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Imported from shipshitdev/skills (skills/verification-before-completion/SKILL.md). Install upstream with npx skills add shipshitdev/skills --skill verification-before-completion. Copyright stays with the author.

Verification Before Completion

Name: verification-before-completion
Author: shipshitdev

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

Core principle: evidence before claims, always.

Violating the letter of this rule is violating the spirit of this rule.

The Iron Law

NO COMPLETION CLAIMS WITHOUT FRESH VERIFICATION EVIDENCE

If the verification command has not been run in the current action, no completion claim may be made.

The Gate Function

Before claiming any status or expressing satisfaction:

IDENTIFY — What command proves this claim?
RUN — Execute the full command fresh and completely.
READ — Consume the full output; check exit code; count failures.
VERIFY — Does the output confirm the claim?
- If NO: state the actual status with evidence.
- If YES: state the claim WITH the evidence.
ONLY THEN — Make the claim.

Skipping any step = lying, not verifying.

Common Failures

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	Reproduce original symptom: passes	Code changed, assumed fixed
Regression test works	Red-green cycle verified	Test passes once
Subagent completed	VCS diff shows actual changes	Subagent reports "success"
Requirements met	Line-by-line checklist verified	Tests passing

Red Flags — STOP

Stop before proceeding if any of these are true:

Using "should", "probably", "seems to", "looks like"
Expressing satisfaction before running verification ("Great!", "Perfect!", "Done!")
About to commit, push, or open a PR without fresh verification
Trusting a subagent's self-reported success
Relying on a partial or scoped verification pass
Thinking "just this once"
Fatigued and wanting the task to be over
Any wording implying success without having run the verification command

Rationalization Prevention

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

Key Patterns

Tests:

CORRECT:   [Run test command] → see "34/34 pass" → state "All tests pass"
INCORRECT: "Should pass now" / "Looks correct"

Regression tests (red-green-refactor):

CORRECT:   Write test → Run (must PASS) → Revert fix → Run (must FAIL) → Restore fix → Run (must PASS)
INCORRECT: "I've written a regression test" without running the red-green cycle

Build:

CORRECT:   [Run build command] → see exit 0 → state "Build passes"
INCORRECT: "Linter passed" (linter does not check compilation)

Requirements checklist:

CORRECT:   Re-read the original requirements → create a line-by-line checklist → verify each item → report gaps or completion
INCORRECT: "Tests pass, phase complete"

Subagent delegation:

CORRECT:   Subagent reports success → inspect VCS diff → run verification → report actual state
INCORRECT: Trust the subagent's self-report and propagate it as fact

When to Apply

Apply always before:

Any variation of success, completion, or done claims
Any expression of satisfaction with work state
Any positive statement about correctness
Committing, opening a PR, or marking a task complete
Moving on to the next task
Reporting subagent results to the user

The rule applies to exact phrases, paraphrases, synonyms, and any implication of success — not just the literal word "done."

The Bottom Line

Run the command. Read the output. Then make the claim.

No shortcuts. No exceptions.

Use it

Copy one of these into your project. Installing also returns the manifest and these snippets.

yaml

targets:
  - https://api.opensmartroute.ai/api/v1/registry/shipshitdev-skills-verification-before-completion/manifest   # or paste the manifest below

Manifest

An Open Capability Manifest: the router reads it to know what this does, what it costs and when to pick it.

shipshitdev-skills-verification-before-completion.ocm.jsonjson

{
  "ocm": "1",
  "id": "shipshitdev-skills-verification-before-completion",
  "kind": "skill",
  "name": "verification-before-completion",
  "description": "Enforce evidence-based completion: no success, done, fixed, or passing claim may be made without first running the verification command and reading its full output. Use when about to claim work is complete, a bug is fixed, tests pass, a build succeeds, or before committing, pushing, or opening a PR.",
  "publisher": "shipshitdev",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "capabilities": {
    "domains": [
      "coding"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "skill-md",
      "verification",
      "completion",
      "evidence",
      "quality-gate",
      "testing",
      "ci-cd",
      "skills-sh"
    ],
    "languages": [
      "en"
    ]
  },
  "quality_prior": 0.6,
  "examples": [
    "Enforce evidence-based completion: no success, done, fixed, or passing claim may be made without first running the verification command and reading its full output. Use when about to claim work is complete, a bug is fixed, tests pass, a build succeeds, or before committing, pushing, or opening a PR."
  ],
  "primary": false,
  "metadata": {
    "source": {
      "provider": "skills.sh",
      "repository": "https://github.com/shipshitdev/skills",
      "path": "skills/verification-before-completion/SKILL.md",
      "ref": "HEAD",
      "url": "https://github.com/shipshitdev/skills/blob/HEAD/skills/verification-before-completion/SKILL.md",
      "key": "shipshitdev/skills/skills/verification-before-completion/SKILL.md"
    }
  },
  "instructions": "# Verification Before Completion\n\nClaiming work is complete without verification is dishonesty, not efficiency.\n\n**Core principle: evidence before claims, always.**\n\n**Violating the letter of this rule is violating the spirit of this rule.**\n\n## The Iron Law\n\n```\nNO COMPLETION CLAIMS WITHOUT FRESH VERIFICATION EVIDENCE\n```\n\nIf the verification command has not been run in the current action, no completion claim may be made.\n\n## The Gate Function\n\nBefore claiming any status or expressing satisfaction:\n\n1. **IDENTIFY** — What command proves this claim?\n2. **RUN** — Execute the full command fresh ",
  "cost": {
    "context_tokens": 998
  }
}

Fetch it by URL: GET /api/v1/registry/shipshitdev-skills-verification-before-completion/manifest?version=1.0.0

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