quality-gate-review

name	quality-gate-review
version	1.1.1
description	[Project Management] Use when you need to enforce quality gates, verify compliance with standards, track quality metrics, and generate audit trails.

Quick Summary

Goal: Enforce quality gates, verify compliance with standards, and track quality metrics across the development lifecycle.

Renamed: formerly /qc-specialist — that name no longer resolves as a slash command; use /quality-gate-review.

Workflow:

1. Identify Gate — Determine which quality gate applies (Idea>PBI, PBI>Dev, Dev>QA, QA>Release)
2. Verify Checklist — Run through pass/fail criteria for the gate stage
3. Generate Report — Produce PASS/FAIL/CONDITIONAL gate status with evidence
4. Track Metrics — Log in audit trail and update quality metrics dashboard

Key Rules:

• Every gate must have a clear PASS/FAIL/CONDITIONAL status
• Evidence must be provided for critical checklist items
• Sign-offs are required before release gates can pass

Be skeptical. Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence percentages (Idea should be more than 80%).

Quality Gate Review

Enforce quality gates, verify compliance with standards, track quality metrics, and generate audit trails across the development lifecycle.

---

Core Capabilities

1. Quality Gates

Define pass/fail criteria at each stage:

Gate: Idea → PBI

• Problem statement present
• Business value articulated
• No technical solution prescribed
• Target users identified

Gate: PBI → Development

• Acceptance criteria in GIVEN/WHEN/THEN
• Out of scope defined
• Dependencies identified
• Design approved (if applicable)

Gate: Development → QA

• Code review approved
• Mutation score meets target; surviving mutants triaged (line-coverage diagnostic only — not a gate)
• No P1/P2 linting errors
• Documentation updated

Gate: QA → Release

• All test cases executed
• No open P1/P2 bugs
• Regression suite passed
• PO sign-off received

PO Acceptance Decision (per-AC verdict — how "PO sign-off received" is earned)

For each acceptance criterion from the PBI/story:

1. Read criterion — Ensure it's testable and measurable
2. Check evidence — Review test results, screenshots, demo recordings
3. Verify — Does the implementation satisfy the criterion?
4. Verdict — PASS or FAIL with specific evidence

Decision rules: Every acceptance criterion must have a PASS/FAIL verdict. REJECT must list the specific items that failed. CONDITIONAL ACCEPT must list conditions and a timeline.

## Acceptance Decision

**Feature/PBI:** {Reference}
**Reviewer:** {PO name/role}
**Date:** {date}
**Verdict:** ACCEPT | REJECT | CONDITIONAL ACCEPT

### Criteria Review

| # | Criterion | Verdict | Evidence |
|---|-----------|---------|----------|
| 1 | {AC text} | PASS | {Evidence} |
| 2 | {AC text} | FAIL | {Why it failed} |

### Decision Details
- {Rationale for overall verdict}

### Conditions (if CONDITIONAL)
- {Condition — deadline}

### Rejected Items (if REJECT)
- {Item — what needs to change}

2. Compliance Verification

• Code follows architecture patterns
• Security requirements met
• Accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AA)
• Performance benchmarks

3. Audit Trail

Track artifact lifecycle:

{Artifact} | {Action} | {By} | {Date} | {Notes}

4. Quality Metrics

Code Quality

• Cyclomatic complexity
• Mutation score (line-coverage diagnostic only — not a gate)
• Technical debt ratio
• Duplication %

Process Quality

• Defect escape rate
• First-time-right %
• Cycle time
• Lead time

---

Quality Gate Checklists

Pre-Development Checklist

## Quality Gate: PBI Ready for Development

**PBI:** {PBI-ID}
**Reviewer:** {Name}
**Date:** {Date}

### Requirements

- [ ] Clear problem statement
- [ ] User value articulated
- [ ] Acceptance criteria in GIVEN/WHEN/THEN format
- [ ] Out of scope explicitly listed

### Design

- [ ] Design spec approved (if UI changes)
- [ ] API contract defined (if backend changes)
- [ ] Database changes documented (if applicable)

### Dependencies

- [ ] Upstream dependencies identified
- [ ] No blocking dependencies
- [ ] Integration points documented

