abildtoft/kramme:verify:before-completion

Verification Before Completion

Overview

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

Core principle: Evidence before claims, always.

Violating the letter of this rule is violating the spirit of this rule.

This skill runs your project's own verification commands (tests, build, lint) and gates claims on their output. To discover and run the project's checks, use kramme:verify:run. It produces no artifact and changes no code, except the optional regression red-green check below, which temporarily reverts a fix.

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 or expressing satisfaction:

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

If no command can prove the claim — no test/build/lint exists, or it cannot run in this environment — say so explicitly: name what you changed and what you could not verify. "Cannot verify X here" is an honest status; "X passes" without evidence is not.

Common Failures

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

When To Apply — Red Flags That Mean STOP

Run the gate before ANY of these:

• A success/completion claim or expression of satisfaction ("Great!", "Perfect!", "Done!")
• Any positive statement about work state, or hedging like "should", "probably", "seems to"
• Committing, pushing, creating a PR, completing a task, or moving to the next one
• Trusting an agent's success report, or relying on a partial check
• Thinking "just this once" or "I'm tired and want this over"

The rule covers exact phrases, paraphrases, synonyms, and ANY wording implying success without fresh verification. Different words do not exempt you.

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 | | "I'm tired" | Exhaustion ≠ excuse | | "Partial check is enough" | Partial proves nothing | | "Different words so rule doesn't apply" | Spirit over letter |

Key Patterns

Tests:

✅ [Run test command] [See: 34/34 pass] "All tests pass"
❌ "Should pass now" / "Looks correct"

Regression tests (TDD Red-Green):

✅ Write → Run (pass) → Revert fix via VCS (git stash push -- <files changed by the fix>) → Run (MUST FAIL) → Restore (git stash pop) → Run (pass)
❌ "I've written a regression test" (without red-green verification)

Scope the stash to the files the fix changed so unrelated working-tree changes stay untouched. If git stash pop conflicts, resolve the conflict preserving the fix — or abort and tell the user the tree needs manual attention.

Build:

✅ [Run build] [See: exit 0] "Build passes"
❌ "Linter passed" (linter doesn't check compilation)

Requirements:

✅ Re-read plan → Create checklist → Verify each → Report gaps or completion
❌ "Tests pass, phase complete"

Agent delegation:

✅ Agent reports success → Check VCS diff → Verify changes → Report actual state
❌ Trust agent report

Why This Matters

False completion claims have concrete costs:

• Trust breaks — once a claim proves false, every later claim is doubted
• Broken code ships — undefined functions and unhandled cases that crash in use
• Incomplete features ship — requirements silently missed
• Rework — time lost to redirect-and-redo after a false "done"
• Honesty is a core value; a claim without evidence is a lie, not a shortcut