What we validate
Being able to paste instructions into a chat is not enough. A supported skills-only configuration needs to behave reliably across interviewing, evidence handling, and honest use of the host's memory, files, and export features.
Interview behavior
Natural follow-ups, one question at a time, no checklist drift, and clear separation between capture, interview, archive, research, draft, and review modes.
Evidence discipline
REMEMBERED, FAMILY_LORE, DOCUMENTED, INFERRED, and UNRESOLVED remain distinct instead of being silently blended into certainty.
Host memory and files
The skill helps the buyer's AI keep chronology, people, places, sources, and open loops in the host's own memory or project files when those features exist. That is not a C.B. Ventures hosted database.
Export and portability
Where the host allows it, the method should encourage exportable notes and source files so the project is not trapped in one chat thread. Host limits will be disclosed.
Current validation track
OpenAI plugin-format skill adapter
Static package checks: passed. The adapter preserves the Companion method, evidence classes, no-invention rules, family-role neutrality, and book/skill separation.
OpenAI live installed runtime
Pending. Activation, instruction following, file behavior, limitations, and the exact install surface still need controlled live testing before any support claim is made.
Optional local tools (not hosted)
Internal/optional. Local utilities and an optional local MCP prototype may exist for developers or advanced buyers who run them themselves. They are not a C.B. Ventures cloud service and are not required for the skills-only product.
Host continuity testing
Pending. Live tests must confirm how the skill uses each host's memory and files, and must disclose limits—without claiming Companion-hosted storage.
What “supported” will mean
- installation and updates are repeatable;
- the skill activates when appropriate and stays out of unrelated work;
- source files and transcripts are handled predictably on the host;
- provenance and uncertainty are preserved;
- the skill uses host memory/files for continuity where available, without claiming a Companion server;
- export guidance matches what the host actually supports;
- privacy and data-boundary language matches the actual host behavior;
- known limitations are disclosed rather than hidden.
Why the caution?
A family legacy project may contain private recordings, photographs, documents, names, dates, and sensitive memories. The Companion is being designed so its workflow remains portable and its claims remain narrower than the capabilities actually tested.