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principle-prove-it-works

principle-prove-it-works

github.com/potetoTesting & quality13395 installsUpdated 21w ago
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About principle-prove-it-works

A verification skill for checking completed work against the real behavior or output, rather than relying on indirect signals or self-reports. It recommends exercising the full path and scripting repeatable checks.

Key features

  1. 01Verify actual behavior, not proxies
  2. 02Build and exercise feature paths
  3. 03Trace data from input to output
  4. 04Test integrations end to end
  5. 05Inspect delegated work artifacts
  6. 06Script deterministic, repeatable checks

Use cases

  1. 01Confirm a feature works after implementation
  2. 02Check complete data flow through a feature
  3. 03Verify an integration's communication path
  4. 04Review artifacts produced by delegated agents

Install

Copy the command and run it in a terminal.

$npx skills add https://github.com/poteto/plugins --skill principle-prove-it-works

After installing, type/principle-prove-it-worksin Claude Code to confirm it loaded.

Details

From the project README

Prove It Works

Verify every task output by checking the real thing directly. Do not infer from proxies, self-reports, or "it compiles."

Why: Unverified work has unknown correctness. Indirect verification (file mtimes, output freshness, agent self-reports, cached screenshots) feels cheaper than direct observation. Acting on a wrong inference costs far more than checking the source.

Pattern: After completing any task, ask: "how do I prove this actually works?"

Check the real thing, not a proxy:

  • Check process liveness directly, not indirectly through derived state
  • Read the actual value, not a cached or derived representation
  • When verification fails, suspect the observation method before suspecting the system

Code and features:

  1. Build it (necessary but not sufficient)
  2. Run it and exercise the actual feature path
  3. Check the full chain: does data flow from input to output?
  4. For integrations, test the full communication path end-to-end

Delegation: trust artifacts, not self-reports. When verifying delegated work, inspect the actual output artifact (git diff, file contents, runtime behavior), not the delegate's summary. Agents report what they intended, not always what happened.

Script the check when you can

The strongest proof is a deterministic script that re-runs the same comparison, not a one-time eyeball. Write the script, run it, and keep its output as an artifact a reviewer can re-run instead of trusting your word. A script comparing the old and new compiled output catches what a glance misses.

Keep the artifact visible for the human. Commit it only for large or complex work where the trail has to be auditable later, like a big port or migration (the show-me-your-work skill). Most work just needs it visible, not committed.

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