Verification Before Completion

This enforces a hard rule against claiming code works without running verification commands first. It catches you before saying "tests should pass" or "build looks good" and forces you to actually run the test suite, linter, or build command and show the output. Prevents the classic workflow killer where you commit broken code because you assumed your changes worked. The skill is pretty militant about it, blocking any success claims until you've executed the verification step and can point to actual command output showing zero failures. Useful when you're tired and tempted to skip the verification step.

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last updated: Aug 21, 2026

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Install

$ npx -y skills add obra/superpowers --skill verification-before-completion --agent claude-code

Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.

Files

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