# The pre-gate: generated files, cheap checks, issue links

`/ship` Step 5 opens with `gstack-pregate`: the free checks that catch what the
multi-agent wave kept paying remote gates to find (stale generated files, a
scratch script at the repo root, a nightly-only test still asserting an old
constant, a Windows-only change merged with its lane unrun, a `| tail`-hidden
failure). Plan: `docs/designs/MULTI_AGENT_WAVE_2026_10_10.md` C4, C6, C8.
Result codes: [docs/troubleshooting.md](troubleshooting.md#pre-gate-generated-file-registry-gstack-pregate-issue-links).

Three bins, all over `lib/`:

| Bin | Pin file (read from `origin/<base>`) | Does |
|---|---|---|
| `gstack-regen` | `.gstack/generated.json` | generated files regenerate, never hand-merge |
| `gstack-pregate` | `.gstack/pregate.json` | two-stage cheap gate, `pregate.json` record, publication check |
| `gstack-issue-links` | — | `Fixes #N` only on explicit closure intent; Related PRs and validated flake issues |

## Trust boundary

A pin file names commands. Its presence never authorizes execution: both tools
read the committed copy on `origin/<base>` (a PR cannot smuggle a command into
its own gate) and run commands only with `--allow-repo-commands`, which `/ship`
passes. Standalone, `gstack-regen check` lists the commands and exits 3
(`REPO_COMMANDS_NOT_ALLOWED`); `gstack-pregate` marks `regen` and `lanes`
`incomplete`, never `pass`. `--policy-from head` (a PR that introduces or
changes a pin file) is accepted only with `--allow-repo-commands` and the record
says `policy head (unreviewed)`. An unresolvable base exits 3 with
`POLICY_SOURCE_UNAVAILABLE`. Globs are repo-relative (no `..`, no absolute
paths, at most 64 per list); commands are one line under 512 bytes.

<a id="generated"></a>
## `.gstack/generated.json` (generated-v1)

```json
{ "$schema": "https://github.com/garrytan/gstack/docs/pregate.md#generated-v1",
  "entries": [ { "id": "skill-docs", "command": "bun run gen:skill-docs --host all",
                 "outputs": ["*/SKILL.md", "*/sections/*.md"], "inputs": ["*/SKILL.md.tmpl", "hosts/**"] } ] }
```

- `gstack-regen check` regenerates every entry (or `--only <id>`, or `--touched
  <paths>` for entries whose inputs or outputs intersect) in a scratch
  `git worktree` seeded from the working tree, with `node_modules` linked rather
  than copied, and reports stale outputs (`REGEN_STALE`, exit 1) without touching
  the tree. An entry with no `command` is tracked only (goldens regenerated by
  another entry).
- `gstack-regen write` regenerates in place: what `gstack-restamp` and the
  Step 3 conflict rule use. On a conflict in a registered output, take either
  side, then `gstack-regen write`; the agent never hand-merges a generated file.
- `list`, `validate`, `init [--explain] [--force]`.

gstack's entries: `skill-docs` (every host render, the agents digest, llms.txt,
the doctor component table) and `ship-goldens` (`bun scripts/gen-ship-goldens.ts`,
the byte-pinned `/ship` renders in `test/fixtures/golden/`).

<a id="pregate-v1"></a>
## `.gstack/pregate.json` (pregate-v1)

| Key | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `runner` | the local test command with `{files}` (gstack: `bun test {files}`); without it `lanes` is `incomplete` |
| `dependencies` | glob → test files for subprocess targets, runtime reads and generated inputs the import graph cannot see; `[]` declares "no lane needed" (docs, licences) |
| `selection` | `workflow.yml/job` → a command printing the lane's file list, for matrices a planner computes (gstack: `scripts/test-free-shards.ts --list`) |
| `warn` | check ids downgraded to warn; `secrets` and required lanes never |
| `strays.allow` | intentional root files or new top-level directories |
| `guards` | `[{ id, when: [globs], command, fix?, timeout_s? }]`: repo commands a lane must pass when a touched file matches `when` (manifest checks, subprocess goldens the import graph cannot see); see [guards](#guards) |
| `serial_patterns` | test-file globs the `lanes` check runs one process per file, apart from the unit files (default `**/*.serial.test.*`) |
| `sealed` | sealed or eval output that must never reach a public destination; read by the pre-push hook and `gstack-pregate sealed` (see [sealed output](#sealed)) |
| `price_file` | repo-relative path of the paid gate's call-plan data file (`GSTACK_EVAL_CALLS v1`); `gstack-eval-plan price-gate` prices from it and never executes anything ([docs/eval-calls.md](eval-calls.md)) |

Only the `origin/<base>` copy is honoured, so a downgrade is reviewed before it
takes effect. `gstack-pregate validate` / `init` cover the working-tree file.

