Quality Gate

A quality gate is a checkpoint in the SpecWeave workflow that validates work meets specific criteria before proceeding to the next phase.

SpecWeave Quality Gates

1. Pre-Implementation Gate

Validates specifications before starting implementation. Say "assess quality before we start", use sw:qa 0001 --pre in Claude Code, or type qa 0001 --pre in other AI tools.

Checks:

• ✅ Clarity - Requirements are clear and unambiguous
• ✅ Testability - Acceptance criteria are testable
• ✅ Completeness - All necessary sections present
• ✅ Feasibility - Technical approach is sound

2. Completion Gate

Validates work before closing an increment. Say "we're done", use sw:done 0001 in Claude Code, or type done 0001 in other AI tools.

Three validation gates:

1. Tasks Complete - All tasks in tasks.md marked done
2. Tests Pass - 60%+ test coverage
3. Docs Updated - Living docs synchronized

3. Quality Assessment Gate

Comprehensive quality check before release. Say "full quality assessment", use sw:qa 0001 --gate in Claude Code, or type qa 0001 --gate in other AI tools.

7 Quality Dimensions (weighted scoring):

1. Clarity (18%)
2. Testability (22%)
3. Completeness (18%)
4. Feasibility (13%)
5. Maintainability (9%)
6. Edge Cases (9%)
7. Risk Assessment (11%)

Gate Decisions:

• 🟢 PASS - Ready to proceed
• 🟡 CONCERNS - Should fix before release
• 🔴 FAIL - Must fix before proceeding

Risk Scoring

Quality gates include risk assessment using Probability × Impact method:

Risk Level	Score	Action
CRITICAL	≥9.0	Immediate action required
HIGH	6.0-8.9	Address before release
MEDIUM	3.0-5.9	Monitor
LOW	<3.0	Acceptable

Example Output

$ sw:qa 0001 --gate

📊 Quality Assessment: 0001-user-authentication

📈 Overall Score: 85/100 (PASS)

Dimension Scores:
  ✅ Clarity: 90/100
  ✅ Testability: 88/100
  ✅ Completeness: 85/100
  ✅ Feasibility: 82/100
  ⚠️  Maintainability: 75/100
  ✅ Edge Cases: 80/100
  ✅ Risk Assessment: 78/100

🎯 Gate Decision: 🟢 PASS

📝 Recommendations:
  - Consider extracting AuthService into smaller modules
  - Add rate limiting tests for login endpoint

✅ Ready for release

Configuration

Quality gate thresholds in .specweave/config.json:

{
  "validation": {
    "quality_judge": {
      "enabled": true,
      "pass_threshold": 70,
      "concerns_threshold": 50
    }
  }
}

Related

• Increments - What gates validate
• Acceptance Criteria - What gates check
• Test Coverage - Coverage requirements
• TDD - Test-first approach