Verification Before Completion

Overview

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 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

Flutter Verification Commands

Claim	Required Command	Not Sufficient
Tests pass	flutter test output: 0 failures	Previous run, "should pass"
Analysis clean	flutter analyze output: 0 issues	Partial check, extrapolation
Build succeeds	flutter build apk --debug or flutter build ios --no-codesign: exit 0	Analyze passing, "looks good"
Code generation OK	dart run build_runner build --delete-conflicting-outputs: exit 0	"Models look correct"
No lint issues	dart fix --dry-run: 0 fixes needed	"I followed the style guide"
Bug fixed	Test original symptom: passes	Code changed, assumed fixed
Requirements met	Line-by-line checklist against spec	Tests passing

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"
• ANY wording implying success without having run verification

Rationalization Prevention

Excuse	Reality
"Should work now"	RUN the verification
"I'm confident"	Confidence ≠ evidence
"Just this once"	No exceptions
"Analyze passed"	Analyze ≠ tests ≠ build
"Agent said success"	Verify independently
"Partial check is enough"	Partial proves nothing
"The code looks correct"	Looking ≠ running
"build_runner will handle it"	Run it and check the output

Key Patterns

Tests:

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

Analysis:

✅ [Run flutter analyze] [See: No issues found] "Analysis clean"
❌ "I followed the conventions"

Build:

✅ [Run flutter build] [See: exit 0] "Build succeeds"
❌ "Analyze passed" (analyze doesn't check compilation fully)

Code Generation:

✅ [Run build_runner] [See: Succeeded after X.Xs] "Code generation complete"
❌ "The annotations look correct"

Requirements:

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

When To Apply

ALWAYS before:

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

Rule applies to:

• Exact phrases
• Paraphrases and synonyms
• Implications of success
• ANY communication suggesting completion/correctness

The Bottom Line

No shortcuts for verification.

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

This is non-negotiable.