## `gstack-pregate`

```
gstack-pregate [--stage preflight|tests|all] [--only <check,..>] [--allow-repo-commands] [--policy-from base|head] [--explain] [--json]
gstack-pregate verify | clear --remote <workflow.yml/job> --run-url <url> | lanes | validate | init
```

Two stages with separate clocks, both printed:

**Stage 1, mechanical preflight** (the two-minute promise; gstack measured
~2.5 s for `regen` and under 200 ms for each of the others):

- `regen`: every registry entry whose inputs or outputs are touched is fresh
  (`gstack-regen check` in a scratch worktree).
- `secrets`: `gstack-redact` over the branch's added lines (merge-base to the
  working tree, untracked files included). HIGH, or MEDIUM in the `secret`
  category, fails; other MEDIUM findings warn. Cannot be downgraded.
- `strays`: a new file at the repository root, a new top-level directory, or a
  scratch name (`zz-*`, `tmp*`, `scratch*`) anywhere.
- `literals`: for every changed exported constant or named timeout/retry
  literal, the whole test tree (nightly- and Heavy-only files included) is
  searched for the old value; a consumer the branch did not update fails with
  `file:line`.

- `guards`: each guard in `.gstack/pregate.json` whose `when` globs match a
  touched file (renames included) runs its `command` in its own process, under
  the verified launch Bun, with its own `timeout_s` (default `--timeout`). A
  non-zero exit fails pregate naming the guard and its `fix`
  (`PREGATE_GUARD_FAILED`); a timeout is `incomplete`; without
  `--allow-repo-commands` the selected guards are listed and the check is
  `incomplete`. Guards are read from the base branch's copy and cannot be
  downgraded to warn. See [guards](#guards).

**Stage 2, test execution:**

- `lanes`: touched files map to tests through `lib/pregate/import-graph.ts`
  (static imports ∪ repo-path string literals ∪ the `bin/<name>` →
  `test/<name>*.test.ts` convention ∪ `dependencies`), transitively through
  non-test files; deleted and renamed files select the tests that named them.
  A touched file with no lane is `FAIL lanes — <file> has no test lane`, never
  a pass. Lanes and platform tiers come from `.github/workflows/*.yml`
  (`gstack-pregate lanes` prints them): local ones run through the runner under
  `set -o pipefail`, judged on the runner's summary line (zero tests ran is a
  failure, a `| tail`-hidden exit is still an exit); a platform lane this
  machine cannot run becomes a `requires-remote` obligation naming
  `workflow.yml/job`. `--explain` prints each test's provenance and every
  uncertain mapping (a planner-computed matrix without a `selection` manifest
  selects conservatively). Test files matching `serial_patterns` (default
  `**/*.serial.test.*`) run one process per file after the unit files. The
  runner and every guard run with the verified launch Bun first on PATH: the
  first of `$BUN_INSTALL/bin` and `~/.bun/bin` whose Bun satisfies gstack's and
  the project's `engines.bun` (the row prints `runtime: bun <v> from <dir>`),
  so a Capy host's older image Bun cannot flip the verdict.

Every check records the input identity it ran against (the working-tree
fingerprint before and after, the selection, the command hash); a tree that
moved during a check, a timeout or a missing tool is `incomplete`, never `pass`.
The record is `.gstack/tmp/pregate.json` (`gstack-artifact validate --as pregate`).

**Publication.** `gstack-ship-receipt write --pregate .gstack/tmp/pregate.json`
(Step 18) refuses unless the record is current for the tree being published
(`PREGATE_STALE`: rerun after the final stamp), green (`PREGATE_LANE_FAILED`,
`PREGATE_INCOMPLETE`) and every `requires-remote` obligation carries a receipt
(`PREGATE_REMOTE_UNCLEARED`: dispatch the job, then
`gstack-pregate clear --remote <workflow.yml/job> --run-url <url>`). The ship
receipt then carries `pregate` and `requires_remote`. `gstack-pregate verify`
runs the same check standalone.

