---

name: qa-workflow description: Complete QA Validator workflow orchestration. References specialized skills for each validation step. Load at session startup for full protocol.

QA Workflow

"Orchestration layer for QA validation - delegate to specialized skills for each step."

Core Responsibilities

• Load proper skills and tools - Always ensure you have the right skills loaded for each task. Run tasks and subagents in parallel when possible to optimize time.
• Full validation - code quality review, type-check, lint, test, build, specifications validation
• Code quality enforcement - Check for code quality smells, anti-patterns, wrong design patterns and implementation issues
• Checkpoint tracking - Use validation-state.json to verify all steps complete before proceeding
• Bug reporting - Structured bug reports with evidence
• Specifications validation - Check implementation vs design specifications

Standard Message Pipeline

• Read message input in this order: CLI message argument → pending-messages-qa.json → inbox diagnostics
• Never delete queue files (messages/*) or pending transaction files (pending-messages-*.json)
• Watchdog owns delivery and cleanup lifecycle
• Signal lifecycle using status_update:
  • working when validation starts
  • awaiting_pm / awaiting_gd when blocked
  • ready / waiting / idle when available for next delivery

Agent Startup Protocol

PRE-REQUISITE: You should already have loaded the shared-worktree skill and be in the correct worktree directory before starting this workflow!

On each QA agent spawn, follow these steps EXACTLY in order:

STEP 0: INITIALIZE VALIDATION STATE (MANDATORY - First action)

Before any validation work begins:

1. Create .claude/session/validation-state.json if it doesn't exist
2. Initialize with task information:

   {
     "taskId": "{taskId from validation_request}",
     "startedAt": "{ISO-8601 timestamp}",
     "checkpoints": {
       "codeReview": null,
       "typeCheck": null,
       "lint": null,
       "test": null,
       "build": null,
       "codeRefactor": false
     }
   }
   

3. PROCEED to Step 1

STEP 1: SEND STATUS UPDATE (MANDATORY)

Send status_update to watchdog with status: "working" and current task details.

STEP 2: CODE QUALITY PRE-CHECK (MANDATORY - Unskippable)

BEFORE running any automated checks:

1. Load qa-code-review skill
2. Identify changed files from the validation request
3. Run quality checks using the qa-code-review skill's grep patterns
4. Update checkpoint: validation-state.json → checkpoints.codeReview = "PASS" or "FAIL"
5. IF "FAIL": Create bug report, STOP validation, report to PM
6. IF "PASS": Proceed to Step 3

STEP 3: AUTOMATED CHECKS (MANDATORY)

Follow the qa-validation-workflow skill guidelines:

1. Load qa-validation-workflow skill
2. Execute in sequence:
   • Type Check → Update checkpoint
   • Lint → Update checkpoint
   • Test → Update checkpoint
   • Build → Update checkpoint
3. Each step MUST update its checkpoint in validation-state.json before proceeding
4. IF any check FAILS: STOP validation, create bug report, report to PM

STEP 4: CODE REFACTOR GATE (MANDATORY - Enforced Checkpoint)

BEFORE proceeding to specification validation:

1. READ validation-state.json
2. VERIFY checkpoints.codeRefactor == true
3. IF false:
   • READ validation_request.payload.files for list of created/modified files
   • INVOKE code-refactor subagent using Task tool:

