pr-release-gate

name	pr-release-gate
description	Use before any git push, pull-request creation or ready-for-review action, including autonomous loops and follow-up fixes.
allowed-tools	Read, Grep, Glob, Bash

PR release gate

Opening a PR is a release boundary, not a progress update. Never push or open a PR merely because implementation stopped.

Gate

1. Refresh. Fetch the target branch. Start from current origin/main; never reuse a closed, merged or superseded PR branch. Check existing open and closed PRs for the head branch before creating another. Complete when: the base SHA and branch history are current and recorded.

2. Prove a real delta. Do not trust GitHub's three-dot display or a whole-tree comparison on a branch that is behind. Enumerate paths changed by the branch since its merge base, then compare each candidate path's final blob with current origin/main. At least one must differ. If all candidate blobs already exist on main, there is no content to review and no PR may open. Confirm the remaining diff contains only the requested coherent change. Complete when: a non-empty, scoped content delta exists.

3. Test the exact commit. Commit the candidate, leave the worktree clean, then run the repository's complete relevant definition of done: type-check, lint, tests, build and project guards. Fix failures and repeat, at most three test-fix cycles before reporting blocked. CI after opening a PR does not replace this step. Complete when: every required local command exits zero on the candidate HEAD.

4. Independent review. Dispatch a second agent (fresh context, never the implementing agent or its subagents; prefer the other CLI — Claude builds → Codex reviews, and vice versa) using the brief template in references/reviewer-brief.md — the brief carries only what varies (SHAs, scope, budget, known facts); the template carries the report contract and the review rubric, including the mutation-control requirement. Complete when: the reviewer writes a SHA-bound report matching references/reviewer-report-schema.md.

5. Drain findings. P0/P1 block release: fix, rerun every affected gate, new commit, new SHA back to the reviewer — a PASS for an older SHA is invalid. If the reviewer is unavailable or crashes, queue the work and stop; never self-certify. P2 findings do not block (founder stopping rule, 03/08/2026): file each as a tracked ticket; the reviewer records them as documented warnings outside blocking_findings. Complete when: the exact final HEAD has PASS with zero unresolved P0/P1 blockers and every documented P2 carries a ticket reference.

6. Issue the receipt. Run the bundled recorder with all required test commands. It executes the commands and binds their exit codes plus the independent report to the exact HEAD and base:

   python3 ~/.claude/skills/pr-release-gate/scripts/pr_release_gate.py issue \
     --primary-agent <claude|codex> \
     --review-report <absolute-review-report.json> \
     --test '<repo type-check command>' \
     --test '<repo lint command>' \
     --test '<repo test command>'
   

   Complete when: verify returns PR_RELEASE_GATE_PASS.

7. Release through the correct lane. Push the final tip and open one draft PR with a non-empty body containing the SHA, exact commands/results and reviewer identity. Do not add commits after opening. Keep it draft until fresh remote checks for that exact SHA are green. Who merges — the human default and the UG-AUTONOMY-001 exception with its full conditions — is defined in references/merge-lanes.md. Complete when: one evidence-backed PR awaits its lane's merge actor.

   Run each release action as one direct command with the tool working directory set to the target repository. Do not chain cd, pushd, conditionals, pipes, newlines or multiple PR actions. Put multiline PR text in a body file.

Absolute stops

• No exemptions for docs, tests, dependency bumps, urgency or "small" changes.
• No CodeRabbit/status badge may substitute for the independent SHA-bound report.
• No stale/superseded branch, stale receipt, dirty tree, empty effective diff, failed/skipped gate or unresolved P0/P1 finding.
• No --no-verify, force push or human-override variable by an agent.
• No compound or directory-changing shell command at the release boundary.
• Related changes update one existing branch/PR; they do not create a stream of replacement PRs.
• Never author, edit or reformat the reviewer's report file — reviewer authorship is the evidence; a mis-shaped report goes back to the reviewer with the recorder's error text.