Codex adaptation

Exercise the real path and inspect actual output before claiming done. Required native capabilities: none; this is instruction-only. External dependencies remain explicit: real artifact or runtime under test. No tool is required by the rule; unavailable runtime is NOT VERIFIED. This candidate is promoted for the bounded path described here; unrelated runtime parity remains unproven. This is a guide-only adaptation.

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.

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

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.