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

Verification Before Completion Overview Core principle: Evidence before claims, always. Violating the letter of this rule is violating the spirit of this rule. The Iron Law If you haven't run the verification command in this message, you cannot claim it passes. The Gate Function 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 Red Flags STOP Using "should", "probably", "seems to" Expressing satisfaction before verification ("Great!", "Perfect!", "Done!", etc.) About to commit/push/PR without verification Trusting agent success reports Relying on partial verification Thinking "just this once" Tired and wanting work over ANY wording implying success without having run verification Rationalization Prevention Excuse Reality "Should work now" RUN the verification "I'm confident" Confidence ≠ evidence "Just this once" No exceptions "Linter passed" Linter ≠ compiler "Agent said success" Verify independently "I'm tired" Exhaustion ≠ excuse "Partial check is enough" Partial proves nothing "Different words so rule doesn't apply" Spirit over letter Key Patterns Tests: Regression tests (TDD Red Green): Build: Requirements: Agent delegation: When To Apply ALWAYS before: ANY variation of success/completion claims ANY expression of satisfaction ANY positive statement about work state Committing, PR creation, task completion Moving to next task Delegating to agents Rule applies to: Exact phrases Paraphrases and synonyms Implications of success ANY communication suggesting completion/correctness

verification-before-completion