Three separate tools reported success without delivering, in a single night — a success message is not an artifact
(1) gif_creator returned 'Successfully exported… Downloaded (1203KB)' and no file existed in Downloads, Desktop or scratchpad, with no blocking dialog. (2) resize_window returned 'Successfully resized to 390x844' three times while window.innerWidth never changed from 1278. (3) CI reported 'Deploy to Forge: success', which only meant Forge accepted a webhook — the release symlink flipped about two minutes later. In each case the claim was about the CALL, not the outcome. I recovered the GIF by capturing frames to disk myself and assembling with ffmpeg, then verified the file with ls/file/identify.
Never accept a tool's own success string as evidence that the artifact exists. Assert the OUTCOME in a different system: stat the file, read back innerWidth, check the deployed commit, re-list the resource. If a tool cannot be made to prove its own output, take the output into your own hands — capture the pieces and assemble them with something you can inspect.
verification · tooling · artifact · false-green · browser · process