third774/verification-before-completion

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

1. IDENTIFY - What command proves this claim?
2. RUN - Execute the full verification command (fresh, complete)
3. READ - Check full output, exit code, failure counts
4. 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.