### Gate Status: PASS / FAIL / CONDITIONAL

**Notes:**
{Any concerns or conditions}

Pre-QA Checklist

## Quality Gate: Ready for QA (Dev → QA)

**Feature/PBI:** {Reference}
**Reviewer:** {Name}
**Date:** {Date}

### Readiness

- [ ] All acceptance criteria implemented
- [ ] Unit tests passing
- [ ] Code review complete
- [ ] No known critical bugs
- [ ] Test data prepared

### Gate Status: PASS / FAIL / CONDITIONAL

**Notes:**
{Any concerns or conditions}

Database Performance gate (applies to all stages)

• Database performance (pagination on all list queries; indexes on filter/FK/sort columns) — verified via /production-readiness-review and /performance-review

Pre-Release Checklist

## Quality Gate: Ready for Release

**Feature:** {Feature name}
**Release:** {Version}
**Date:** {Date}

### Testing

- [ ] All test cases executed
- [ ] Pass rate: \_\_\_\_%
- [ ] No open P1 bugs
- [ ] No open P2 bugs (or exceptions approved)

### Code Quality

- [ ] Code review approved
- [ ] Mutation score meets target; surviving mutants triaged (line-coverage reported as a diagnostic only, no threshold)
- [ ] No security vulnerabilities
- [ ] Performance benchmarks met

### Documentation

- [ ] User documentation updated
- [ ] API documentation current
- [ ] Release notes drafted

### Sign-Offs

- [ ] QA Lead: **\*\***\_**\*\*** Date: **\_\_\_**
- [ ] Dev Lead: **\*\***\_**\*\*** Date: **\_\_\_**
- [ ] PO: **\*\*\*\***\_\_**\*\*\*\*** Date: **\_\_\_**

### Gate Status: PASS / FAIL

**Release Decision:**
{Go / No-Go with notes}

---

Workflow Integration

Running Quality Gate

When user runs /quality-gate {artifact-or-pr}:

1. Identify gate type based on artifact/stage
2. Load appropriate checklist
3. Verify each criterion
4. Generate pass/fail report
5. Log in audit trail

---

Metrics Dashboard Template

## Quality Metrics - Sprint {N}

### Code Quality

| Metric         | Target          | Actual | Trend |
| -------------- | --------------- | ------ | ----- |
| Mutation score | meets target    |        | ↑↓→   |
| Line coverage  | diagnostic only |        | ↑↓→   |
| Complexity     | <15             |        |       |
| Duplication    | <5%             |        |       |
| Debt Ratio     | <10%            |        |       |

### Process Quality

| Metric            | Target | Actual |
| ----------------- | ------ | ------ |
| Defect Escape     | <5%    |        |
| First-Time-Right  | >90%   |        |
| Avg Review Cycles | <2     |        |

### Defect Trends

| Sprint | Found | Fixed | Escaped |
| ------ | ----- | ----- | ------- |
| N-2    |       |       |         |
| N-1    |       |       |         |
| N      |       |       |         |

---

Output Conventions

File Naming

{YYMMDD}-qc-gate-{stage}-{slug}.md
{YYMMDD}-qc-audit-{feature}.md
{YYMMDD}-qc-metrics-sprint-{n}.md

---

Quality Checklist

Before completing QC artifacts:

• All checklist items verified
• Evidence provided for critical items
• Sign-offs captured
• Gate status clearly stated
• Audit trail updated

Related

• spec
• code-review

---

[IMPORTANT] Use TaskCreate to break ALL work into small tasks BEFORE starting — including tasks for each file read. This prevents context loss from long files. For simple tasks, AI MUST ATTENTION ask user whether to skip.

