Verification-Loop Skill in Everything-Claude-Code: A Complete Guide to Pre-PR Quality Gates

The verification-loop skill is a built-in quality-gate system that runs automated build, type, lint, test, security, and diff checks to ensure code is ready for pull request submission.

The verification-loop skill in the WorldFlowAI/everything-claude-code repository provides a structured, multi-phase audit workflow for Claude Code sessions. It catches regressions and quality issues before they reach code review, reducing broken commits and maintaining pipeline health.

What the Verification-Loop Skill Does

At its core, the verification-loop skill is defined in skills/verification-loop/SKILL.md and invoked via the /verify command (documented in commands/verify.md). Unlike lightweight PostToolUse hooks that catch immediate mistakes, this skill performs a comprehensive six-phase validation that can be run manually or on an automated schedule.

The skill produces a structured verification report (lines 86-99 of SKILL.md) with PASS/FAIL status for each phase and an overall READY indicator for PR submission.

The Six Verification Phases

The verification-loop workflow executes checks in strict sequence, with early termination on critical failures:

Phase	Purpose	Typical Command	Failure Behavior
1. Build Verification	Confirm project compiles	npm run build or pnpm build	Hard stop
2. Type Check	Static type analysis	npx tsc --noEmit (TS) or pyright . (Python)	Stops on critical errors
3. Lint Check	Code style enforcement	npm run lint or ruff check .	Reports warnings/errors
4. Test Suite	Unit/integration tests with coverage	npm run test -- --coverage	Shows pass/fail + coverage %
5. Security Scan	Secret leakage detection	grep -rn "sk-" … and grep -rn "console.log" …	Flags accidental leaks
6. Diff Review	Unintended change detection	git diff --stat or git diff HEAD~1 --name-only	Highlights scope creep

After all phases complete, the skill outputs a summary indicating whether the codebase meets the ≥80% coverage target and is READY for PR.

Verification-Loop Commands and Usage

The /verify command defined in commands/verify.md supports multiple execution modes via positional arguments:

Mode	Command	Phases Included
Full (default)	/verify	All six phases
Quick	/verify quick	Build + Type check only
Pre-commit	/verify pre-commit	Lint + quick security scan
Pre-PR	/verify pre-pr	All phases + enhanced security

Example Invocations

# Run complete verification pipeline

claude /verify

# Fast feedback during development

claude /verify quick

# Final check before opening pull request

claude /verify pre-pr

Sample Output Format

The verification-loop skill generates machine-parseable output:

VERIFICATION: PASS
Build:    OK
Types:    OK (0 errors)
Lint:     OK (2 warnings)
Tests:    124/124 passed, 92% coverage
Secrets:  OK (0 found)
Logs:    OK (0 console.logs)
Ready for PR: YES

Verification-Loop Integration Points

The verification-loop skill connects with three system components:

• PostToolUse Hooks — Registered in hooks/hooks.json, enabling automatic triggering after specific tool invocations while maintaining distinction from the deeper /verify audit
• Continuous Mode — Configurable in SKILL.md to run every 15 minutes during long sessions, keeping the codebase perpetually validated
• Command-Line Interface — The /verify entry point with $ARGUMENTS handling for mode selection

As listed in WORLDFLOWAI.md (line 11), the verification-loop is classified among the repository's core skills, indicating its central role in the Claude Code workflow.

Key Configuration Files

File Path	Responsibility
skills/verification-loop/SKILL.md	Phase definitions, output format, continuous-mode guidance
commands/verify.md	CLI interface, argument parsing, report template structure
hooks/hooks.json	Hook system registration for automatic invocation
WORLDFLOWAI.md	Core skills inventory and repository architecture docs

Summary

• The verification-loop skill is a six-phase quality gate (build → type → lint → test → security → diff) that validates code before PR submission
• Invoke via /verify with optional modes: quick, pre-commit, pre-pr
• Early termination on critical failures prevents wasted compute on broken builds
• Continuous mode supports ongoing validation during extended development sessions
• All configuration lives in skills/verification-loop/SKILL.md with command definitions in commands/verify.md

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I run a quick verification without the full test suite?

Use /verify quick. According to commands/verify.md, this mode executes only build verification and type checking—ideal for rapid iteration when you know tests will need attention later. The full test suite and security scans are skipped to minimize feedback latency.

What happens if a security scan finds exposed secrets?

The verification-loop skill flags secrets via grep patterns for API key prefixes like sk- and stray console.log statements. These appear as FAIL in the security phase of your verification report. The pipeline continues (since this is informational), but Ready for PR: NO prevents premature submission until credentials are rotated or removed.

Can the verification-loop run automatically instead of manually?

Yes. The skill supports Continuous Mode as documented in SKILL.md, which triggers verification every 15 minutes during active sessions. Additionally, hooks/hooks.json registers the verification-loop as hook-compatible, allowing PostToolUse integration that runs targeted checks after specific operations without requiring explicit /verify invocation.

Does the verification-loop work for languages other than TypeScript/Python?

The phase structure is language-agnostic—only the specific commands change. SKILL.md defines the plugin architecture so that build commands (e.g., cargo build, go build), type checkers (e.g., mypy, cargo check), and linters (e.g., eslint, golangci-lint) can be substituted while preserving the same six-phase workflow and report format.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "instagit@latest"]
    }
  }
}