quality-gate

Quality Gate

A sequential checklist to run after implementation and before PR creation. Each gate must pass before proceeding to the next.

Input

• List of changed files (or infer from git status)
• Optional: scope restriction (single file, directory, or feature)

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Gate 1: Selective Staging

Stage files individually to avoid accidentally including sensitive files:

git status
git add <file1> <file2> ...  # Never use git add . or git add -A
git diff --staged --stat     # Confirm what's staged

Check:

• No .env, credentials, or secrets files staged
• No generated / binary files staged unintentionally
• Only files relevant to the current task are staged

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Gate 2: Comment Review

Review comments in staged files for quality and accuracy:

Run the project's comment review procedure (or review-comments if available).

Check:

• No TODO/FIXME left unaddressed (or explicitly deferred with reason)
• No commented-out code without explanation
• Comments describe why, not what
• No outdated comments that contradict the current implementation

Fix any issues found, then re-stage affected files.

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Gate 3: Code Review

Run staged code review (or pr-reviewer-3a / project-equivalent):

Check:

• No logic errors or off-by-one mistakes
• No obvious security issues (injection, unvalidated input, exposed secrets)
• Consistent with existing patterns in the codebase
• No dead code introduced

On findings:

• Critical: Fix before proceeding
• Minor: Fix or log in PR description
• Suggestion: Capture in memory for future improvement

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Gate 4: Project Quality Checks

Run all project-defined quality checks in order:

# Run project lint command
# Run project format command
# Run project type-check command (if applicable)
# Run project test command

Each command must pass (exit 0) before running the next.

If any command fails:

1. Read the error output carefully
2. Fix the root cause (do not suppress with --no-verify or skip flags)
3. Re-run from the failed gate

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Gate 5: Final Staged Diff Review

git diff --staged

Confirm:

• No unintended changes (whitespace, formatting from other files)
• Diff matches the intended scope of the task
• Commit message will accurately describe these changes

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Output

Quality Gate passed
- Gate 1: Staging        OK
- Gate 2: Comments       OK
- Gate 3: Code Review    OK
- Gate 4: Quality Checks OK (lint, format, typecheck, test)
- Gate 5: Final Diff     OK

Ready to commit / create PR.

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Integration Points

• Run before creating a PR or committing a logical chunk of work
• Use with detroit-school-lint for test quality checks in Gate 3
• Use with pr-reviewer-3a for deeper review in Gate 3

Gotchas

See gotchas.md in this directory for known pitfalls and recurring mistakes when using this skill.