Verification-Before-Completion Gate

Never claim a task is complete without running a verification command and reading its output. "I believe it works" is not evidence.

Verification Checkpoints

You MUST verify at each of these triggers:

1. Before commits -- run tests/linter, confirm pass
2. Before PR creation -- run full validation suite, confirm zero errors
3. Before task completion -- run the specific success criteria commands from the task plan
4. Before moving to next task -- confirm current task's tests still pass after any late edits

Required Evidence

Every completion claim must include:

• Command: The exact command you ran (copy-paste, not paraphrased)
• Output: The actual output (or relevant excerpt for long output)
• Verdict: PASS or FAIL based on the output

If you cannot provide all three, you have NOT verified. Go back and run the command.

Red Flags List

If your completion report contains ANY of these phrases, you have NOT verified -- STOP and actually run a command:

Red Flag Phrase	What To Do Instead
"should work"	Run the test and show it passes
"probably fine"	Run the linter/build and show zero errors
"seems to"	Read the actual output and report what it says
"looks correct"	Run a validator or test that proves correctness
"I believe"	Replace belief with evidence -- run a command
"likely"	Remove doubt -- execute and observe
"I think"	Verify instead of thinking
"no issues expected"	Prove it -- run the check

Verification Template

Use this format in your completion report:

### Verification
- **Command**: `node tests/validate/index.js`
- **Expected**: All validators pass, 0 errors
- **Actual**: 23 validators passed, 0 errors, 0 warnings
- **Verdict**: PASS

If the verdict is FAIL, fix the issue before claiming completion. Do not report a task as done with a FAIL verdict.