Paths: File paths (shared/, references/, ../ln-*) are relative to skills repo root. If not found at CWD, locate this SKILL.md directory and go up one level for repo root.

Story Quality Gate

Thin orchestrator that coordinates quality checks and test planning, then determines final Story verdict.

Purpose & Scope

• Invoke ln-510-quality-coordinator for code quality checks
• Invoke ln-520-test-planner for test planning (if needed)
• Calculate Quality Score and NFR validation
• Determine 4-level Gate verdict (PASS/CONCERNS/FAIL/WAIVED)
• Mark Story as Done or create fix tasks
• Delegates ALL work — never runs checks directly

4-Level Gate Model

Level	Meaning	Action
PASS	All checks pass, no issues	Story -> Done
CONCERNS	Minor issues, acceptable risk	Story -> Done with comment noting concerns
FAIL	Blocking issues found	Create fix tasks, return to ln-400
WAIVED	Issues acknowledged by user	Story -> Done with waiver reason documented

Verdict calculation: FAIL if any check fails. CONCERNS if minor issues exist. PASS if all clean.

Quality Score

Formula: Quality Score = 100 - (20 x FAIL_count) - (10 x CONCERN_count)

Score Range	Status	Action
90-100	Excellent	PASS
70-89	Acceptable	CONCERNS (proceed with notes)
50-69	Below threshold	FAIL (create fix tasks)
<50	Critical	FAIL (urgent priority)

NFR Validation

NFR	Checks	Issue Prefix
Security	Auth, input validation, secrets exposure	SEC-
Performance	N+1 queries, caching, response times	PERF-
Maintainability	DRY, SOLID, cyclomatic complexity, error handling	MNT-

Additional prefixes: TEST- (coverage gaps), ARCH- (architecture), DOC- (documentation), DEP- (dependencies), COV- (AC coverage), DB- (database schema), AC- (AC validation)

When to Use

• All implementation tasks in Story are Done
• User requests quality gate for Story
• ln-400-story-executor delegates quality check

Workflow

Phase 1: Discovery

1. Auto-discover team/config from docs/tasks/kanban_board.md
2. Load Story + task metadata from Linear (no full descriptions)
3. Detect test task status (exists? Done?)

Phase 2: Fast-Track Decision

Stories with high readiness (validated pre-execution) can skip expensive checks.

IF readiness_score available in CONTEXT:
  IF readiness_score == 10:
    fast_track = true
  ELSE:
    fast_track = false
ELSE:
  fast_track = false    # No readiness data — full gate

Fast-track matrix (readiness == 10):

Component	Full Gate	Fast-Track	Why
ln-514 regression tests	RUN	RUN	Always critical, cheap
Linters	RUN	RUN	Cheap, catches formatting
Criteria Validation (3 checks)	RUN	RUN	Cheap, validates AC coverage
ln-511 metrics + static analysis	RUN	RUN	Catches complexity/DRY/dead code that per-task review misses
ln-511 MCP Ref (OPT-, BP-, PERF-)	RUN	SKIP	Expensive external calls
ln-513 agent review	RUN	SKIP	Expensive external calls
ln-520 test planning	RUN	SKIP	Redundant for pre-validated
NFR validation	All dims	Security only	Perf/Maintainability less critical

Phase 3: Quality Checks (delegate to ln-510)

1. Invoke ln-510-quality-coordinator via Skill tool
   • Pass: Story ID (+ --fast-track flag if fast_track == true)
   • Full: ln-510 runs: code quality (ln-511) -> criteria validation -> linters -> regression (ln-514)
   • Fast-track: ln-510 runs: code metrics + static (ln-511 --skip-mcp-ref) -> criteria -> linters -> regression (ln-514) — skips MCP Ref/ln-513
2. If ln-510 returns FAIL:
   • Create fix/refactor tasks via ln-301
   • Stop — return to ln-400

Phase 4: Test Planning (delegate to ln-520)

