Verification Before Completion

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

When to Use

ALWAYS before:

• ANY variation of success/completion claims
• ANY expression of satisfaction about work state
• Committing, PR creation, task completion
• Moving to next task
• Delegating to other agents

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The Iron Law

NO COMPLETION CLAIMS WITHOUT FRESH VERIFICATION EVIDENCE

If you haven't run the verification command in this response, you cannot claim it passes.

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The Gate Function

BEFORE claiming any status or expressing satisfaction:

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 = lying, not verifying

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Common Verification Requirements

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
Clippy passes	cargo clippy with 0 warnings	cargo build succeeds
Format correct	cargo fmt --check exit 0	Code looks right

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Red Flags - STOP

• Using "should", "probably", "seems to"
• Expressing satisfaction before verification ("Great!", "Perfect!", "Done!")
• About to commit/push/PR without verification
• Trusting agent success reports without checking
• Relying on partial verification
• Thinking "just this once"
• ANY wording implying success without having run verification

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Rationalization Prevention

Excuse	Reality
"Should work now"	RUN the verification
"I'm confident"	Confidence ≠ evidence
"Just this once"	No exceptions
"Linter passed"	Linter ≠ compiler ≠ tests
"Agent said success"	Verify independently
"Partial check is enough"	Partial proves nothing
"Different words so rule doesn't apply"	Spirit over letter

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Key Patterns

Tests

✅ [Run test command] [See: 34/34 pass] "All tests pass"
❌ "Should pass now" / "Looks correct"

Build (Rust)

✅ cargo build --release && echo "Build passes: exit 0"
❌ "Linter passed" (linter doesn't check compilation)

Clippy Pedantic

✅ cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings -W clippy::pedantic
   [See: 0 warnings] "Clippy pedantic clean"
❌ "Fixed the warning" (without re-running)

Requirements

✅ Re-read plan → Create checklist → Verify each → Report gaps or completion
❌ "Tests pass, phase complete"

Agent Delegation

✅ Agent reports success → Check VCS diff → Verify changes → Report actual state
❌ Trust agent report

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CTO Platform Verification Checklist

Before marking any task complete:

Code Quality

• cargo fmt --all --check - exit 0
• cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings -W clippy::pedantic - 0 warnings
• cargo test - all pass

Pre-Commit

• pre-commit run --all-files - all hooks pass

GitOps (if applicable)

• make -C infra/gitops validate - passes

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Why This Matters

From failure analysis:

• Trust broken when claims don't match reality
• Undefined functions shipped would crash production
• Missing requirements shipped = incomplete features
• Time wasted: false completion → redirect → rework

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The Bottom Line

No shortcuts for verification.

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

This is non-negotiable.