answer-only-what-was-askedlisted

# Answer the question that was asked, at the size it was asked ## Purpose A maintainer writes "this will need one more rebase". The work is thirty seconds of `git rebase`; the temptation is a paragraph. And the paragraph feels earned, because you *did* verify — you reran the tests, you checked the conflict was textual, you reverted your own change to confirm the tests still fail without it. None of that was asked for, and posting it inverts who is doing whom a favour. The reviewer asked for one mechanical act so that they could continue reviewing. A reply enumerating your checks makes them read a status report before they can get back to the thing they were doing. It also carries an implicit claim — *look how carefully I work* — which is the reviewer's judgement to make from the diff, not yours to assert. The verification is not wasted; it is what stops you pushing something broken. It is simply not the answer. Two different audiences: your own gate, and their thread. ## When to use - A reviewer asked for a rebase, squash, rename, file removal, or "please apply this". - You are typing a comment whose first word is "Done", "Rebased", "Updated" or "Fixed". - You are about to paste a test summary, a checklist, or a "verified both directions" note into a PR. - A review comment on a single line has a one-line answer and you are writing five. ## When NOT to use - The mechanical act **changed something the reviewer should know**: a conflict you had to resolve by choosing