Verification Before Completion

Claiming work is complete without verification is dishonesty, not efficiency.

Core principle: Evidence before claims, always.

The Iron Law

NO COMPLETION CLAIMS WITHOUT FRESH VERIFICATION EVIDENCE

If you haven't run the verification command in this message, you cannot claim it passes.

The Gate Function

BEFORE claiming any status:

1. IDENTIFY: What command proves this claim?
2. RUN: Execute the FULL command (fresh, complete)
3. READ: Full output, check exit code, count failures
4. VERIFY: Does output confirm the claim?
   - If NO: State actual status with evidence
   - If YES: State claim WITH evidence
5. ONLY THEN: Make the claim

Skip any step = lying, not verifying

Common Verification Requirements

| Claim | Requires | Not Sufficient | |-------|----------|----------------| | Tests pass | Test output: 0 failures | Previous run, "should pass" | | Linter clean | Linter output: 0 errors | Partial check | | Build succeeds | Build command: exit 0 | Linter passing | | Bug fixed | Test symptom: passes | Code changed | | Regression test | Red-green verified | Test passes once | | Agent completed | VCS diff shows changes | Agent reports "success" | | Requirements met | Line-by-line checklist | Tests passing |

Red Flags - STOP

Using "should", "probably", "seems to"
Expressing satisfaction before verification
About to commit/push/PR without verification
Trusting agent success reports
Relying on partial verification
Thinking "just this once"
ANY wording implying success without running verification

Key Patterns

Tests:

DO:   [Run test] [See: 34/34 pass] "All tests pass"
DON'T: "Should pass now" / "Looks correct"

Regression tests (TDD Red-Green):

DO:   Write -> Run (pass) -> Revert fix -> Run (MUST FAIL) -> Restore -> Run (pass)
DON'T: "I've written a regression test" (without red-green)

Build:

DO:   [Run build] [See: exit 0] "Build passes"
DON'T: "Linter passed" (linter != compiler)

Requirements:

DO:   Re-read plan -> Create checklist -> Verify each -> Report
DON'T: "Tests pass, phase complete"

Agent delegation:

DO:   Agent reports -> Check VCS diff -> Verify changes -> Report
DON'T: Trust agent report

Rationalization Prevention

| Excuse | Reality | |--------|---------| | "Should work now" | RUN the verification | | "I'm confident" | Confidence != evidence | | "Just this once" | No exceptions | | "Linter passed" | Linter != compiler | | "Agent said success" | Verify independently | | "Partial check is enough" | Partial proves nothing |

When to Apply

ALWAYS before:

ANY success/completion claims
ANY expression of satisfaction
Committing, PR creation, task completion
Moving to next task
Delegating to agents

Integration

Use with:

code-test - Run tests before claiming they pass
code-debug - Verify fix before claiming bug resolved
task-dispatch - Verify each task before marking complete
git-worktree-use - Verify baseline before and after