Skip to main content
Status: draft — pending typed-artifact promotion when SPEC-078 Phase 2 storage ships. Treat as docs-mirror placeholder per SPEC-078 v0.2 §Method Fragments §Minimum acceptance requirements.

​
method.completion.done-definition

schema_version: 1
version: 1
id: method.completion.done-definition
title: "Completion = designed + built + tested + committed + DEPLOYED + SMOKE-VERIFIED"
status: draft
source_of_record: prism_typed_artifact
generated_mirror_paths:
  - docs/method-fragments/method.completion.done-definition.md
authority_layer: project
owning_specialization: engineering
owner_identity: Donna
applies_to_specializations:
  - engineering
  - install
  - rte
  - dashboard
  - architecture
  - governance
  - docs
applies_to_surfaces:
  - claude_code
  - codex
  - claude_desktop
  - cursor
  - vscode
use_when:
  - "An assignment is being marked complete or closed."
  - "A milestone is reached and the question 'is this done?' must be answered."
  - "A checkpoint is being prepared and ownership is handing off."
  - "A PR is being marked ready-for-review or merged."
skip_when:
  - "The work is explicitly an R0 single-line change with no implementation artifact (e.g. a one-character typo fix in a non-rendered comment)."
  - "The work is exploratory research filed as `research_note` with explicit `not used yet` flag."
  - "The work has been deferred with explicit Donna authorization recorded in checkpoint."
risk_tier_default: R1
risk_tier_override_allowed: true
required_context:
  - rule
  - decision
  - task_state
expected_outputs:
  - "Validation that all six gates met: design + built + tested + committed + DEPLOYED + SMOKE-VERIFIED."
  - "Checkpoint or wrap delta recording the closure."
  - "Status signal to the work assigner (or Donna for Plan #10) confirming completion."
required_prism_verbs:
  - prism_checkpoint
  - prism_wrap
  - prism_signal
  - prism_status
review_gates: []
review_required: false
memory_writes:
  - task_state
  - validation_result
conflict_policy: "Donna for Plan #10 sequencing; lane owner otherwise; deferral requires Donna acknowledgment."
telemetry_key: method.completion.done-definition
supersedes: []
superseded_by: []
source_refs:
  - SPEC-078 v0.2 §Completion Semantics
  - "Plan #10 v0.4 operating-contract rule 6"
  - "feedback memory: project_plan_10_operating_contract.md"
  - "feedback memory: feedback_completion_means_deployed.md"

​
Rationale

The operating contract rule 6 defines “complete” not as merged but as deployed and smoke-verified. The most common silent failure mode in autonomous multi-agent execution is collapsing “merged” or “PR opened” into “completed” in deltas/signals. This fragment documents the six gates so they can be checked at every closure event. The six gates:
  1. Designed — there is a recorded plan, SPEC, ADR, or checkpoint decision that scoped the work.
  2. Built — the implementation exists in code/config/docs as appropriate.
  3. Tested — at minimum, the work survives its scope of validation: tests pass, smoke passes, dry-runs verify expected behavior, or operator-acceptance is recorded.
  4. Committed — the work is in version control with a clear commit message; PRs that merged are recorded with merge SHA.
  5. DEPLOYED — for code that affects running systems, the change reached the target environment (server1, editor host, cloud, etc.) and the deploy verb returned green.
  6. SMOKE-VERIFIED — post-deploy validation actually exercised the new behavior (or the default-off invariant for flag-gated work) on the target environment.

​
Phase enforcement

Per SPEC-078 v0.2 §Completion Semantics: this definition is operating-contract authority. SPEC-078 automation must NOT auto-enforce this definition while PRISM_CONSENSUS_PARALLELISM_ENABLED=false.
  • Phase 0/1: authority by social contract; humans (Donna PO) and rules (Plan #10 v0.4 rule 6) hold it; agents check themselves.
  • Phase 2: advisory warnings when the fragment’s use_when triggers and gates are not visible in the closure delta.
  • Phase 3: enforcement gate — completion delta must reference all six gates or be deferred with explicit Donna authorization.

​
Cross-references

  • SPEC-078 v0.2 (DB row a9e87f35) — §Completion Semantics + §Method Fragments
  • SPEC-079 v0.2 — validation_result domain captures the SMOKE-VERIFIED evidence
  • Plan #10 v0.4 — operating-contract rule 6
  • ADR #48 v0.2 — assignment field carries the in-flight task; this fragment fires at assignment closure
Last modified on May 4, 2026