Verification Before Completion

Core Principle: No completion claims without fresh verification evidence.

The Verification Gate

BEFORE any claim of success, completion, or satisfaction:

Copy this checklist and track your progress:

Verification Checklist:

• IDENTIFY: What command proves this claim?

• RUN: Execute the verification command (fresh, complete)

• READ: Check full output, exit code, failure counts

• VERIFY: Does output confirm the claim?

  • If NO → State actual status with evidence
  • If YES → State claim WITH evidence

• IDENTIFY - What command proves this claim?

• RUN - Execute the full verification command (fresh, complete)

• READ - Check full output, exit code, failure counts

• VERIFY - Does output confirm the claim?

• NO → State actual status with evidence

• YES → State claim WITH evidence from step 2-3

Skip any step = invalid claim.

When This Applies

ALWAYS before:

• Claiming "tests pass", "build succeeds", "linter clean", "bug fixed"

• Expressing satisfaction ("Great!", "Done!", "Perfect!")

• Using qualifiers ("should work", "probably fixed", "seems to")

• Committing, creating PRs, marking tasks complete

• Moving to next task or delegating work

• ANY statement implying success or completion

Common Verification Requirements

Claim Required Evidence Not Sufficient

Tests pass yarn test output: 0 failures Previous run, "looks correct"

Build succeeds Build command: exit 0 Linter clean, "should work"

Bug fixed Test reproducing bug: now passes Code changed, assumed fix

Linter clean Linter output: 0 errors Partial check, spot test

Regression test works Red→Green cycle verified Test passes once

Agent task complete VCS diff shows expected changes Agent reports "success"

Red Flags

Stop and verify if you're about to:

• Use hedging language ("should", "probably", "seems to")

• Express satisfaction before running verification

• Trust agent/tool success reports without independent verification

• Rely on partial checks or previous runs

• Think "just this once" or "I'm confident it works"

Key Examples

Regression test (TDD Red-Green):

✅ Write test → Run (fail) → Fix code → Run (pass) → Revert fix → Run (MUST fail) → Restore → Run (pass) ❌ "I've written a regression test" (without verifying red-green cycle)

Build vs Linter:

✅ Run npm run build → See "exit 0" → Claim "build passes" ❌ Run linter → Claim "build will pass" (linter ≠ compiler)

Agent delegation:

✅ Agent reports success → Check git diff → Verify changes → Report actual state ❌ Trust agent's success message without verification

Why It Matters

Unverified claims break trust and ship broken code:

• Undefined functions that crash production

• Incomplete features missing requirements

• Lost time on rework after false completion

• Partner distrust: "I don't believe you"

Violating this skill violates core honesty requirements.

No Exceptions

Run the command. Read the output. THEN claim the result.

Evidence before assertions, always.