Trust it verifying unsupervised runs

Core Principle

• When you hand off work to cloud without supervision, you need a proportional verification strategy before shipping
• The less supervised the run, the more rigorous the check must be

Verification Levels

• Watched runs (you see messages in real-time): needs only a glance
• Unattended runs (CI/CD, background jobs): needs a real check
• Keep unattended runs in auto mode with permissions intact—the classifier still reviews for danger

What to Check

Start with the Diff

• Read the actual code changes, not just cloud's summary
• Examine files that weren't in the original plan first
• Watch for unexpected file modifications hidden in tidy summaries
• Use git diff directly and run code review tools

Test Execution

• Verify tests actually ran, don't assume cloud ran them
• Wire tests as hooks so cloud cannot skip them
• Use stop hooks (refuse to proceed on failure) or post-tool-use hooks (lint/type-check after edits)
• Hooks that exit with code 2 feed failures back to cloud for automatic fixes

Get a Cold Second Opinion

• Use a subagent code review on unsupervised runs
• Fresh session with no memory of how code was built
• Catches issues the original run rationalized past
• Essential for high-stakes changes

Implementation

• Make verification rigor match the level of supervision
• Automate checks so they run every time, not just when remembered
• Verify headless runs by their JSON results
• Transform "cloud did it while I wasn't looking" from faith into verified fact

Takeaways

• Verification rigor must match supervision level—unsupervised cloud runs need proportionally more rigorous checks than watched runs
• Always read the actual code diff directly and examine unexpected files first, rather than trusting cloud's summary
• Wire tests as hooks so cloud cannot skip them, and use exit code 2 to feed failures back for automatic fixes
• Use a fresh subagent code review on unsupervised runs to catch issues the original run rationalized past
• Automate all verification checks so they run every time, transforming unsupervised cloud work from faith into verified fact