Acceptance criteria.
Acceptance criteria are the written, agreed conditions software must meet to count as done, set before a build starts and used to judge whether delivery is complete. They turn done from a matter of opinion at the end into a standard both sides signed at the beginning. For a founder without a tech team, they are what make a delivery guarantee something you can enforce instead of something you have to hope holds.
01 / What are acceptance criteria
They are the checklist that decides whether a build is finished, written in plain language and agreed before any code exists.
Without them, done is whatever the builder says it is, and you have no way to argue. With them, the question is simple: does the delivered system meet the criteria we signed, yes or no. That removes the part of a software project that scares non-technical buyers most, which is not knowing whether they are being told the truth.
This is the backbone of our delivery guarantee. We sign acceptance criteria before the build. If the delivered system misses them, we remediate it for free inside a time cap of about six weeks. AI behavior is judged against pre-agreed evals, new asks become change orders, and third-party delays are excluded. You hold us to a written standard, not to your own technical judgment.
02 / What makes good criteria
- + Written and signed before the build begins
- + Tied to outcomes you care about, in language you understand
- + Testable, so done is a yes or no, not a debate
- + Paired with evals for any AI behavior
See how criteria anchor a fixed-price build on the Forge build page. Related: scope creep and MVP. Start a conversation.
03 / Common questions
Who writes the acceptance criteria?
We write them with you before the build, usually during the audit, and you sign off. They are in plain language tied to outcomes you care about, not jargon. The point is that you understand and agree with the standard you are holding us to.
What if the software meets the criteria but I still want changes?
Then we are in good shape: the build delivered what we agreed, and the new ask is a change order, priced and decided before we proceed. That keeps the original scope honest and stops new ideas from quietly turning into scope creep.
How are acceptance criteria used for AI features?
AI behavior is judged against pre-agreed evals, which are acceptance criteria for the parts that are not deterministic. We define what good output looks like up front and test against it, so the AI is held to a written bar instead of a vibe.
Last updated June 2026 · Talk with Felipe
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