1. IF fast_track: SKIP Phase 4 entirely (proceed to Phase 5)

2. Check test task status:

   • No test task -> invoke ln-520-test-planner to create
   • Test task exists, not Done -> report status, stop
   • Test task Done -> proceed to Phase 5

3. Invoke ln-520-test-planner via Skill tool (if needed)

   • Pass: Story ID
   • ln-520 runs: research (ln-521) -> manual testing (ln-522) -> auto test planning (ln-523)

Phase 5: Test Verification (after test task Done)

1. Load test task from Linear
2. Verify limits and priority:
   • Priority ≥15 scenarios covered
   • Each test passes Usefulness Criteria (no numerical targets)
   • Tests focus on business logic (no framework/DB/library tests)
3. Verify Story AC coverage by tests
4. Check infra/docs updates present

Phase 6: Final Verdict

1. Calculate Quality Score (see formula above)
2. Run NFR checks per dimensions table (fast_track: Security only; full: all dimensions)
3. Assign issue prefixes: SEC-, PERF-, MNT-, TEST-, ARCH-, DOC-
4. Determine Gate verdict per 4-Level Gate Model
5. Post Linear comment with gate verdict
6. If FAIL: Record root cause analysis — classify each failure (missing_context | wrong_pattern | unclear_ac | doc_gap | test_gap). Append to docs/project/architecture_health.md under ## Root Cause Log (create section if missing). Format: | {date} | {story_id} | {issue_id} | {classification} | {action_taken} |
7. Update Story status (Done for PASS/CONCERNS/WAIVED, or create fix tasks for FAIL)

TodoWrite format (mandatory):

- Invoke ln-510-quality-coordinator (in_progress)
- Check test task status (pending)
- Invoke ln-520-test-planner (pending, if needed)
- Verify test coverage (pending)
- Calculate Quality Score + NFR (pending)
- Determine verdict + update Story (pending)

Worker Invocation (MANDATORY)

Phase	Worker	Purpose
2	ln-510-quality-coordinator	Code quality + criteria + linters + regression
3	ln-520-test-planner	Research + manual testing + auto test planning

Invocation:

Skill(skill: "ln-510-quality-coordinator", args: "{storyId}")
Skill(skill: "ln-520-test-planner", args: "{storyId}")

Anti-Patterns:

• Running mypy, ruff, pytest directly instead of invoking ln-510
• Running web searches or creating bash scripts instead of invoking ln-520
• Marking steps as completed without invoking the actual skill
• Any direct command execution that should be delegated

Critical Rules

• Early-exit: any failure creates a specific task and stops
• Single source of truth: rely on Linear metadata for tasks
• Task creation via ln-301 only; this skill never edits tasks directly
• Test verification only runs when test task is Done
• Language preservation in comments (EN/RU)

Definition of Done

• ln-510 quality checks: pass OR fix tasks created
• Test task status checked; ln-520 invoked if needed
• Test coverage verified (when test task Done)
• Quality Score calculated; NFR validation completed
• Gate output format:

  gate: PASS | CONCERNS | FAIL | WAIVED
  quality_score: {0-100}
  nfr_validation:
    security: PASS | CONCERNS | FAIL
    performance: PASS | CONCERNS | FAIL
    reliability: PASS | CONCERNS | FAIL
    maintainability: PASS | CONCERNS | FAIL
  issues: [{id: "SEC-001", severity: high|medium|low, finding: "...", action: "..."}]
  

• Story set to Done (PASS/CONCERNS/WAIVED) or fix tasks created (FAIL)
• Root cause analysis recorded in architecture_health.md for every FAIL verdict
• Comment with gate verdict posted

Reference Files

• Orchestrator lifecycle: shared/references/orchestrator_pattern.md
• Quality coordinator: ../ln-510-quality-coordinator/SKILL.md
• Test planner: ../ln-520-test-planner/SKILL.md
• Risk-based testing: shared/references/risk_based_testing_guide.md

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Version: 7.0.0 Last Updated: 2026-02-09