verification-before-completion

Evidence before claims, always. If you haven't run the verification command in this message, you cannot claim it passes.

```

BEFORE any completion claim:

1. IDENTIFY: What verification 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?

- NO → State actual status with evidence

- YES → State claim WITH evidence

1. ONLY THEN: Make the claim

```

Command Selection

When multiple verification options exist (mono-repo, multiple suites):

• Run the most specific command that covers the changed code
• When uncertain, run the broadest command (full test suite > single file)
• Lint ≠ build ≠ test — each verifies different claims

Evidence Format

```

✅ Ran: npm test

Exit: 0

Result: 47 passed, 0 failed

"All tests pass."

❌ "Tests should pass now" (no command output)

```

| Claim | Required Evidence | Insufficient |

|-------|-------------------|--------------|

| Tests pass | Test output: 0 failures | Previous run, "should pass" |

| Linter clean | Linter output: 0 errors | Partial check, extrapolation |

| Build succeeds | Build exit code: 0 | Linter passing |

| Bug fixed | Original symptom test passes | Code changed |

| Regression test | Red-green cycle verified | Single green |

| Agent completed | VCS diff shows changes | Agent "success" report |

| Requirements met | Line-by-line checklist | Tests passing |

• Words: "should", "probably", "seems to"
• Satisfaction before verification: "Great!", "Perfect!", "Done!"
• About to commit/push/PR without verification
• Trusting agent success reports
• Partial verification
• ANY wording implying success without verification output

| Excuse | Response |

|--------|----------|

| "Should work now" | Run the verification |

| "I'm confident" | Confidence ≠ evidence |

| "Just this once" | No exceptions |

| "Linter passed" | Linter ≠ build |

| "Agent said success" | Verify independently |

| "Partial check enough" | Partial proves nothing |

Tests:

```

✅ [Run test] → [See: 34/34 pass] → "All tests pass"

❌ "Should pass now"

```

Regression (TDD):

```

✅ Write → Run (pass) → Revert fix → Run (MUST FAIL) → Restore → Run (pass)

❌ "Wrote regression test" (no red-green)

```

Requirements:

```

✅ Re-read plan → Checklist each item → Report gaps or completion

❌ "Tests pass, phase complete"

```

Agent delegation:

```

✅ Agent reports → Check VCS diff → Verify changes → Report actual state

❌ Trust agent report

```