AgentAlley

Skills · Coding

Verification Before Completion

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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

Originally by obra · MIT

Claude Code◐PartialHas SKILL.md but declares no allowed-tools — Claude Code will ask for permission each time
Cursor◐PartialPlain prose you can paste in — but no Cursor rules file
Codex◐PartialPlain prose you can paste in — but no AGENTS.md
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npx agentalley add verification-before-completion

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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

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verification-before-completion/SKILL.md121 lines3.6 KBRawView on GitHub
Frontmatter — 2 properties
nameverification-before-completion
descriptionUse 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
1---
2name: verification-before-completion
3description: 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
4---A5 — No allowed-tools declared — no way to tell what this skill may touch
5 
6# Verification Before Completion
7 
8## Overview
9 
10**Core principle:** Evidence before claims, always.
11 
12**Violating the letter of this rule is violating the spirit of this rule.**
13 
14## The Iron Law
15 
16```
17NO COMPLETION CLAIMS WITHOUT FRESH VERIFICATION EVIDENCE
18```
19 
20If you haven't run the verification command in this message, you cannot claim it passes.
21 
22## The Gate Function
23 
24```
25BEFORE claiming any status or expressing satisfaction:
26 
271. IDENTIFY: What command proves this claim?
282. RUN: Execute the FULL command (fresh, complete)
293. READ: Full output, check exit code, count failures
304. VERIFY: Does output confirm the claim?
31 - If NO: State actual status with evidence
32 - If YES: State claim WITH evidence
335. ONLY THEN: Make the claim
34 
35Skip any step = lying, not verifying
36```
37 
38## Common Failures
39 
40| Claim | Requires | Not Sufficient |
41|-------|----------|----------------|
42| Tests pass | Test command output: 0 failures | Previous run, "should pass" |
43| Linter clean | Linter output: 0 errors | Partial check, extrapolation |
44| Build succeeds | Build command: exit 0 | Linter passing, logs look good |
45| Bug fixed | Test original symptom: passes | Code changed, assumed fixed |
46| Regression test works | Red-green cycle verified | Test passes once |
47| Agent completed | VCS diff shows changes | Agent reports "success" |
48| Requirements met | Line-by-line checklist | Tests passing |
49 
50## Red Flags - STOP
51 
52- Using "should", "probably", "seems to"
53- Expressing satisfaction before verification ("Great!", "Perfect!", "Done!", etc.)
54- About to commit/push/PR without verification
55- Trusting agent success reports
56- Relying on partial verification
57- Thinking "just this once"
58- Tired and wanting work over
59- **ANY wording implying success without having run verification**
60 
61## Rationalization Prevention
62 
63| Excuse | Reality |
64|--------|---------|
65| "Should work now" | RUN the verification |
66| "I'm confident" | Confidence ≠ evidence |
67| "Just this once" | No exceptions |
68| "Linter passed" | Linter ≠ compiler |
69| "Agent said success" | Verify independently |
70| "I'm tired" | Exhaustion ≠ excuse |
71| "Partial check is enough" | Partial proves nothing |
72| "Different words so rule doesn't apply" | Spirit over letter |
73 
74## Key Patterns
75 
76**Tests:**
77```
78✅ [Run test command] [See: 34/34 pass] "All tests pass"
79❌ "Should pass now" / "Looks correct"
80```
81 
82**Regression tests (TDD Red-Green):**
83```
84✅ Write → Run (pass) → Revert fix → Run (MUST FAIL) → Restore → Run (pass)
85❌ "I've written a regression test" (without red-green verification)
86```
87 
88**Build:**
89```
90✅ [Run build] [See: exit 0] "Build passes"
91❌ "Linter passed" (linter doesn't check compilation)
92```
93 
94**Requirements:**
95```
96✅ Re-read plan → Create checklist → Verify each → Report gaps or completion
97❌ "Tests pass, phase complete"
98```
99 
100**Agent delegation:**
101```
102✅ Agent reports success → Check VCS diff → Verify changes → Report actual state
103❌ Trust agent report
104```
105 
106## When To Apply
107 
108**ALWAYS before:**
109- ANY variation of success/completion claims
110- ANY expression of satisfaction
111- ANY positive statement about work state
112- Committing, PR creation, task completion
113- Moving to next task
114- Delegating to agents
115 
116**Rule applies to:**
117- Exact phrases
118- Paraphrases and synonyms
119- Implications of success
120- ANY communication suggesting completion/correctness
121 

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