[FEATURE] Plan mode should treat Verification sections as actionable tasks

Resolved 💬 4 comments Opened Mar 16, 2026 by TonyDowney Closed Apr 13, 2026

Problem

When Claude generates a plan in plan mode, it often includes a Verification section at the end with steps like:

  1. Open a test PR that touches X
  2. Confirm the CI job appears and passes
  3. (Optional) Verify blocking behavior by adding a known-vulnerable package

After the user approves the plan and Claude executes the implementation steps, the Verification section is silently skipped. Claude declares "Done" after the file edits without:

  • Executing any automatable verification steps (e.g., creating a branch, pushing, opening a PR, running linters)
  • Alerting the user which verification steps remain
  • Distinguishing "implementation complete" from "fully verified"

When prompted, Claude correctly acknowledges the gap — it received the verification context, understood it, but treated it as documentation rather than actionable tasks.

Proposed Solution

  1. Treat verification steps as first-class plan tasks — same execution priority as implementation steps, not a narrative appendix
  2. Classify each verification step as [auto] (Claude can execute: push branch, open PR, run tests) vs [manual] (requires human: visual confirmation, physical device testing)
  3. Require a handoff message — after implementation, Claude should always emit a status block listing:
  • Verification steps completed
  • Verification steps remaining (with reason: requires human judgment, etc.)
  1. Never say "Done" without accounting for every verification step

Workaround

Adding this to ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md partially addresses it but isn't structurally enforced:

## Plan Mode

- After completing implementation steps from an approved plan, treat the Verification section as actionable tasks — not documentation
- Execute automatable verification steps (create branch, push, open PR, run linters/tests)
- For steps that require human senses or judgment, explicitly list them as remaining manual steps
- Never declare "Done" without accounting for every verification step — distinguish "implementation complete" from "fully verified"

Context

This was discovered during a plan that added dependency-review-action to GitHub Actions workflows. The plan had 3 verification steps, none were executed or mentioned after implementation completed.

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