verification-before-completion

name	verification-before-completion
description	Use when about to claim work is done, fixed, passing, validated, merged, report-ready, or safe to proceed. Requires fresh verification evidence before success claims, commits, pull requests, task completion, operator reports, cleanup claims, or moving to the next step.
license	MIT
compatibility	AgentSkills-compatible verification workflow for coding, skill curation, research, and authorized security work.
metadata	{"author":"AeonDave","version":"1.0"}

Verification Before Completion

Completion is a claim. Claims need fresh evidence.

Boundary: evidence-before-claims governs claim wording and evidence quality in general. This skill is the freshness gate at the completion boundary — did you actually re-run the check after the last change?

Core rule

Do not say work is complete, fixed, passing, clean, validated, or ready unless the verification command or artifact was checked after the last change in the current context.

Gate workflow

1. Name the claim: what exactly is being asserted?
2. Choose proof: command, test, diff, log, replay, artifact, or checklist that would falsify the claim.
3. Run fresh, post-edit: use the full relevant check on the current tree; any prior run before the last edit is stale.
4. Read the output: exit code, failures, warnings, skipped checks, and scope limits. Exit 0 ≠ objective met — inspect what the tool actually produced.
5. Report accurately: claim success only when evidence supports it; otherwise state the actual status and next smallest fix.

Common claim gates

Claim	Requires	Not enough
Tests pass	fresh run after the last code edit, zero relevant failures	earlier green run before further edits
Build succeeds	build command exit 0 on current tree	lint-only, or stale build artifact
Bug fixed	original reproducer now fails-then-passes across the fix	code changed near symptom, or “should work”
Requirements met	checklist mapped to each spec/request item	tests pass without covering the requirement
Skill valid	quick_validate.py on the changed skill dir	frontmatter looks right by inspection
Objective met via tool	tool output shows the objective state	tool exit 0 or “no error”
Delegated / sub-agent work done	controller inspects diff/artifacts and re-runs the check	worker/sub-agent report says done
Cleanup / remediation complete	post-action target-state re-inspected	remediation command ran without error

Security and offensive focus

• Exploit/tooling claims need reproduced primitive, target/build context, or marked uncertainty.
• Cleanup/remediation claims need post-action target-state evidence.
• Scanner triage needs replay, source/sink confirmation, or explicit downgrade.
• Report-ready findings need evidence, limits, and smallest next verification step.

Resources

Load on demand:

• references/completion-evidence.md — detailed claim evidence table and red flags.