Phase Enforcement

Phase Completion Enforcement

Version: 1.0.0 Purpose: Mechanical enforcement of phase completion requirements for /dev:feature Status: Production Ready

Overview

This skill provides mechanical enforcement (not just prompt-based instructions) for the 8-phase feature development workflow. It prevents:

1. Claiming completion without proof - Artifacts must exist
2. Skipping documentation - Required files per phase
3. Ignoring validation criteria - Phase 1 criteria must map to Phase 7 results
4. Bypassing retry logic - Outer loop enforced with state tracking
5. Shipping without tests - Phase 6 requires test files
6. Faking completion when blocked - Graceful degradation with honest status
7. Hiding actual results - Show-your-work requirement
8. Missing automated checks - Checkpoint verification at boundaries

Enforcement Components

1. Phase Completion Validator

Script: scripts/phase-completion-validator.js

How it works:

• Runs as PreToolUse hook on TaskUpdate
• Detects phase from task subject (e.g., "Phase 3: Planning")
• Checks required artifacts exist for that phase
• Blocks completion if artifacts missing or empty

Required Artifacts per Phase:

Usage in orchestrator:

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Before marking any phase complete:

1. Run checkpoint verification:
   ```bash
   ${PLUGIN_PATH}/scripts/checkpoint-verifier.sh phase{N} ${SESSION_PATH}

2. If check passes, mark task complete:

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   TaskUpdate(taskId: X, status: "completed")
   

3. If check fails, DO NOT mark complete. Fix missing artifacts first.

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---

### 2. Outer Loop Enforcer

**Script:** `scripts/outer-loop-enforcer.js`

**How it works:**
- Tracks iteration state in session-meta.json
- Blocks Phase 8 unless Phase 7 PASSED
- Detects regression (score getting worse)
- Handles escalation when max iterations reached

**Commands:**

```bash
# Start new iteration (call before Phase 3)
node outer-loop-enforcer.js start-iteration ${SESSION_PATH}

# Record Phase 7 result
node outer-loop-enforcer.js record-result ${SESSION_PATH} PASS "All checks passed" 95

# Check if Phase 8 can proceed
node outer-loop-enforcer.js check-can-complete ${SESSION_PATH}

# Get current status
node outer-loop-enforcer.js get-status ${SESSION_PATH}

Session state tracking:

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{
  "outerLoop": {
    "currentIteration": 2,
    "maxIterations": 3,
    "mode": "limited",
    "phase7Results": [
      {"iteration": 1, "status": "FAIL", "reason": "Button color mismatch", "score": 78},
      {"iteration": 2, "status": "PASS", "reason": "All checks passed", "score": 94}
    ]
  }
}

Usage in orchestrator:

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OUTER LOOP: Before starting Phase 3

1. Start iteration:
   ```bash
   node ${PLUGIN_PATH}/scripts/outer-loop-enforcer.js start-iteration ${SESSION_PATH}

2. Check exit code:
   • 0: Proceed with iteration
   • 2: Max iterations reached, escalate to user

OUTER LOOP: After Phase 7 completes

1. Record result:

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   node ${PLUGIN_PATH}/scripts/outer-loop-enforcer.js record-result ${SESSION_PATH} <PASS|FAIL> "reason" [score]
   

2. If PASS: Proceed to Phase 8

3. If FAIL: Loop back to Phase 3 (start-iteration will be called again)

OUTER LOOP: Before Phase 8

1. Verify Phase 7 passed:

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   node ${PLUGIN_PATH}/scripts/outer-loop-enforcer.js check-can-complete ${SESSION_PATH}
   

2. If exit code 1: BLOCKED - cannot proceed to Phase 8

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---

### 3. Validation Criteria Enforcer

**Script:** `scripts/validation-criteria-enforcer.js`

**How it works:**
- Parses validation-criteria.md from Phase 1
- Parses validation/result.md from Phase 7
- Matches criteria to results using fuzzy matching
- Blocks if >20% criteria unaddressed

**Usage in orchestrator:**