Unknown flags exit 2 with usage on every verb (an agent told to run a flag this
gstack lacks never gets a green it did not ask for). Tier 2 checks still to come
(`ratchets`, `lint`, `links`, `hermetic`, `patches`, `integrator`) are named in
`--only`'s help.

<a id="guards"></a>
## Guards and the lane-done rule

A lane runs `gstack-pregate run --allow-repo-commands` on its branch before it
reports done, and its handoff carries the `PREGATE:` line (the coordinator
contract says so word for word). The unit tier covers the changed files'
tests; guards cover the repo's mechanical gates the import graph cannot see:

```json
{ "guards": [
    { "id": "serial-manifest", "when": ["test/**/*.serial.test.ts", "scripts/serial-files.tsv"],
      "command": "bun test test/scripts/serial-files.test.ts",
      "fix": "add the file's row to scripts/serial-files.tsv" } ] }
```

`dependencies` still maps globs to extra *tests* the lanes check selects; a
guard is a *command* with its own fix line. Older gstack refuses unknown keys
(`PREGATE_CONFIG_INVALID`), so a repo commits `guards` only after the gstack
that reads them ships. The worked gbrain configuration is in
[gbrain worked configs](#gbrain-worked-configs).

<a id="sealed"></a>
## Sealed output: the pre-push hook and `gstack-pregate sealed`

```json
{ "sealed": {
    "paths": ["heldout/**"],
    "transcripts": ["runs/**/transcript*.jsonl"],
    "answer_markers": ["SEALED ANSWER:"],
    "seed_patterns": ["shuffle_seed=\\d+"],
    "local_paths": true } }
```

A repo with a `sealed` key gets a configured local check against accidental
publication whenever the managed pre-push hook (`gstack-redact
install-prepush-hook`, no reinstall needed) or the standalone preflight runs:

```
gstack-pregate sealed [--range <a..b>] [--remote origin] [--base <branch>] [--json]
```

- **Boundary.** Every commit the push publishes: `git rev-list <local sha>
  --not --remotes=<remote>` (and the remote tip when the ref exists); a
  destination with no refs means everything reachable. `--range` names the
  commits explicitly.
- **Rules.** `sealed.path` and `sealed.transcript` check every path a commit
  adds, renames or copies, whatever its content (binary, empty, deleted again
  in a later commit); `sealed.answer`, `sealed.seed` and `sealed.local_path`
  (`/home/<user>/`, `/Users/<user>/`, `C:\Users\<user>\`) check each commit's added
  lines. Findings print rule, `file[:line]` and commit, never the text.
- **Policy.** The union of the destination base branch's `sealed` and the
  pushed commit's: a push can tighten it, never relax it. A malformed or
  unreadable policy refuses. Waivers come only from the base branch's
  `.gstack/sealed-allow.tsv` (`rule<TAB>path<TAB>sha<TAB>reason`) and are
  listed on every push.
- **Visibility.** `sealed.visibility` from the base branch, else a cache under
  the state root (`sealed-visibility.json`: a `public` answer for 24 hours, a
  `private` one for 1 hour before it may turn a refusal into a warning), else
  `gh repo view --json visibility` (5 s). Unknown, unreadable or newly created
  counts as public. Public refuses (`SEALED_OUTPUT_REFUSED`, exit 1); private
  warns.

Capy's pull-request tool may not run local git hooks, so an agent runs
`gstack-pregate sealed` before any push or PR creation in a repo with a
`sealed` config (the coordinator contract says so). Hosted CI on the public
repository only detects a bypass after the upload.

