Verification and Circuit Breakers

Goal-Backward Verification

The verifier works backwards from the spec, not forwards from the tasks. Four levels:

Level	Checks
Existence	Do expected files, functions, routes, migrations exist?
Substantive	Real code, not stubs? Detects TODO, hardcoded returns, empty catch, skipped tests, placeholder components.
Wired	Module imported where used? Route registered? Middleware applied? Dead code = not satisfied.
Runtime	If Playwright: E2E tests. If Stripe: webhook handlers. If Vercel: deploy preview. If gh: CI status.

Circuit Breakers

Seven levels of circuit breakers prevent infinite loops and runaway spending. Each escalates to the next when exhausted.

Level	Trigger	Threshold	Action
1	Test failures	3 consecutive	Enter DEBUG mode
2	Debug attempts	2 failures	Codex rescue (different model, fresh perspective)
3	Debug exhaustion	3 total	Re-decompose task into sub-tasks (T005.1, T005.2)
4	Review iterations	3 passes	Accept with warnings, move on
5	No progress	2 identical snapshots	Block for human
6	Max iterations	100 (configurable)	Save state, force exit
7	Token budget	100% of session or per-task	Graceful handoff to .forge/resume.md