Verification Before Completion
Never declare work complete without running verification commands and confirming their output. Evidence before assertions, always.
Core Rule
Before claiming ANY of the following, you MUST run the relevant verification commands and confirm their output:
- "Tests pass"
- "The fix works"
- "Build succeeds"
- "Everything is green"
- "Ready to commit/push/merge"
- "Done" / "Complete" / "Finished"
What Counts as Verification
Acceptable evidence:
- Running the test suite and seeing the output (pass count, zero failures)
- Running the build command and seeing "build succeeded" or equivalent
- Running typecheck/lint and seeing zero errors
- Reproducing the specific scenario that was broken and confirming it now works
- Running the specific test that was failing and confirming it now passes
NOT acceptable evidence:
- "I think this works based on the code I wrote"
- "This should fix it" (without running anything)
- "The logic looks correct" (code reading alone)
- Committing without running tests
- Declaring done because the implementation matches the plan
Workflow
- Before claiming tests pass: Run the test command. Read the output. Confirm zero failures.
- Before claiming a fix works: Reproduce the original failure scenario. Confirm it no longer fails.
- Before claiming the build succeeds: Run the build command. Read the output. Confirm no errors.
- Before committing: Run tests + typecheck + lint. All must pass.
- Before creating a PR: Run the full verification suite. Confirm CI-equivalent checks pass locally.
Red Flags
Stop and verify if you catch yourself:
- Saying "I believe this works" without having run it
- Committing immediately after writing code
- Skipping tests because "it's a small change"
- Declaring a bug fixed without reproducing the original issue
- Saying "tests should pass" instead of "tests pass — here's the output"
- Trusting that your code is correct because it looks right
The Mantra
"Show me the output." Every claim of completion must be backed by command output you have actually seen in this session.