The Core Laws
Proof is an artifact, not an assurance
“Done” is an opinion. A thing you can open, run, or read is proof. Accept the proof.
“Done” is a feeling the machine reports, not a state of the world. Between compiled and works, between sent and received, between looks-right and is-right, there is a gap, and the gap is precisely where assurance is cheapest to produce and most expensive to believe. The machine is not lying when it says done. It is describing its intentions.
So ask for something you can open. A screenshot, an output, a file, a diff, a recording: an artifact that could not exist if the work hadn't actually run. Then open it; an artifact taken on faith is just assurance with extra steps. And insist it show the real case, with real data. An empty page renders beautifully, and proves nothing.
How to practice it
Demand the openable.
“Show me” beats asking whether it's done. The artifact that couldn't exist without the work is the only report worth reading.
Actually open it.
The proof you didn't look at proves nothing. Thirty seconds with the artifact is the review.
Real data or it doesn't count.
Make the proof carry a representative case. The empty state and the happy path are where fake-done hides.
No artifact, no done.
If nothing openable exists yet, the work isn't finished; it's claimed. Say so and ask again.
Deep scripture: Codeuteronomy IX — Completion is claimed by the agent, proven only by an artifact