verification-before-completion

Verification Before Completion

Do not claim a task is complete until you have fresh evidence from the command that proves the claim. Memory, prior runs, and "it should work" are not evidence.

When to Use

• Before saying a bug is fixed
• Before reporting that tests pass
• Before marking a PR ready for review
• Before saying "done", "resolved", or "working"
• When an agent sounds confident without showing current output

When NOT to Use

Instead of verification-before-completion	Use
Exploring a hypothesis during debugging	systematic-debugging
Evaluating an LLM pipeline or agent output	eval-harness
Running the red/green cycle for a new feature	tdd-workflow

Prerequisites

• You know the exact claim you want to make
• You know the command that would prove or falsify that claim
• You can inspect the full output and exit code

Pre-flight Plan Check

Before starting any task, validate the plan itself — not just after the work is done.

Ask:

• Does any step in the plan conflict with another (e.g., two steps that modify the same file in incompatible ways)?
• Does the plan match the stated objective, or has scope crept in?
• Are there hidden dependencies the plan does not account for?

Run the plan check before the first tool call, not after the work is in progress.

Pre-flight checklist:
[ ] Objective matches the actual request
[ ] No step conflicts with another
[ ] Scope matches what was authorized — no undeclared additions
[ ] Dependencies between steps are accounted for

If a conflict is found at pre-flight, resolve it with the user before proceeding. Fixing a wrong plan mid-execution costs more than catching it upfront.

Workflow

1. Identify the proving command

Ask: "What command would directly prove this claim right now?"

Claim	Proving command
Tests pass	npm test -- --testPathPattern="<target>" or the project equivalent
Build succeeds	npm run build
Bug is fixed	The original reproduction command or failing test
API works	A real HTTP request such as curl
Migration succeeded	Direct state verification such as SELECT COUNT(*) ...