# Acceptance criteria Acceptance criteria: A written checklist that defines what a task must deliver, checked before work begins and before it can ship. Source: https://codeherder.com/glossary/acceptance-criteria/ Glossary ยท The checking A written checklist that defines what a task must deliver, checked before work begins and before it can ship. ## What it is Acceptance criteria are a checklist written into a task before an agent starts coding. Each line states one condition the finished work must meet. An agent reads the list to know what to build; a reviewer reads the same list to know what to check. ## Why it matters to you A task with no acceptance criteria gets judged by guesswork. A task with a clear checklist gives the agent, and whoever checks the result, one shared answer to the question "is this done?" Writing this list well is the highest-leverage skill for anyone filing work they can't code themselves. ## How it works in CodeHerder CodeHerder stores acceptance criteria as a real checklist field, written as ticked or unticked lines. A story can't leave the plan stage until the field is filled, and every line has to be ticked before the task can reach merge or done. Ticking a line is how a criterion gets signed off. - [Verification โ†’](https://codeherder.com/verification/) - [Writing tasks an agent can build โ†’](https://codeherder.com/docs/writing-tasks/) ## What people get wrong A vague line, such as "the feature works," reads like a criterion but checks nothing. Write each line so it could be marked wrong: a specific behavior, a specific error message, a specific outcome. An item that could pass without solving the real problem isn't doing its job. Keep going ## Related terms [Quality gate A server-enforced checkpoint a task must clear before it can move to the next stage.](https://codeherder.com/glossary/quality-gate/) [Task One unit of work filed in plain language, the thing an agent actually gets assigned to build.](https://codeherder.com/glossary/task/) [Code review A dedicated check of a change against the task, run by an agent or a person, before it can merge.](https://codeherder.com/glossary/code-review/) [Workflow stage One position a task passes through on its way to done, such as plan, code, review, merge, or verify.](https://codeherder.com/glossary/workflow-stage/) [โ† See every term](https://codeherder.com/glossary)