Verification Before Completion

The Iron Law

NO COMPLETION CLAIMS WITHOUT FRESH VERIFICATION EVIDENCE

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

When to Apply

Before ANY of these:

• Claiming tests pass, build succeeds, or linter is clean
• Expressing satisfaction ("Great!", "Done!", "All good!")
• Committing, pushing, or creating a PR
• Moving to the next task or slice
• Reporting completion to the user

The Gate

1. IDENTIFY → What command proves this claim?
2. RUN     → Execute it. Fresh. Complete. Not a cached result.
3. READ    → Full output. Check exit code. Count failures.
4. VERIFY  → Does the output support the claim?
5. CLAIM   → Only now may you state the result.

Skip any step = the claim is unverified.

Evidence Standards

Claim	Required Evidence	Not Sufficient
"Tests pass"	Full test output showing 0 failures	Previous run, "should pass", partial suite
"Build succeeds"	Build command output, exit code 0	Linter passing (linter ≠ compiler)
"Lint clean"	Linter output showing 0 errors/warnings	Build passing (build ≠ lint)
"Bug fixed"	Reproduce original symptom → now passes	"I changed the code"
"Regression test works"	Red-green cycle: fail → fix → pass	Test passes once without verifying it can fail
"Requirements met"	Line-by-line checklist against acceptance criteria	"Tests pass" (tests may not cover requirements)
"Migration works"	Run migration up AND down successfully	"Schema looks correct"

Red-Green Verification (TDD)

When claiming a regression test is valid:

1. Write test
2. Run test → MUST FAIL (Red)
3. Implement fix
4. Run test → MUST PASS (Green)
5. Revert fix temporarily
6. Run test → MUST FAIL AGAIN (proves test is meaningful)
7. Restore fix
8. Run test → Passes (final confirmation)

If the test never fails, it proves nothing.

Red Flags — Stop and Verify

Catch yourself if you're about to say:

Phrase	What to Do Instead
"Should work now"	Run the command
"I'm confident this is correct"	Confidence ≠ evidence
"Looks like it should pass"	Looks ≠ verified
"Just this once I'll skip"	No exceptions
"The linter passed so the build should too"	They check different things
"I changed the right file"	Run the test
"The agent said it succeeded"	Verify independently

Integration with Pipeline

This skill reinforces the pipeline's completion-checklist rule:

1. Code — implementation meets the contract ← verified by tests
2. Tests — all pass ← verified by running them RIGHT NOW
3. Tracking — progress files updated ← verified by reading them
4. Locks — claims removed ← verified by checking

The Bottom Line

Run the command. Read the output. Count the failures. THEN make the claim.

This is non-negotiable. The cost of verification is 30 seconds. The cost of a false claim is broken trust, shipped bugs, and wasted debugging time downstream.