<a id="regate"></a>
## `gstack-pregate regate`: does the gate still cover HEAD

```
gstack-pregate regate --against <gated-head> --bundle <evidence-bundle.json> [--require <lane,...>]
                      [--pr <n>] [--from <gate-ahead.json>] [--predecessor-pr <n> | --predecessor-ref <ref>]
                      [--base <branch>] [--json]
gstack-pregate --against <gated-head> ...      the same verb
```

It evaluates a tree receipt now (never a stored one) between the gated head
and HEAD under the base branch's ship policy, so the repo's `stamp_files` and
`stamp_patterns` decide what a stamp is ([ship-policy](ship-policy.md#tree-receipt)).
Reuse needs an evidence bundle produced on the gated tree, the same execution
identity, and a predecessor head that is still the recorded one (read from
`--from`, default `.gstack/tmp/gate-ahead.json` when it names this gated
head). It prints each differing file (a non-stamp difference with its first
line), then:

```
STAMP_ONLY: yes|no files=<n> [changed=<n>]
LANE: <label> reusable|rerun|not-reusable (<reason>)      one per bundle lane and per --require lane
MIGRATION_COLLISION: none (...) | unknown (...) | <id> <file> vs <origin/main|PR #n> <file>
REGATE: not-needed | needed (<every reason>)
```

`REGATE: not-needed` (exit 0) only when the tree is stamp-only, every lane in
the bundle and in `--require` is reusable (a stamp-sensitive lane reruns, so it
needs a regate), the predecessor head is known and unmoved, and the migration
lookup finished with no collision. Anything else is `needed` (exit 1); no
bundle prints `REGATE: needed (no gate evidence for <head> ...)`.

Migrations come from the ship policy's `migrations` (`dir`, `id` regex with
one capture group). The numbers this branch adds under `dir` are compared with
the base branch's tree and with every other open PR
(`gh pr list --state open --limit 1000 --json number,headRefOid,files`; the PR
itself is skipped by head sha or `--pr`). A PR listing 100 files is truncated
by GitHub, so its full list is fetched with `gh api --paginate`. A failed
query, 1000 listed PRs or an unfetchable file list is
`MIGRATION_COLLISION: unknown (...)`, which blocks `not-needed`
([`MIGRATION_COLLISION`](troubleshooting.md#migration-collision)).

<a id="gbrain-worked-configs"></a>
## gbrain worked configs

gbrain commits these on master after the gstack that reads the new keys ships
(older gstack refuses unknown keys). Its `.gitignore` ignores `.gstack/*`
today, so the change also adds `!.gstack/pregate.json` and
`!.gstack/ship-policy.json`; both changes are gbrain's.

`.gstack/pregate.json`: guards for the gates the import graph cannot see.

```json
{
  "dependencies": {
    "test/**/*.serial.test.ts": ["test/scripts/serial-files.test.ts"],
    "scripts/serial-files.tsv": ["test/scripts/serial-files.test.ts"],
    "src/cli.ts": ["test/cli-goldens.test.ts"],
    "src/commands/**": ["test/cli-goldens.test.ts"],
    "src/core/operations*.ts": ["test/cli-goldens.test.ts"]
  },
  "guards": [
    { "id": "serial-manifest", "when": ["test/**/*.serial.test.ts", "scripts/serial-files.tsv", "scripts/run-serial-tests.sh"],
      "command": "bun test test/scripts/serial-files.test.ts",
      "fix": "add the serial file's row to scripts/serial-files.tsv" },
    { "id": "cli-goldens", "when": ["src/cli.ts", "src/cli/**", "src/commands/**", "src/core/operations*.ts", "src/core/ops/**"],
      "command": "bun test --timeout=60000 test/cli-goldens.test.ts test/cli-dispatch-phase.test.ts test/export-surface-golden.test.ts",
      "fix": "bun run regen:all, then justify each changed golden in the PR body" },
    { "id": "regen-check", "when": ["src/**", "skills/**", "templates/**", "plugin/**"],
      "command": "bun scripts/regen-all.ts --check",
      "fix": "bun run regen:all and commit the regenerated files" },
    { "id": "migration-order", "when": ["src/core/schema-migrations/**"],
      "command": "bun scripts/check-schema-migration-order.ts",
      "fix": "renumber the migration to the next free number on master" }
  ]
}
```