   Task tool → subagent_type: "code-refactor", model: "sonnet"
   Prompt: "Review and refactor these files using codebase-cleanup-refactor-clean skill:
   Files to review: {files.create} + {files.modify}
   Context: QA validation for task {taskId}
   Focus on: code quality, clean code principles, SOLID patterns, anti-patterns, maintainability"
   ``` WAIT for code-refactor subagent completion
   - **READ** code-refactor output to verify completion
   - **UPDATE** checkpoint: `checkpoints.codeRefactor = true`
   - **IF changes were made:** Re-execute Step 3 (re-validation loop)
   - **IF re-validation FAILS:** Report bug, DO NOT proceed
   - **ONLY** proceed to Step 5 after code-refactor checkpoint is true
   

   • WAIT for code-refactor subagent completion
   • READ code-refactor output to verify completion
   • UPDATE checkpoint: checkpoints.codeRefactor = true
   • IF changes were made: Re-execute Step 3 (re-validation loop)
   • IF re-validation FAILS: Report bug, DO NOT proceed
4. ONLY proceed to Step 5 after code-refactor checkpoint is true

STEP 5: SPECIFICATION VALIDATION

After all automated checks pass and code-refactor completes:

1. READ prd.json for the task's acceptance criteria
2. READ relevant GDD documents for design specifications
3. VERIFY each acceptance criterion is met in implementation
4. DOCUMENT results:
   • Which criteria passed
   • Any gaps between implementation and design
   • Visual/behavioral verification notes

STEP 6: FINAL DECISION GATE (MANDATORY)

BEFORE committing or reporting:

1. READ ALL checkpoints from validation-state.json
2. VERIFY all checkpoints:
   • codeReview: "PASS"
   • typeCheck: "PASS"
   • lint: "PASS"
   • test: "PASS"
   • build: "PASS"
   • codeRefactor: true
3. DECISION:
   • IF any checkpoint = "FAIL": Status = "FAILED", create bug_report using qa-reporting-bug-reporting skill
   • IF all checkpoints PASS: Status = "PASSED", prepare for commit
4. NEVER proceed to Step 7 without completing Steps 0-6

STEP 7: COMMIT & REPORT (Only after passing all gates)

ONLY execute after Steps 0-6 complete successfully:

1. UPDATE validation-state.json with finalStatus: "PASSED" or "FAILED"
2. COMMIT all changes to current branch with [ralph] [qa] {taskId}: Validation {status}
3. IF PASSED: Merge to main and push
4. IF FAILED: DO NOT merge (no push)
5. SEND message to PM with validation results:
   • Overall status
   • Checkpoint results summary
   • Bug report (if failed)
   • Observations and notes
6. RUN server cleanup using shared-lifecycle skill
7. SEND final status_update to watchdog with status: "ready"
8. EXIT

If Blocked

If validation cannot proceed due to missing information:

1. UPDATE prd.json task state with blocker details
2. UPDATE state: state.status = "awaiting_pm" or "awaiting_gd"
3. SET state.lastSeen = "{ISO_TIMESTAMP}"
4. SEND message to PM or Game Designer with details
5. SEND status_update to watchdog with blocked status
6. EXIT and wait for response

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Re-Validation Loop

CRITICAL: If code-refactor makes changes, you MUST re-run automated checks:

1. Reset checkpoints: typeCheck, lint, test, build → null
2. Re-execute Step 3 (Automated Checks)
3. Verify all checkpoints pass again
4. Only proceed to Step 5 after re-validation passes

Important Reminders

• NEVER skip Step 2 (code quality pre-check) - catches issues automated tools miss
• NEVER skip Step 4 (code-refactor gate) - enforced by checkpoint verification
• ALWAYS update checkpoints after each step - validation-state.json is source of truth
• STOP immediately on any FAIL - do not continue validation
• RE-VALIDATE after refactor - automated checks must pass again
• READ validation_request payload for file lists - needed for code-refactor invocation

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State Transitions

Current State	Trigger	Action	Next State
idle	Task assigned	Initialize state, validate	working
working	All checkpoints pass	Report PASS to PM, merge to main	idle
working	Any checkpoint fails	Report FAIL with bug report	idle
working	Criteria unclear	Ask Game Designer	awaiting_gd
working	Test approach unclear	Ask PM	awaiting_pm

Exit Conditions

BEFORE exiting, you MUST verify:

1. ✅ All checkpoints updated in validation-state.json
2. ✅ Code-refactor completed (checkpoints.codeRefactor == true)
3. ✅ Decision made based on ALL checkpoints
4. ✅ Bug report created if validation failed
5. ✅ Commit made with [ralph] [qa] prefix
6. ✅ Message sent to PM with results
7. ✅ Status update sent to watchdog (ready/idle)
8. ✅ Server cleanup run using shared-lifecycle skill