| name | gate-check |
| description | For ai-dev-workflow template maintainers only. Do not trigger during normal development workflow. Deterministic pre-review gate that verifies source vs .github/** sync parity and catalog counts before committing changes to the template repo itself. Triggers on: "gate check", "run gate", "pre-review check", "verify before review", "check sync drift", "check catalog parity". Reports GATE PASSED / GATE PASSED WITH NOTES / GATE FAILED.
|
Gate-Check Skill
Deterministic automated quality gate. Runs before agentic-eval and code-reviewer. Hard failures stop the pipeline.
⚠️ Scope
This skill is for ai-dev-workflow template maintainers only.
It verifies sync parity between the skills/, agents/, instructions/, prompts/ source folders
and the generated .github/** copies — checks that are only meaningful inside the template repository itself.
If you are using this template in your own project (via bootstrap.ps1 or install-apply.ps1),
gate-check is not deployed to your project. You do not need it and should not trigger it.
Verdict Semantics
| Verdict | Meaning | Action |
|---|
GATE PASSED | All required checks pass; no blocking issues | Proceed to agentic-eval → code-reviewer |
GATE PASSED WITH NOTES | Required checks pass; non-blocking warnings present | Log warning to 02-decision-log.md, then proceed |
GATE FAILED | One or more required checks failed | STOP. Do not proceed to agentic-eval or code-reviewer. Resolve failures first. |
Concrete Examples
GATE PASSED
Managed .github destinations: no drift. Catalog parity: 9 agents / 10 prompts / 35 total skills / 34 adopter skills / 1 maintainer-only skill. → GATE PASSED
GATE PASSED WITH NOTES
Agent structure check: a canonical Agent exceeds the 25-line soft target while retaining all required responsibility fields.
→ GATE PASSED WITH NOTES — record the warning and proceed only because no deterministic contract failed.
GATE FAILED
check-sync.ps1 reports drift: .github/agents/coder.agent.md is out of date with source.
→ GATE FAILED — run pwsh -File .\tools\sync-dotgithub.ps1 and re-run gate-check.
Minimum Check Set
| Check | Required? | Command / Method |
|---|
Managed source vs .github destinations | Required | pwsh -File .\tools\check-sync.ps1 (read-only; exit code 0 = clean) |
| Catalog count parity | Required | pwsh -File .\tools\audit-catalog.ps1 (exit code 0 = clean) |
| Lifecycle projection contract | Required | pwsh -File .\tools\check-lifecycle-contract.ps1 (portable parity, exclusions, mappings) |
| Change Package semantics | Required | pwsh -File .\tools\verify-change-package.ps1 (new/historical content and role resolver) |
| Canonical Agent structure | Required | pwsh -File .\tools\check-agent-structure.ps1 (hard findings exit nonzero; line-count warnings exit 0) |
| Python bootstrap tests | Required | pytest 8.3.5 |
| PowerShell bootstrap/tool tests | Required | Pester 5.6.1 |
| Diff hygiene | Required | git diff --check |
| Worktree invariant | Required | git status --porcelain=v1 unchanged before/after |
The gate never installs dependencies or repairs drift. Missing pytest or Pester is reported as ENVIRONMENT_PREREQUISITE_MISSING and stops with a nonzero exit code. CI is responsible for preparing the pinned test environment.
Every required check above must pass for GATE PASSED. The gate does not install missing prerequisites or repair drift.
The Agent checker is deterministic and per-file. It reports required persona/lens/scope/handoff structure, resolvable owning Skill pointers, prohibited responsibility findings, and each Agent's non-empty line count. Structural findings are hard failures; exceeding the 25-line target is a soft warning that can produce GATE PASSED WITH NOTES but never a nonzero result by itself. The checker performs no aggregate scoring, LLM/network call, or automatic rewrite.
Boundary: gate-check vs agentic-eval
| Dimension | gate-check | agentic-eval |
|---|
| Nature | Deterministic (script exit codes, file diff) | Model-based (rubric scoring, judgment) |
| Failure type | Hard binary FAIL (exit ≠ 0) | Dimensional FAIL (rubric score below threshold) |
| When it runs | Before agentic-eval | After gate-check passes |
| Iteration | No iteration (fix and re-run) | Max 2 iterations at stage gates |
| Who resolves | Implementer (fix the code/sync) | Agent (self-correct) or human (escalation) |
gate-check catches objective failures. agentic-eval catches subjective quality gaps. They are complementary, not redundant.
Three-Layer Ordering at Code→Review Handoff
1. gate-check (deterministic; GATE FAILED = STOP)
↓
2. agentic-eval (model-based; max 2 iterations at stage gate; unresolved → escalate to human)
↓
3. code-reviewer-agent (delegated review; independent Tier 2 gate)
Skipping gate-check or proceeding past GATE FAILED is a protocol violation.
GATE PASSED WITH NOTES Escalation Path
When the verdict is GATE PASSED WITH NOTES:
- Record the note in
changes/<slug>/02-decision-log.md (append-only):
## Gate-Check Note — <date>
- Check: <check name>
- Finding: <brief description>
- Decision: <proceed / defer / fix>
- Proceed to
agentic-eval after logging.
- Do NOT suppress or silently ignore the note.
Hard-Stop Enforcement
Execution mode: hard-fail — run-gate-check.ps1 exits nonzero on any required-check failure, and maintainer CI runs the same gate. Whether a failing workflow blocks merging remains a repository branch-protection setting outside this script.