```markdown
PHASE 7: After creating result.md

1. Run criteria enforcer:
   ```bash
   node ${PLUGIN_PATH}/scripts/validation-criteria-enforcer.js ${SESSION_PATH}

2. Review generated report: ${SESSION_PATH}/validation/criteria-mapping.md

3. If unaddressed criteria found:

   • Update result.md to address them
   • Or document why they couldn't be tested

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**Output format:**

```markdown
# Validation Criteria Mapping Report

## Summary
- Total Criteria: 5
- Matched: 4
- Unmatched: 1
- Coverage: 80%

## Criteria Mapping
| Line | Criterion | Result | Evidence |
|------|-----------|--------|----------|
| 12 | "Navigate to test URL" | PASS | screenshot-before.png |
| 13 | "Fill email field" | PASS | action-log.md line 5 |
| 14 | "Click login button" | PASS | action-log.md line 8 |
| 15 | "Redirect to dashboard" | PASS | screenshot-after.png |

## ⚠️ Unaddressed Criteria
- Line 16: "Show error for invalid password"

4. Checkpoint Verifier

Script: scripts/checkpoint-verifier.sh

How it works:

• Bash script for fast automated checks
• Runs at phase boundaries
• Verifies files exist and have content
• Checks git state for implementation phase

Usage:

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# Before completing Phase 4
./checkpoint-verifier.sh phase4 ${SESSION_PATH}

# Before completing Phase 7
./checkpoint-verifier.sh phase7 ${SESSION_PATH}

Example output:

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📋 Checkpoint Verification: phase4
─────────────────────────────────────
Session: ai-docs/sessions/dev-feature-login-20260204-143022

✅ Implementation Log: implementation-log.md (1234 bytes)
✅ Code Changes: 8 files with changes
✅ Implementation Log: Has structured progress

─────────────────────────────────────
✅ Checkpoint passed

Integration with /dev:feature

Phase Transition Protocol

MANDATORY: Before marking ANY phase as completed:

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<phase_completion_protocol>
  **Step 1: Run Checkpoint Verification**

  ```bash
  ${PLUGIN_PATH}/scripts/checkpoint-verifier.sh phase{N} ${SESSION_PATH}

If exit code != 0: STOP. Fix missing artifacts first.

Step 2: Show Evidence Summary

Display 3-5 lines of actual results:

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## Phase {N} Evidence
- Artifact: ${SESSION_PATH}/{artifact}.md (exists, 1234 bytes)
- Key result: {actual output from phase}
- Evidence: {file paths to screenshots, logs, etc.}

Step 3: Map to Original Criteria (for Phase 7)

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From validation-criteria.md:
- [x] Criterion 1 → Verified (evidence file)
- [x] Criterion 2 → Verified (screenshot)
- [ ] Criterion 3 → Skipped (reason documented)

Step 4: Mark Task Complete

Only if Steps 1-3 pass:

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TaskUpdate(taskId: X, status: "completed")

</phase_completion_protocol>

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### Show-Your-Work Requirement

**Anti-pattern (BLOCKED):**

```markdown
I'll run the tests now.
[Task tool call to run tests]
Tests passed! Moving to next phase.

Required pattern:

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Running tests:

$ bun test
✓ auth.test.ts (5 tests)
  ✓ should authenticate valid user (12ms)
  ✓ should reject invalid password (8ms)
  ✓ should expire session after timeout (15ms)
  ✓ should refresh token correctly (10ms)
  ✓ should logout user (5ms)

✗ payment.test.ts (3 tests)
  ✓ should process valid payment (20ms)
  ✓ should reject invalid card (12ms)
  ✗ should handle timeout (FAILED)
    Error: Expected timeout after 30s, got success

Results: 7 passed, 1 failed

The payment timeout test failure needs investigation before Phase 6 can complete.

