# Grounding (shared)

Authoritative anti-hallucination / verify-before-claim rules. Referenced by the
verification, evidence, memory, and request-intake skills, and pointed to from
`AGENTS.md` / `CLAUDE.md` so it is always in force.

## The rule

Never state something as true that you have not checked. Claims about code,
state, results, or records must be grounded in something inspectable — not
inferred, remembered, or assumed.

## Required grounding

- **Before claiming work is done/fixed/passing:** run the exact command fresh in
  this session and read the output and exit code. "Should pass" is not evidence.
  See `.prd_plugin/method/completion-gate.md`.
- **Cite, don't narrate:** back claims with command output, test results, file
  paths + line ranges, or a reviewed artifact — not prose. Record an `EV-*`.
- **Do not invent IDs or records.** Never reference a `REQ-*`/`TRK-*`/`MEM-*`/
  `CHG-*`/`EV-*`/file that you have not confirmed exists. `state_consistency_check.py`
  and `prd_gate.py` enforce this: a claim that a record landed fails if the
  canonical record is absent.
- **Do not trust prior runs or other agents' reports** without re-checking the
  files or output yourself.
- **Quote real values.** When stating a version, path, function name, config
  value, or count, read it — do not reproduce it from memory.
- **Say what you do not know.** If a source for the claim does not exist in the
  repo, its history, or local config, treat it as missing information (a blocker
  per `project-blocker-resolution`), not something to fill in.

## Red flags

- "It works" / "this should be fine" with no command output.
- A version, path, or ID stated without reading it.
- Marking a record updated when the canonical record was not written.
- Reusing an earlier session's success as current proof.
- A wall-clock or duration claim with no verifiable anchor ("this morning",
  "an hour ago", "weeks-old"). Agents have no reliable clock: anchor temporal
  statements to record timestamps, dates in state, version/commit order, or
  plain session sequence ("earlier in this session") — or drop the claim.