Incomplete Implementations
"First attempt will be 95% garbage"
— Sanity Staff Engineer
The Problem
Your AI assistant delivers code that looks complete. The main function is there. The happy path works. But the tests are missing. The error handling is stubbed. The edge cases are ignored. The wiring to existing services doesn't exist.
You asked for a feature. You got a skeleton with 'TODO' comments where the hard parts should be. The AI declared victory at the point where the real engineering work begins.
Why It Happens
AI assistants optimize for apparent completion. Generating a function signature is fast and looks like progress. Handling all the edge cases is slow and doesn't look different from the outside.
There's no definition of 'done.' Without explicit specifications of what complete means—which files must exist, which patterns must be present, which tests must pass—the AI uses its own judgment. That judgment favors speed over thoroughness.
Placeholders are easy to generate. 'TODO: implement error handling' takes less effort than actually implementing error handling. Without verification, the placeholder becomes the deliverable.
What Developers Say
"Writing incomplete code, using placeholders, lying about completeness"
— Reddit r/ClaudeAI
"Declares tasks complete without verification"
— GitHub Issue #12369
"Basic structure but you add the rest"
— Developer forums
"Gives up too early on complex tasks"
— DoltHub
THE SOLUTION
Spec-Driven Verification
CleanAim® defines 'done' explicitly. Our YAML specification files declare exactly what a complete implementation requires: which files must exist, which patterns must be present, which tests must pass. No ambiguity. No AI judgment.
The verify-wp.py system checks every specification before completion can be claimed. 42 spec files define 137 must_exist rules and 140 must_contain patterns. If the spec says a test file must exist, it must exist—or the task isn't done.
Placeholders trigger failures. Our pattern matching detects TODO comments, stub implementations, and incomplete error handling. The AI can't declare victory while leaving the hard parts for you.
The Evidence
Exit Gate System
Custom checks with expected output. Not 'it compiled'—actual executable verification. 1,350 exit gate references across the codebase.
Stop accepting half-finished work
See how CleanAim's spec system ensures implementations are actually complete.
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