Graceful Degradation

Three Completion Statuses

COMPLETE: All validation criteria passed

• All artifacts created
• All tests pass
• Full validation executed

PARTIAL: Some validation done, gaps documented

• Core functionality verified
• Some criteria couldn't be tested (documented why)
• Known limitations listed

INCOMPLETE: Blocked, needs user action

• Critical blocker encountered
• Cannot proceed without external input
• Clear description of what's needed

Session Status in session-meta.json

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{
  "status": "partial",
  "completedCriteria": ["builds", "type-checks", "login-flow"],
  "skippedCriteria": [
    {"criterion": "full-auth-flow", "reason": "requires running server"},
    {"criterion": "token-storage", "reason": "depends on auth flow"}
  ],
  "blockers": []
}

Final Report for PARTIAL Status

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## Feature Status: PARTIAL

### Completed ✓
- SDK implementation
- Type safety
- Build verification

### Not Verified ⚠️
- End-to-end authentication (requires running server)
- Token storage persistence (depends on auth)

### Recommended Before Production
1. Run integration tests with real server
2. Verify token encryption roundtrip

5. Failure Report Generator

Script: scripts/failure-report-generator.js

How it works:

• Auto-generated when phase completion is blocked
• Documents what was expected vs what happened
• Lists all attempted approaches and their errors
• Provides manual testing steps as fallback
• Includes workarounds and suggestions

When generated:

• Phase completion validator blocks a phase
• Validation criteria enforcer finds gaps
• Outer loop reaches max iterations
• Any enforcement script fails

Report structure:

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# {Phase Name} - Failure Report

**Generated:** 2026-02-04T10:30:00Z
**Session:** ai-docs/sessions/dev-feature-login-20260204
**Phase:** phase7

## Expected Artifacts
- ❌ `validation/result.md`
- ❌ `validation/screenshot-before.png`
- ❌ `validation/screenshot-after.png`

## Attempted Approaches

### Attempt 1: browser_test
**What was tried:** Chrome MCP navigation to localhost:3000
**Error:** Tool mcp__chrome-devtools__navigate_page not available
**Timestamp:** 2026-02-04T10:25:00Z

## Failure Analysis

### Common Failure Reasons
- **chrome_mcp_unavailable**: Chrome MCP tools not available or not responding
- **server_not_starting**: Dev server fails to start
- **page_not_loading**: Test URL not accessible

## Suggestions for Resolution
1. Verify Chrome MCP is properly configured in .claude/settings.json
2. Check if dev server is running: curl http://localhost:3000
3. Try using different browser automation: mcp__claude-in-chrome instead
4. Consider unit tests + manual verification as fallback

## Manual Testing Steps
1. Start dev server: npm run dev (or bun run dev)
2. Open browser to test URL (e.g., http://localhost:3000)
3. Take screenshot of initial state
4. Perform test actions (fill forms, click buttons)
5. Take screenshot of result state
6. Verify expected behavior occurred
7. Document results in validation/result.md

## Workarounds

### If Browser Automation Unavailable
1. Run validation manually in browser
2. Take screenshots with system screenshot tool
3. Save screenshots to `validation/` directory
4. Create `validation/result.md` with manual observations

### Minimal result.md Template
[template provided]

## Next Steps
1. **Fix and Retry**: Address the issues above and re-run the phase
2. **Manual Completion**: Follow manual steps and create artifacts manually
3. **Skip with Justification**: Create `phase7-skip-reason.md` explaining why
4. **Escalate to User**: Ask user for guidance via AskUserQuestion

Usage in orchestrator:

When phase completion is blocked:

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1. Failure report auto-generated at:
   ${SESSION_PATH}/failures/phase{N}-failure-report.md

2. Read report and either:
   a. Fix issues and retry
   b. Follow manual testing steps
   c. Create skip-reason.md with justification
   d. Escalate to user with AskUserQuestion

3. If manually completing:
   - Create required artifacts following templates in report
   - Re-run phase completion validator

Summary Table

Implementation Priority

1. HIGH: Evidence-based completion + Show-your-work (fixes core trust problem)
2. HIGH: Validation criteria enforcement (ensures Phase 1 work is used)
3. MEDIUM: Phase 6 test enforcement (ensures quality)
4. MEDIUM: Graceful degradation (enables honest status)
5. LOW: Checkpoint verification (nice automation, but manual review works)

Scripts Location: ${PLUGIN_ROOT}/plugins/dev/scripts/ Hooks Config: ${PLUGIN_ROOT}/plugins/dev/hooks/feature-enforcement.json