Two Axes of Verification

Two independent questions

Construction: Is the implementation built correctly? This includes import direction, forbidden cycles, and required structural boundaries. Construction can pass even when the wrong capability was built.

Conformance: Does the implementation match an independently authored specification? This requires two-way closure: every declared element must exist, and every existing element must be declared. The first catches omissions; the second catches unauthorized additions.

Independence is essential

A specification regenerated from the implementation it evaluates cannot detect drift. The expected structure must be independently authored or preserved as a stable baseline. Otherwise the comparison is circular: it proves only that the implementation agrees with itself.

How checks report

Checks are deterministic and return 0 when clean or complete, 1 when findings are reported, and 2 when the check cannot run. A failed or skipped check must not appear as a pass. Findings should identify concrete defects rather than persuasive opinions. The repository owner decides whether to accept the result and ship.

These axes are complementary, not interchangeable. Tests and linters can demonstrate aspects of construction without proving conformance to what was intended.