jwp23/joe-bag-of-tricks/verification-before-completion

Verification Before Completion

Overview

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

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

Visual Verification

If your changes affect UI rendering, layout, or visual output, automated tests alone are not sufficient. Visual verification confirms what the user actually sees.

BEFORE claiming UI work is complete:
 
1. IDENTIFY: What visual scenario proves correctness?
2. SET UP: Use the project's screenshot/visual verification tooling
3. CAPTURE: Take a screenshot of the relevant state
4. INSPECT: Read the screenshot image — check layout, positioning, z-order, text
5. VERIFY: Does the visual output match expectations?
   - If NO: Fix and re-verify
   - If YES: State claim WITH the screenshot as evidence

For a web UI, step 2-3 are a single scripted Playwright run — see scripted-browser-verification. Never step through interactive browser tool calls.

When to apply: Any change to canvas drawing, overlay rendering, layout calculations, coordinate transformations, widget styling, or visual state transitions.

Not needed for: Pure logic changes, backend code, test-only changes, documentation.

Common Failures

Red Flags - STOP

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

Rationalization Prevention

Key Patterns

Tests:

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

Regression tests (TDD Red-Green):

✅ Write → Run (pass) → Revert fix → Run (MUST FAIL) → Restore → Run (pass)
❌ "I've written a regression test" (without red-green verification)

Build:

✅ [Run build] [See: exit 0] "Build passes"
❌ "Linter passed" (linter doesn't check compilation)

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

When To Apply

Before any statement that work is done, fixed, or passing — however phrased — and before committing, opening a PR, moving to the next task, or handing off to an agent.