• docs/project-reference/domain-entities-reference.md — Domain entity catalog, relationships, cross-service sync (read when task involves business entities/models)

AI Mistake Prevention — Failure modes to avoid on every task:

Re-read files after context changes. Context compaction, resume, or long-running work can make memory stale; verify current files before acting. Verify generated content against source evidence. AI hallucinates APIs, names, claims, and document facts. Check the relevant source before documenting or referencing. Check downstream references before deleting or renaming. Removing an artifact can stale docs, generated mirrors, configs, and callers; map references first. Trace the full impact chain after edits. Changing a definition can miss derived outputs and consumers. Follow the affected chain before declaring done. Verify ALL affected outputs, not just the first. One green check is not all green checks; validate every output surface the change can affect. Assume existing values are intentional — ask WHY before changing. Before changing a constant, limit, flag, wording, or pattern, read nearby context and history. Surface ambiguity before acting — don't pick silently. Multiple valid interpretations require an explicit question or stated assumption with risk. Keep shared guidance role-relevant. Universal guidance must help every receiving skill or agent; code-specific obligations belong only in code-specific protocols.

Critical Thinking Mindset — Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence >80% to act. Anti-hallucination: Never present guess as fact — cite sources for every claim, admit uncertainty freely, self-check output for errors, cross-reference independently, stay skeptical of own confidence — certainty without evidence root of all hallucination.

Sequential Thinking Protocol — Structured multi-step reasoning for complex/ambiguous work. Use when planning, reviewing, debugging, or refining ideas where one-shot reasoning is unsafe.

Trigger when: complex problem decomposition · adaptive plans needing revision · analysis with course correction · unclear/emerging scope · multi-step solutions · hypothesis-driven debugging · cross-cutting trade-off evaluation.

Format (explicit mode — visible thought trail):

1. Thought N/M: [aspect] — one aspect per thought, state assumptions/uncertainty
2. Thought N/M [REVISION of Thought K]: ... — when prior reasoning invalidated; state Original / Why revised / Impact
3. Thought N/M [BRANCH A from Thought K]: ... — explore alternative; converge with decision rationale
4. Thought N/M [HYPOTHESIS]: ... then [VERIFICATION]: ... — test before acting
5. Thought N/N [FINAL] — only when verified, all critical aspects addressed, confidence >80%

Mandatory closers: Confidence % stated · Assumptions listed · Open questions surfaced · Next action concrete.

Stop conditions: confidence <80% on any critical decision → escalate via AskUserQuestion · ≥3 revisions on same thought → re-frame the problem · branch count >3 → split into sub-task.

Implicit mode: apply methodology internally without visible markers when adding markers would clutter the response (routine work where reasoning aids accuracy).

Deep-dive: see /sequential-thinking skill (.claude/skills/sequential-thinking/SKILL.md) for worked examples (API design, debugging, architecture), advanced techniques (spiral refinement, hypothesis testing, convergence), and meta-strategies (uncertainty handling, revision cascades).

MUST ATTENTION apply critical + sequential thinking — every claim needs appropriate traced evidence (file:line for repo/code claims; source URL or artifact section for research, product, content, and docs claims); confidence >80% to act, <60% DO NOT recommend. Anti-hallucination: never present guess as fact, admit uncertainty freely, cross-reference independently, stay skeptical of own confidence.

MUST ATTENTION apply sequential-thinking — multi-step Thought N/M, REVISION/BRANCH/HYPOTHESIS markers, confidence % closer; see /sequential-thinking skill.

MUST ATTENTION apply AI mistake prevention — verify generated content against evidence, trace downstream references before deleting or renaming, verify all affected outputs, re-read files after context loss, and surface ambiguity before acting.

Closing Reminders

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION Goal: Enforce quality gates, verify compliance with standards, track quality metrics, and generate audit trails across the development lifecycle.

Protocols in force (concise digest of the SYNC/shared blocks this skill carries):

• AI Mistake Prevention: verify generated content against evidence, trace downstream references, verify all affected outputs, re-read after context loss, surface ambiguity.
• Critical Thinking: Traced file:line proof per claim; confidence >80% to act.
• Sequential Thinking: Multi-step Thought N/M with REVISION/BRANCH/HYPOTHESIS markers, confidence closer.

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION break work into small todo tasks using TaskCreate BEFORE starting IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION search codebase for 3+ similar patterns before creating new code IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION cite file:line evidence for every claim (confidence >80% to act) IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION add a final review todo task to verify work quality

[TASK-PLANNING] Before acting, analyze task scope and systematically break it into small todo tasks and sub-tasks using TaskCreate.