quality-gates

This skill provides structured quality gate procedures for verifying code quality, security, performance, and production readiness before delivery.

When to Invoke This Skill

Automatically activate for:

• Code review and validation
• Pre-merge quality checks
• Pre-deployment verification
• Release readiness assessment
• Post-implementation quality audit

Quality Gate Levels

Standard (Default)

For routine changes, bug fixes, small features:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    STANDARD GATES                        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ✓ All tests pass                                        │
│ ✓ Linting clean (no errors)                             │
│ ✓ TypeScript compiles (no type errors)                  │
│ ✓ Code follows project patterns                         │
│ ✓ No obvious security issues                            │
│ ✓ Changes match requirements                            │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Strict

For significant features, refactors, public APIs:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     STRICT GATES                         │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ All Standard gates PLUS:                                │
│ ✓ Test coverage ≥ 90% for new code                      │
│ ✓ Security scan passes (no high/critical)               │
│ ✓ Performance benchmarks met                            │
│ ✓ API documentation updated                             │
│ ✓ Breaking changes documented                           │
│ ✓ Peer review completed                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Critical

For security-sensitive, production-critical, high-risk changes:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    CRITICAL GATES                        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ All Strict gates PLUS:                                  │
│ ✓ Security audit by security-focused review             │
│ ✓ Load testing completed                                │
│ ✓ Rollback procedure documented and tested              │
│ ✓ Monitoring and alerting configured                    │
│ ✓ Stakeholder sign-off obtained                         │
│ ✓ Incident response plan updated                        │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Quality Gate Procedures

1. Code Quality Gate

# Run these checks in sequence
npm run lint          # or: bun run lint
npm run type-check    # or: bun run type-check
npm run test          # or: bun run test
npm run build         # Verify build succeeds

Verification checklist:

• Zero linting errors
• Zero TypeScript errors
• All tests pass
• Build completes successfully
• No console.log statements in production code
• No TODO comments blocking release

2. Test Coverage Gate

npm run test:coverage

Coverage requirements by level:

Level	Line Coverage	Branch Coverage	Function Coverage
Standard	≥ 70%	≥ 60%	≥ 70%
Strict	≥ 90%	≥ 80%	≥ 90%
Critical	≥ 95%	≥ 90%	≥ 95%

What to test:

• Happy path scenarios
• Error handling paths
• Edge cases (null, empty, boundary values)
• Integration points
• User-facing behavior

3. Security Gate

Automated checks:

npm audit              # Dependency vulnerabilities
npm run lint:security  # Security-focused lint rules (if configured)

Manual review checklist:

• No hardcoded secrets or credentials
• Input validation on all user inputs
• Output encoding to prevent XSS
• SQL/NoSQL injection prevention
• Authentication checks on protected routes
• Authorization verified for sensitive operations
• HTTPS enforced for sensitive data
• Sensitive data not logged
• CORS configured correctly

For Strict/Critical:

• OWASP Top 10 review completed
• Security-focused code review by second engineer
• Penetration testing (Critical only)

4. Performance Gate

Metrics to verify:

Metric	Standard	Strict	Critical
Page Load	< 3s	< 2s	< 1s
API Response	< 500ms	< 200ms	< 100ms
Bundle Size	< 500KB	< 300KB	< 200KB
Memory Leak	None	None	None

Verification steps:

• No N+1 queries introduced
• Database queries use indexes
• Large lists are paginated
• Images are optimized
• Caching implemented where appropriate
• No blocking operations on main thread

5. Documentation Gate

Required documentation:

Level	README	API Docs	Changelog	Architecture
Standard	✓	-	✓	-
Strict	✓	✓	✓	-
Critical	✓	✓	✓	✓

Checklist:

• README updated with new features/changes
• API endpoints documented (Strict+)
• Breaking changes clearly noted
• Migration guide provided (if applicable)
• Architecture decisions recorded (Critical)

6. Integration Gate

Verification steps:

• Feature works end-to-end
• No regression in existing functionality
• Cross-browser testing (if frontend)
• Mobile responsiveness verified (if applicable)
• Third-party integrations tested

For Strict/Critical:

• E2E test suite passes
• Staging environment validation
• User acceptance testing completed

Quality Gate Report Template

## Quality Gate Report

**Feature**: [Feature Name]
**Level**: [Standard | Strict | Critical]
**Date**: [YYYY-MM-DD]
**Reviewer**: [Name]

### Summary
| Gate | Status | Notes |
|------|--------|-------|
| Code Quality | ✅ PASS | All checks clean |
| Test Coverage | ✅ PASS | 92% coverage |
| Security | ✅ PASS | No vulnerabilities |
| Performance | ⚠️ WARN | API slightly slow |
| Documentation | ✅ PASS | Updated |
| Integration | ✅ PASS | E2E passing |

### Detailed Results

#### Code Quality
- Lint: 0 errors, 0 warnings
- TypeScript: 0 errors
- Tests: 47 passed, 0 failed
- Build: Success

#### Test Coverage
- Lines: 92% (target: 90%)
- Branches: 85% (target: 80%)
- Functions: 94% (target: 90%)

#### Security
- npm audit: 0 vulnerabilities
- Manual review: Completed, no issues
- [x] Input validation verified
- [x] Auth checks verified

#### Performance
- Page load: 1.8s (target: < 2s)
- API response: 180ms (target: < 200ms)
- Bundle size: 287KB (target: < 300KB)

#### Issues Found
1. [WARN] API endpoint `/api/users` responds in 450ms under load
   - Recommendation: Add caching layer
   - Severity: Low
   - Blocking: No

### Verdict

**✅ APPROVED FOR MERGE**

All critical gates pass. Performance warning noted for future optimization.

Gate Failure Handling

When a gate fails:

1. Identify Severity

Severity	Description	Action
Blocker	Prevents deployment	Must fix before merge
Critical	Security/data risk	Must fix before merge
Major	Significant issue	Should fix, can defer with approval
Minor	Quality concern	Can defer to follow-up

2. Document the Issue

### Gate Failure: [Gate Name]

**Severity**: [Blocker | Critical | Major | Minor]
**Description**: [What failed and why]
**Impact**: [What happens if not fixed]
**Remediation**: [How to fix]
**Timeline**: [When it will be fixed]
**Approved By**: [If deferring, who approved]

3. Resolution Path

Blocker/Critical → Fix immediately → Re-run gates
Major → Fix or get approval → Document decision
Minor → Create follow-up ticket → Proceed with caution

Quick Reference Commands

# Standard gate check
npm run lint && npm run type-check && npm run test && npm run build

# Coverage check
npm run test:coverage

# Security audit
npm audit

# Full strict gate
npm run lint && npm run type-check && npm run test:coverage && npm run build && npm audit

Checklist Summary

Pre-Review (Author)

• Self-reviewed code changes
• Tests added/updated
• Documentation updated
• No debugging code left
• Commit messages are clear

Code Review (Reviewer)

• Logic is correct
• Code is readable
• Follows project patterns
• No security concerns
• Tests are meaningful
• Error handling is appropriate

Pre-Merge

• All CI checks pass
• Required approvals obtained
• Conflicts resolved
• Branch is up to date

Pre-Deploy (Critical)

• Rollback plan documented
• Monitoring configured
• Stakeholders notified
• Deployment window confirmed