Verification before completion

Verification Before Completion

Overview

This skill enforces a critical discipline: never claim completion without fresh verification evidence.

The most common failure mode for AI agents is claiming success without actually verifying. This skill prevents that by requiring explicit verification steps before any completion claim.

The Iron Law

NO COMPLETION CLAIMS WITHOUT FRESH VERIFICATION EVIDENCE

The Process

Before ANY Completion Claim

1. IDENTIFY: What command proves this claim?
   → "Tests pass" requires: npm test / pytest / go test
   → "Build succeeds" requires: npm run build / make
   → "Lint clean" requires: npm run lint / eslint
   → "Type check passes" requires: tsc --noEmit / mypy

2. RUN: Execute the FULL command (fresh, complete)
   → Not cached results
   → Not partial output
   → Not "I ran it earlier"

3. READ: Full output, check exit code, count failures
   → Exit code 0 = success
   → Exit code non-zero = failure
   → Count actual pass/fail numbers

4. VERIFY: Does output confirm the claim?
   → "All tests pass" = 0 failures in output
   → "Build succeeds" = no errors, artifacts created
   → "No lint errors" = 0 problems found

5. ONLY THEN: Make the claim with evidence
   → Quote the relevant output
   → Include exit code
   → Show pass/fail counts

Verification Commands by Context

Flow Exit Gates

Flow	Verification Command	Success Criteria
/flow-prd	validate-constitution --type prd	Exit 0, no violations
/flow-epic	validate-constitution --type epic	Exit 0, no violations
/flow-dev	npm test && npm run build	All tests pass, build succeeds
/flow-qa	npm test && npm run lint	All pass, no blockers
/flow-release	gh pr checks	All checks pass

Common Development Tasks

Claim	Required Verification
"Tests pass"	Run full test suite, show output
"Build succeeds"	Run build command, show output
"Lint clean"	Run linter, show 0 errors
"Type check passes"	Run type checker, show output
"No regressions"	Run affected tests, compare before/after
"Bug fixed"	Show failing test → fix → passing test

Rationalization Prevention

Excuse	Reality
"I just ran it"	Run it again. Fresh evidence required.
"It was passing before"	Before ≠ now. Verify current state.
"The change is trivial"	Trivial changes break things. Verify.
"I'm confident it works"	Confidence ≠ evidence. Run the command.
"Tests are slow"	Slow tests > broken production. Run them.
"I'll verify after commit"	Verify BEFORE commit. Always.
"The CI will catch it"	You catch it first. Don't waste CI cycles.
"It's just documentation"	Doc changes can break builds. Verify.

Red Flags - STOP

If you find yourself:

• Saying "should work" without running verification
• Claiming "tests pass" without showing output
• Saying "I believe" instead of "I verified"
• Skipping verification "just this once"
• Trusting cached or stale results

STOP. Run the verification command. Show the evidence.

Evidence Format

When claiming completion, always include:

## Verification Evidence

**Command**: `npm test`
**Exit Code**: 0
**Output Summary**:
- Tests: 42 passed, 0 failed
- Coverage: 85%
- Duration: 12.3s

**Conclusion**: All tests pass. Ready for commit.

Integration with CC-DevFlow

Every Flow Exit Gate

Exit Gate Verification:
  1. Identify required verification commands
  2. Run each command fresh
  3. Capture full output
  4. Verify success criteria met
  5. Document evidence in EXECUTION_LOG.md
  6. Only then proceed to next stage

Task Completion

Task Completion Verification:
  1. Run task-specific tests
  2. Verify acceptance criteria met
  3. Show evidence in task completion message
  4. Mark task complete only with evidence

The Discipline

This skill is about intellectual honesty. It's easy to believe something works. It's harder to prove it.

The discipline is:

1. Assume nothing - Don't trust memory or intuition
2. Verify everything - Run the actual commands
3. Show evidence - Quote output, not beliefs
4. Fresh results only - No stale or cached data

Cross-Reference

• Constitution Article I: Quality First (complete implementation)
• Constitution Article VI: Test-First Development (TDD)
• rationalization-library.md: Cross-Article rationalizations

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