verification-before-completion

name	verification-before-completion
description	Forces verification commands before success claims. Evidence before assertions. Triggers: complete, fixed, passing, done, ready, verified.
user-invocable	false
allowed-tools	Read

Verification Before Completion

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.

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

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

When To Apply

ALWAYS before:

• ANY variation of success/completion claims
• ANY expression of satisfaction ("Great!", "Perfect!", "Done!")
• ANY positive statement about work state
• Committing, PR creation, task completion
• Moving to next task
• Delegating to agents

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
No dead code (Art. VI.1)	Grep for every removed/renamed symbol: 0 references	"I cleaned up what I touched"
Behavior change covered (Art. VI.2)	Integration test for the API surface + unit test + docs updated	Unit test on the helper only
Diff is clean (Art. VI.4)	Re-read full diff: no orphaned imports, no stale docs, no skipped fixes	"I only changed what I needed"

Red Flags — STOP

• Using "should", "probably", "seems to"
• Expressing satisfaction before verification
• About to commit/push/PR without verification
• Trusting agent success reports without independent check
• Relying on partial verification
• Thinking "just this once"

Rationalization Prevention

Excuse	Reality
"Should work now"	RUN the verification
"I'm confident"	Confidence is not evidence
"Just this once"	No exceptions
"Linter passed"	Linter is not compiler
"Agent said success"	Verify independently
"Partial check is enough"	Partial proves nothing
"Different words so rule doesn't apply"	Spirit over letter

Key Patterns

Tests:

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

Regression tests (TDD Red-Green):

CORRECT:  Write → Run (pass) → Revert fix → Run (MUST FAIL) → Restore → Run (pass)
WRONG:    "I've written a regression test" (without red-green verification)

Requirements:

CORRECT:  Re-read plan → Create checklist → Verify each → Report gaps or completion
WRONG:    "Tests pass, phase complete"

Agent delegation:

CORRECT:  Agent reports success → Check VCS diff → Verify changes → Report actual state
WRONG:    Trust agent report at face value

Constitutional Anchors

This skill enforces Constitution Art. VI.4 (Verify Before Claiming Done). The diff re-read is not optional: before any completion claim, confirm no orphaned references, no missing test coverage for changed paths, no stale docs. A task is not done while any of those exist.

The Bottom Line

Run the command. Read the output. THEN claim the result.

This is non-negotiable.