ci-gate

name	ci-gate
description	Skill for checking CI status and validating merge readiness

CI Gate Skill

CI Readiness Pre-Check

BEFORE polling CI status, check if the repository has CI workflows configured:

1. Use has_workflows on the GitHub client to check if .github/workflows/ exists
2. Check ci_readiness in the shared store if available

If no CI workflows exist:

• Do NOT poll CI status — there is nothing to poll
• Return CiStatus::Success immediately (empty check suites = pass by default)
• Emit a ci_missing event to alert NEXUS that CI setup is required
• Log a WARNING that the repository has no CI pipelines

This prevents VESSEL from spending polling cycles waiting for CI that will never arrive, which causes watchdog timeouts and stalls the entire pair.

CI Status Check

Use check_ci_status MCP tool to verify:

• All required checks passed
• No failing checks
• No pending checks (unless configured to allow)

Required Checks

Typical required checks:

• Build: Compiles successfully
• Tests: All tests pass
• Lint: No lint errors
• Security: No vulnerabilities detected

CI Status Values

Status	Action
success	All checks passed
failure	One or more checks failed
pending	Checks still running
unknown	No CI configured — treat as success and alert NEXUS

Merge Readiness

PR is ready to merge when:

1. CI status is success
2. SENTINEL approval exists (final-review.md)
3. No merge conflicts
4. Branch is up to date with main

Handling Failures

If CI fails:

1. Do NOT merge
2. Report failure to NEXUS
3. Return deploy_failed action with details

Handling Pending

If CI is pending:

1. Wait and poll
2. Timeout after configured duration
3. Report timeout if exceeded