Verify checks a published help article against your product's code. It says which statements are still true, which are out of date and which it can't tell, and writes a fix for what's out of date for your team to review. Nothing changes for readers until someone publishes the fix. Anyone on the team can run it.

Before you start

Verify needs:

  • the article to be published;

  • GitHub connected, with at least one repository in the project (see Connect GitHub);

  • Analyse merged pull requests turned on in Settings → Autopilot (see Set up Autopilot);

  • AI credits left. Each check uses some.

If something's missing, the Verify panel says what, in place of its button.

Check an article

  1. Open the article in Docs.

  2. Open More actions (…) in the top bar and choose Verify.

  3. In the panel, choose Verify.

Verify reads your repository's default branch at its latest commit, picks the files that can tell, and checks the article's newest text, including its unpublished changes. With several repositories, it reads the one added to the project first. The files it reads are sent to your AI provider, with files that hold secrets left out and anything that looks like a secret masked.

When it's done, a message says what it found, such as "Verified: 2 out of date, its fix waits for you" or "Verified: nothing out of date".

Read what it found

The panel lists every check of the article, newest first. Each one shows when it ran, who started it, the repository and commit it read, and how many statements are still true, out of date or can't be told. What it found opens the list of statements, each with:

  • Still true, Out of date or Can't tell;

  • a note on what the code says;

  • the files it's based on.

One check in the Verify panel: started by Maya Chen at lumenhq/lumen-app@8f3c2a9, its counts, Its fix waits for you with Review it, and What it found open

A check says Checked, or:

  • Checking… while it runs. Only one runs per article at a time.

  • Skipped when the repository and the article haven't changed since the last check, so there's nothing new to check.

  • Checked, fix not written when the article changed while it ran, and Didn't check when it changed before the check began. Run it again to check the newest version.

  • Didn't finish, with why, such as "GitHub didn't let Tuti read the repository." or "The AI provider didn't answer." Run it again once that's fixed.

Review its fix

What's out of date is fixed as an edit to the article. The check says "Its fix waits for you", with Review it, which opens the article's review in Autopilot. There, the fix has a Verify chip, beside any pull requests' edits waiting on the same article.

  • Approve and publish publishes it, with the article's other waiting edits.

  • Dismiss in the Verify chip drops it.

  • Undo in the chip takes it back out once published.

A fix never goes out by itself, whatever Autopilot's settings, and while it waits, the article's other edits wait with it. A fix that's out of date can only be dismissed. More on reviewing is in Review Autopilot's updates.

The check then says what became of its fix: published, dismissed or undone, and by whom.

Check every article with Verify all

  1. Open Docs.

  2. Open More actions (…) and choose Verify all.

  3. Read what it will cost, then choose Verify N articles.

Verify all's confirmation: it checks each published article one after another, what it will cost in AI credits and the balance, with Cancel and Verify 3 articles

Before anything runs, the dialog says how many AI credits it will cost at most and how many you have. Articles that are skipped cost nothing. If it costs more than you have, it stops when the credits run out, and says how far it got.

Verify all checks your published articles one after another, the most read first, as a separate check each. It shows its progress, such as "Checked 3 of 12 articles". You can close the dialog: it goes on, and opening Verify all again shows where it is. Only one runs in a project at a time. Articles unpublished, deleted or checked by hand after it started are left out.

When it's done, the dialog says how many articles are out of date and how many fixes wait, with Review in Autopilot.

When Autopilot checks an article by itself

When edits from two or more merged pull requests wait on an article that hasn't been checked since, Autopilot considers whether the article as a whole needs checking, for example because later edits rewrite sections earlier ones changed. If so, it starts a check. The check says "Started by Autopilot", with why, and its fix waits for review like any other.

Emails

Owners who get Autopilot's email as it happens are emailed when a check writes a fix, and when a Verify all ends with fixes waiting. See Autopilot's emails.