Fingerprint delivered files with SHA-256 so you can check later that nothing was swapped or edited, provided the manifest itself is kept somewhere the other party cannot change.
Check that the local files accompanying a handoff still match an explicit SHA-256 manifest. Create a manifest from named files, verify it later, and get clear errors for changed, missing or unsafe paths.
A matching hash proves byte integrity relative to the manifest. It does not prove that a report is true, that a test passed, or that work is complete.
A small open-source engineering utility from IT Custom Solution. Python 3.10+, no runtime dependencies, no network requests, no commands executed. MIT licensed.
git clone https://github.com/itcustomsolution/delivery-evidence-check.git
cd delivery-evidence-check
python -m delivery_evidence_check verify examples/manifest.json
python -m delivery_evidence_check verify examples/manifest.json --jsonThe first command reports PASS: local file integrity; 1 file(s) read. The
example and its claimed review are fictional. Change a byte in
examples/artifacts/review.txt and the next verification reports hash_mismatch
with exit code 1.
Create a manifest for explicit files; paths are relative to --root:
python -m delivery_evidence_check create --root examples artifacts/review.txt > manifest.json
python -m delivery_evidence_check verify manifest.json --root examplescreate prints JSON to stdout. The shell redirection writes the output file;
the tool itself never writes, scans directories, expands globs or runs a check.
List each file explicitly. Do not redirect output onto a listed input file.
Verification defaults to the manifest's directory unless --root is supplied.
Install the latest published release with pipx install delivery-evidence-check (or
pip install delivery-evidence-check). This README describes the source tree, which may contain changes
that are not released yet.
To install from source in a virtual environment:
python -m venv .venv
. .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install .
delivery-evidence-check --versionInstallation uses setuptools as a build dependency. Running from the checkout needs only the Python standard library; no package registry release is required.
{
"schema_version": 1,
"files": [
{
"path": "artifacts/review.txt",
"sha256": "41c8044b49434ee47032e107981ba6898e33ca801b77ecb143d6661382548903"
}
],
"local_checks": [
{
"name": "Synthetic greeting review",
"result": "passed",
"evidence": [
"artifacts/review.txt"
]
}
]
}schema_version: integer1.files: nonempty array of objects containing onlypathandsha256.path: a relative, forward-slash-separated portable path. Empty components,./.., absolute paths, backslashes, reserved device names, control characters, Windows-reserved punctuation and trailing dots/spaces are rejected.sha256: 64 lowercase hexadecimal characters. Duplicate paths and paths colliding after Unicode NFC normalization and case folding are rejected.local_checks: optional array. Each check has a nonempty uniquename,result(passed,failed, ornot_run) and anevidencearray of exact file paths already listed infiles. A claimed pass/failure needs evidence. Repeated evidence paths are rejected.
Unknown fields, malformed UTF-8/JSON, duplicate JSON keys and nonfinite numbers
are rejected, including exponent overflow such as 1e999. The manifest limit
is 1 MiB. Files are hashed in chunks. By default, explicitly listed evidence
files have no size limit. Set --max-file-bytes and/or --max-total-bytes on
create or verify to bound accepted file sizes and total evidence reads:
python -m delivery_evidence_check verify examples/manifest.json \
--max-file-bytes 1048576 --max-total-bytes 10485760 --jsonLimits are nonnegative integer byte counts; zero permits empty files. A file that is already too large is refused before its contents are read. The reader also enforces the limit while reading, with at most one extra byte read to detect a file growing past a limit. Bytes read from an unsuccessful file count toward the total budget. Each invocation starts a fresh budget. These are byte limits, not wall-clock timeouts or filesystem isolation; use trusted stable files appropriate to your time and disk budget.
local_checks records claims. Even a claimed failed or not_run check can
have an integrity-valid manifest. No check result changes the meaning of a
successful integrity comparison. create produces only the file list; add
claimed metadata explicitly if it is useful to the recipient.
JSON reports contain ok, scope (local_file_integrity), files_checked,
claimed_checks and issues. Each issue has code, location and message.
files_checked counts files successfully read, including hash mismatches.
Schema errors prevent evidence-file reads. Other file errors are collected.
| Exit | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 0 | Manifest and file integrity checks pass; or help/version displayed |
| 1 | Invalid manifest, unreadable/unsafe file, or hash mismatch |
| 2 | Invalid command-line usage |
Common issue codes: input_error, invalid_schema, unknown_field,
invalid_path, duplicate_path, invalid_hash, unknown_evidence,
file_unavailable, hash_mismatch, resource_limit. A resource-limit failure
returns exit 1 and never a successful integrity comparison. Treat message wording as human-facing.
create errors go to stderr and produce no JSON; verify --json validation
errors are JSON on stdout. CLI usage errors are on stderr.
from delivery_evidence_check import create_manifest, load_manifest, verify_manifest
manifest = create_manifest("examples", ["artifacts/review.txt"])
report = verify_manifest(manifest, "examples")
assert report["ok"]
loaded = load_manifest("examples/manifest.json")
report = verify_manifest(loaded, "examples")verify_manifest returns a report for invalid documents. load_manifest and
create_manifest raise EvidenceError for input errors. create_manifest and
verify_manifest accept optional keyword-only max_file_bytes and
max_total_bytes; invalid limits raise EvidenceError. All APIs are read-only.
Symlinks in file, root and ancestor paths are refused. Directories, FIFOs and
other special files are refused. On systems supporting descriptor-relative
opens and O_NOFOLLOW, every component is opened without following symlinks.
Other systems use component checks with weaker race protection. Use stable,
trusted local directories; this is not a sandbox for hostile concurrent writers.
Resolve any trusted operating-system directory aliases before choosing a root.
A file that changes during reading is rejected when metadata changes are
observed, but the tool cannot provide an atomic snapshot of multiple files.
The manifest is unsigned: changing both the file and its recorded hash defeats
this comparison. No authenticity, provenance, ownership, completeness, malware
safety, certification or deployment claim follows from ok: true.
Read SECURITY.md before using sensitive evidence. Never commit private evidence or credentials just to demonstrate this tool.
python -m unittest discover -s tests -vTests use temporary directories and synthetic data. The pull-request workflow is configured for Python 3.10, 3.12 and 3.14 on Linux, plus Python 3.14 on macOS. Configured jobs are not executed by this change; workflow run results are the evidence of executed coverage. See CONTRIBUTING.md.
Issues and small pull requests are welcome; see CONTRIBUTING.md. Run python -m unittest discover -s tests before opening a PR. Release history is in CHANGELOG.md.
MIT, see LICENSE.