsections are filled → validation can pass
- Don't require ALL subsections, just SOME content

### Very Long Placeholders
- Truncate to 100 characters: `"[First 100 characters...]"`
- Still quote them to show what was found

### Multiple Issues in Same Field
- List each issue separately
- Be clear about what specifically is wrong

### Application Already Has Some Content
- Focus error messages only on what's still missing
- Acknowledge what's already complete in summary (if desired)
- Be constructive about gaps