The Backbone of Reliable Delivery: Automated Quality Control

The previous chapter established the specification system. You have clear acceptance criteria, machine-readable spec structures, trust rings, and maintenance mechanisms. But a spec by itself is just a contract. A spec without verification is a wish list.

Verification is the control system in Agent-driven development. It operates at three levels: as an anchor at the starting point, transforming specs into executable constraints; as guardrails during the process, providing immediate feedback at every step of Agent execution; and as a gate at the endpoint, making the final determination before code is merged.

With specification plus verification, the single-task closed loop is complete. You can reliably take a feature through the full workflow from spec to code to merge. This is already sufficient to support a team's day-to-day iterative development.