# Verify uptake by claims, not status

Work is real when a work product or a recorded claim exists under the worker's name. A status that says working proves nothing.

From the [Tips & tricks](../index.md#tips) section of [The Muse Field Guide](../index.md).

## The move

Work is real when there is a work product or a recorded claim under the worker's name. The household rule for delegated work is that a dispatch counts only when a claim or a deliverable exists under that runner.

## When to use it

Whenever the agent delegates, dispatches, or reports progress on work it did not do in front of you. The Muse equivalent: when the agent says a file was written, a job scheduled, or a message sent, ask for the read-back, or have it shown unprompted.

## Steps

1. Ask what artifact or claim proves the work started.
2. Read the artifact back, or have the worker show it.
3. Treat a status string as a claim to verify, never as evidence.

## The gotcha

Status text is generated by the same system that generates the work. It fails in the same ways, and it fails confidently.

## Where this came from

A dispatched worker pane reported "working" while it had no lane identity and its claim had been refused; the fix was verified by the claim landing.

Deep dive: [Practices and tips: the resource core](../deep-dives/practices.md)

Related resources: [Count work only when a claim or deliverable exists](verdict-verify-uptake-by-claims.md), [Done means verified live](done-means-verified-live.md), [Spot-check every background number](spot-check-background-numbers.md)

Canonical page: https://www.niclydon.io/muse/items/verify-uptake-by-claims.html