Verify Before Done

Run It

• Execute the build, test, or command that proves the change and show its output
• "Should work", "this will pass", "I'm confident" describe a belief, not a state
• A task without a shown passing run is not done — report it as in progress, naming what has not run
• When the proof cannot run in the current environment, say so and name where it can run

Report Faithfully

• Failing output is reported verbatim — the command, the exit code, the error text
• A skipped step is named as skipped, never folded into "done"
• No "verified" without the command and its result in the same report
• A partial result is reported as partial: what passed, what failed, what was not attempted

Scope of Proof

• Logic change → the unit tests that cover it, run and green
• UI or app change → a real launch, a screenshot, or a driven UI check — a compiling build alone proves nothing about the screen
• API change → a real request against the running service and its response
• CI or workflow change → the CI run itself, watched to its conclusion
• Script change → the script executed against a fixture, plus its test harness
• Name what was run in the report; the reader should be able to rerun it

Relationship to Other Rules

• rules/ci-safety.md Always Watch CI is the CI-side form of this rule
• rules/response-clarity.md Show State and Progress governs how the proof is presented
• rules/testing-standards.md governs the tests that serve as proof