Minimal Evidence Checks

A discipline for running the relevant local evidence before a push, without reflexively running the full repository suite. It applies to any repo with checks and a CI system: CI owns exhaustive coverage and the platform matrix; you own the narrow evidence that the outgoing diff would fail.

The defining constraint: match the evidence to the surface. Every behavior change needs the narrowest available check that would fail for its regression — nothing more, and nothing less. Repeating a passing check merely because a commit follows is waste.

Inspect the outgoing change first

Before selecting checks, know the complete scope of what changed:

1. Confirm the checkout and branch.
2. Determine the base (the merge target, branch parent, or remote head) and inspect the diff against it.
3. Account for staged, unstaged, and untracked paths separately.

After a base merge or retarget, re-inspect the combined scope and reassess which checks it can affect.

Select evidence by surface

There is no universal baseline. Choose the narrowest check that would fail for the change's regression: