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name: verification-before-completion description: "Use when claiming work is complete, tests pass, or fixes work. Required before commits and PRs. Enforces running verification commands and confirming output before success claims. Triggers: 'done', 'fixed', 'passing', 'works now', before committing."

Verification Before Completion

Overview

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

Core principle: Evidence before claims, always.

Verification Protocol

Before claiming any status:

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 = no claim permitted.

Common Failures

Red Flags

Stop immediately if:

• Using "should", "probably", "seems to"
• Expressing satisfaction before verification ("Great!", "Perfect!", "Done!")
• About to commit/push/PR without verification
• Trusting agent success reports
• Relying on partial verification
• Rationalizing pre-existing test failures as "unrelated"
• Claiming "my tests pass" when full suite has failures
• Any wording implying success without having run verification

Verification Patterns

Tests:

CopyGood: [Run full test suite] [See: 34/34 pass] "All tests in suite pass"
Bad: "My new tests pass" (ignoring 2 pre-existing failures)
Bad: "Should pass now" / "Looks correct"

Regression tests (TDD Red-Green):

CopyGood: Write -> Run (pass) -> Revert fix -> Run (must fail) -> Restore -> Run (pass)
Bad: "I've written a regression test" (without red-green verification)

Build:

CopyGood: [Run build] [See: exit 0] "Build passes"
Bad: "Linter passed" (linter doesn't verify compilation)

Requirements:

CopyGood: Re-read plan -> Create checklist -> Verify each -> Report
Bad: "Tests pass, phase complete"

Agent delegation:

CopyGood: Agent reports success -> Check VCS diff -> Verify -> Report actual state
Bad: Trust agent report

Rationalization Prevention

No shortcuts exist. Counter every excuse:

• "Should work now" -> Run 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
• "Pre-existing failures are unrelated" -> Full suite must pass, no exceptions
• "My tests pass" -> All tests must pass, not just yours

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

Rule applies to exact phrases, paraphrases, synonyms, and implications.

Bottom Line

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

No exceptions.