| name | verification-before-completion |
| description | Use when about to claim work is complete, fixed, or passing, before committing or creating PRs - requires running verification commands and confirming output before making any success claims; evidence before assertions always |
Claiming work is complete without verification is dishonesty, not efficiency. Evidence before claims, always. Violating the letter of this rule is violating the spirit.
Use before ANY success/completion claim, expression of satisfaction, or positive statement about work state.
Use before committing, PR creation, task completion, moving to next task.
NO COMPLETION CLAIMS WITHOUT FRESH VERIFICATION EVIDENCE. If you haven't run the verification command in this message, you cannot claim it passes.
**IDENTIFY** — What command proves this claim?
**RUN** — Execute the FULL command (fresh, complete).
**READ** — Full output, check exit code, count failures.
**VERIFY** — Does output confirm the claim? If NO: state actual status with evidence. If YES: state claim WITH evidence.
**ONLY THEN** — Make the claim.
What requires verification
| Claim | Requires | Not sufficient |
|---|
| Tests pass | Test 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 | Original symptom test passes | Code changed, assumed fixed |
| Agent completed | VCS diff shows changes | Agent reports "success" |
| Requirements met | Line-by-line checklist | Tests passing alone |
Red Flags — STOP
- Using "should", "probably", "seems to"
- Expressing satisfaction before verification ("Great!", "Perfect!", "Done!")
- About to commit/push/PR without verification
- Trusting agent success reports without independent check
- ANY wording implying success without having run verification
Rationalizations
| Excuse | Reality |
|---|
| "Should work now" | RUN the verification |
| "I'm confident" | Confidence ≠ evidence |
| "Linter passed" | Linter ≠ compiler |
| "Agent said success" | Verify independently |
| "Partial check is enough" | Partial proves nothing |
`[Run test command]` → See: 34/34 pass → "All tests pass"
"Should pass now" / "Looks correct" / "I've written a regression test" (without red-green verification)
