How-To: Verify Supply-Chain Lockfiles and Slopsquatting Defense

This guide covers verifying dependency lockfile immutability, cryptographic package hashes, and gating integration against unauthorized dependency alterations.

Verifying Lockfile Cryptographic Hashes

To verify that all dependencies in uv.lock are strictly pinned, match upstream registry records, and contain valid sha256 hashes:

spec-ops security verify-lock

A clean verification reports:

✅ Lockfile verified: cryptographic hashes and package pins valid.

If package drift, unpinned versions, or corrupted hashes are detected, spec-ops security verify-lock exits with returncode 1 and lists actionable diagnostics.

Task-Level Dependency Authorization Gate

By default, autonomous agent worktrees reject modifications to pyproject.toml or uv.lock to prevent AI hallucination attacks ("slopsquatting").

To explicitly authorize dependency modifications for a task, declare allows_dependencies: true in the task frontmatter:

---
id: '0042'
title: Upgrade Database Driver
status: Refined
allows_dependencies: true
target_bc: infrastructure
---

When allows_dependencies: true is set:

1. Modifications to pyproject.toml or uv.lock are permitted in the worktree.
2. spec-ops security verify-lock and uv lock --check execute during preflight to cryptographically validate all package hashes.

Automatic Non-Dependency Sanitization

Agents sometimes inadvertently modify non-dependency sections in pyproject.toml (for example, attempting to adjust test configurations or mutation testing targets under [tool.mutmut]).

SpecOps implements proactive guardrails during commit preparation:

• If a task has allows_dependencies: false (the default) and only non-dependency sections of pyproject.toml were modified, the guardrail automatically resets pyproject.toml to HEAD.
• If actual dependency sections ([project.dependencies], dependencies =, [project.optional-dependencies], [dependency-groups], [build-system]) are altered without authorization, the file is left modified so preflight security gates properly block the commit.
• Task hydration prompts explicitly inform autonomous workers that pyproject.toml and uv.lock are immutable under US-0111 unless authorized.

Gating Backlog Integration Under Merge Lock

To gate and complete an autonomous feature branch against main:

spec-ops queue complete TASK-0042

The integration gate enforces:

• Zero unstaged lockfile alterations in the worktree or repository.
• Zero unauthorized lockfile changes across the branch diff against main.
• Full cryptographic validation before moving the task to docs/project/backlog/complete/ and synchronizing PRIORITY.md.