`.gstack/ship-policy.json`: the stamp rule and migrations. On a pure restamp
of a gbrain master tree from 0.60.188.0 to 0.60.189.0 the tree receipt
classifies all 16 changed files as stamps under this policy; an added line in
`src/core/behavior-change-notice.ts` stays a change.

```json
{
  "bump": "patch",
  "queue_mode": "stamp-at-merge",
  "changelog": "CHANGELOG.md",
  "stamp_files": [
    "VERSION", "package.json", "CHANGELOG.md", "openclaw.plugin.json",
    ".claude-plugin/plugin.json", ".codex-plugin/plugin.json",
    "plugin-variants/*/.claude-plugin/plugin.json", "plugin-variants/*/.codex-plugin/plugin.json",
    "plugin-variants/*/README.md", "plugin/README.md",
    "BOOTSTRAP_FOR_AGENTS.md", "templates/bootstrap/template-repo/README.md",
    "src/core/behavior-change-notice.ts"
  ],
  "stamp_patterns": [
    "\"version\": \"{version}\"",
    "since: '{version}'",
    "<!-- gbrain-plugin-tree-stamp: {version} -->",
    "<!-- gbrain-template-stamp: {version} -->",
    "<!-- gbrain-runbook-stamp: {version} -->"
  ],
  "migrations": { "dir": "src/core/schema-migrations", "id": "^v(\\d+)-" }
}
```

gbrain's `bun run release:restamp` fetches master, picks its own version,
refuses a dirty tree and commits, so it cannot be `restamp_command` as it
stands; the stamp rule above lets gstack's own restamp writer do the work.
A gbrain mode that takes the version and writes only stamps would make it one.

gbrain-evals `.gstack/pregate.json`: the sealed paths. The globs below are
placeholders in the shape the guard reads; gbrain-evals fills in its own
held-out and transcript layout.

```json
{ "sealed": {
    "paths": ["heldout/**"],
    "transcripts": ["runs/**/transcript*.jsonl"],
    "answer_markers": ["SEALED ANSWER:"],
    "seed_patterns": ["shuffle_seed=\\d+"],
    "local_paths": true } }
```

<a id="issue-links"></a>
## `gstack-issue-links`

```
gstack-issue-links [--base <ref>] [--issue <n>]... [--ci-run <id>]... [--supersedes <pr>]... [--credit <pr>]...
                   [--no-auto-links] [--author <login>] [--repo <owner/repo>] [--out issues.json] [--json]
```

Reads `origin/<base>..HEAD`. `Fixes #N` only on explicit closure intent: a
`Fixes`/`Closes`/`Resolves #N` trailer line or `--issue N`. A bare mention
(a subject's `(#N)` included), a partial fix, a deferred ask and every
cross-repo `owner/repo#N` are `Refs`. Same-repo references are printed as
promotion candidates (`reference #N ← <commit line> (promote: fix #N)` on
stderr, `candidates` in `--json`): the owner's `fix #N` reply reruns with
`--issue N`; an unattended run keeps them `Refs` and lists them in the
handoff. Each closure issue is read through `gstack-issue-guard`; one that
cannot be read is `Refs #N (unreadable …)` with `ISSUE_UNREADABLE` (exit 1),
never `Fixes`.

Each `--ci-run <id>` is searched among open issues whose body names it and
rendered `Flake: #N (run <id>)` only for a bot-opened issue of this repository
that names that run (its `flake:json` `first_seen.run_id`, or this repository's
`actions/runs/<id>` URL) and a test (`flake:json` `file › test`, or a
`Flake: <test>` title). Two issues for the same test keep the lower number;
every refused match is printed with its reason.

Open PRs by other authors (not `--author`, default the `gh` viewer, which is
an app identity on hosts like Capy, so pass your login there; not this branch) whose closing
set overlaps this PR's `Fixes` are `Related: #N (@author)`, read page by page
from each issue's closing-PR references, in unattended runs too. `Supersedes #N`
replaces that line and `Contributed by @author` is added (the credit lines of
`lib/contributor-mode.ts`) only with `--supersedes N` / `--credit N`, after the
owner confirms.
`--no-auto-links` skips the lookup. A failed lookup prints `ISSUE_LOOKUP_FAILED`
and keeps the other lines. The stderr preview names the source of each line.

The printed lines go under `## Issues` in the PR body; `--out` writes the
object (`fixes`, `refs`, `flakes`, `related`) `gstack-ship-receipt write
--issues @file` embeds. With `--body`, that write refuses a body missing any of
those lines (`ISSUE_LINKS_MISSING`).