How do I install the Verification Before Completion skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add gustavo-meilus/verification-before-completion in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Verification Before Completion safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Verification Before Completion?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Verification Before Completion free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Verification Before Completion?

gustavo-meilus (@gustavo-meilus) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Verification Before Completion by gustavo-meilus

Name: Verification Before Completion
Author: gustavo-meilus

Verification Before Completion

Enforces the Iron Law — no completion claim without fresh verification evidence. Use when an agent is about to claim work is complete, a bug is fixed, or a system state is passing; before committing changes or opening PRs; or after receiving a subagent DONE report that has not been independently verified.

File contents

Verification Before Completion — Success Protocol

Governs the requirement for absolute evidence before any claim of task completion, bug resolution, or system readiness.

The Success Protocol

Skip any step = failure of the verification protocol.

Verification Patterns

Red Flags — STOP

"It should work now." → STOP. Run the verification command.
"I'm confident it's fixed." → STOP. Confidence is not evidence.
"The agent said it was done." → STOP. Subagents are non-deterministic; verify independently.
"I'll do a partial check to save time." → STOP. Partial verification proves nothing about system integration.

Rationalization Table

Reference Files

systematic-debugging/SKILL.md — Root cause investigation.
test-driven-development/SKILL.md — Red-Green cycle rules.
sk-write-review-isolation/SKILL.md — Two-stage review protocol.
sk-worktree-safety/SKILL.md — Integration verification.

---name: verification-before-completiondescription: Enforces the Iron Law — no completion claim without fresh verification evidence. Use when an agent is about to claim work is complete, a bug is fixed, or a system state is passing; before committing changes or opening PRs; or after receiving a subagent DONE report that has not been independently verified.---# Verification Before Completion — Success Protocol> Governs the requirement for absolute evidence before any claim of task completion, bug resolution, or system readiness.<overview>The Iron Law: **NO COMPLETION CLAIMS WITHOUT FRESH VERIFICATION EVIDENCE**. The use of "should," "probably," or "seems to" in status assertions is prohibited. Success is a documented, reproducible fact — not an assumption.</overview><glossary> <term name="Gate Function">A mandatory five-step sequence (Identify, Run, Read, Verify, Claim) that must be completed before communicating success.</term> <term name="Evidence before Claim">The requirement to execute a verification command and analyze its output before stating a status.</term> <term name="Regression Verification">A Red-Green cycle proving that a test not only passes now but would have failed without the fix.</term></glossary>## The Success Protocol<protocol>### THE GATE FUNCTION1. **IDENTIFY**: Determine exactly which command or action proves the claim.2. **RUN**: Execute the full, fresh verification command.3. **READ**: Analyze the complete output, check exit codes, and count failures.4. **VERIFY**: Confirm the output matches the success criteria of the original requirement.5. **CLAIM**: State the completion status alongside the supporting evidence.<invariant>Skip any step = failure of the verification protocol.</invariant></protocol><invariants>- NEVER express satisfaction ("Great!", "Perfect!") before running verification.- NEVER trust a subagent's "DONE" report without inspecting the VCS diff and running local tests.- ALWAYS perform a Red-Green cycle for regression tests to prove the test's validity.- Linter clean state is NOT a proxy for build success or logic correctness.</invariants>## Verification Patterns<patterns>| Quality | Goal | Required Evidence || :--- | :--- | :--- || **Tests** | All green | Command output showing `0 failures` across the entire suite. || **Linter** | Clean state | Command output showing `0 errors` and `0 warnings`. || **Build** | Successful binary | Execution log showing `exit 0` and artifact generation. || **Bug Fix** | Resolved symptom | Reproduction script passing + Red-Green verification. || **Requirements** | Spec compliance | Line-by-line checklist verification against `spec.md`. |</patterns>## Red Flags — STOP- "It should work now." → **STOP**. Run the verification command.- "I'm confident it's fixed." → **STOP**. Confidence is not evidence.- "The agent said it was done." → **STOP**. Subagents are non-deterministic; verify independently.- "I'll do a partial check to save time." → **STOP**. Partial verification proves nothing about system integration.## Rationalization Table<rationalization_table>| Excuse | Reality || :--- | :--- || "I manually verified it." | Manual verification is non-reproducible and prone to observation bias. || "It's just a small fix." | Small fixes cause the majority of production regressions. || "I'm tired/in a hurry." | Exhaustion increases the probability of overlooking silent failures. || "Spirit over ritual." | The ritual of evidence is what protects the system's integrity. |</rationalization_table>## Reference Files- `systematic-debugging/SKILL.md` — Root cause investigation.- `test-driven-development/SKILL.md` — Red-Green cycle rules.- `sk-write-review-isolation/SKILL.md` — Two-stage review protocol.- `sk-worktree-safety/SKILL.md` — Integration verification.

Frequently asked questions