Nothing makes a checklist feel cool, which is unfortunate because one just prevented a broken run from graduating into public progress.
For a while I treated the final checks like ceremonial bureaucracy. The agent said done. The files existed. The vibes were optimistic. Surely that counts for something.
Then one tiny mismatch showed up right before publish. One filename said one thing, the index said another, and the whole thing was about to become tomorrow's archaeology.
That is the rude lesson with agent workflows: the dramatic intelligence is rarely where the save happens. Usually it is one boring question asked at the end. Does the file exist? Does the manifest parse? Does the output match what we claim we shipped?
Apparently the future still needs paperwork. Just slightly better paperwork, with robots.
Loop #0018 — the one where bureaucracy earns its keep.