gstack/qa/sections/exploratory.md

Shared exploratory QA

The caller (/qa, /qa-only, /review or /ship) owns decisions, tests, fixes and publication. Discovery writes only reports/evidence and owned fixture state; no workflows, framework installs or publication.

Complete these Reads in order before writing charters or probing. Await their results before the first probe, never in the same response. Do not repeat a Read already completed in this invocation.

1. Read sections/scope.md relative to the installed qa/gstack-qa SKILL.md directory in full and select the surfaces.
2. Read the selected surface methods below in full.

Functional surfaces: Read sections/system-functional.md in full.

Browser surfaces only: Read sections/qa-patterns.md in full.

Missing or unreadable assets, prerequisites or permission block affected probes, not independent safe checks. Report QA setup blockers.

1. Charter and preflight

Reuse resolved REPORT_DIR; otherwise own a fresh .gstack/qa-reports subdirectory. Write a charter per behavior: contract, risk, entrypoint, isolation, exit condition, source, commands and inputs. Save charters as Markdown in the report.

For /review and /ship, no plan/server is required. Stop after 5 minutes or 12 probes, whichever comes first (SECONDS=300 across surfaces). Explicit plan checks and revalidation remain required beyond this smoke budget. For /qa and /qa-only:

• Browser Quick: SECONDS=180. Browser Full/Regression: SECONDS=900.
• Functional Full, Quick and Regression have no default total timer. Set SECONDS to the shorter mode/caller limit; an unlimited mode uses the caller's bound. Without a total time limit, do not create DEADLINE_FILE; announce finite command timeouts. Stop when scoped contracts are tested or blocked. Clocks/checkpoints use REPORT_DIR; mixed standalone runs use REPORT_DIR/browser and REPORT_DIR/functional, with one final report at REPORT_DIR. Caller paths win. Names used below (quote every path):
• PROBE_DIR: this surface's owned probe directory per the line above. DEADLINE_FILE: PROBE_DIR/deadline.json, which exists only for a bounded run.
• SECONDS: the total probe budget set above. NNN: a fresh three-digit ID (001, 002, ...) for each capture or checkpoint; never reuse one.
• DEADLINE_TOOL = $HOME/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-qa-deadline, the deadline guard: start creates DEADLINE_FILE, status prints remainingMs and expired, and run executes one command, stopping it at the deadline.
• EVIDENCE_TOOL = $HOME/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-qa-evidence, the functional evidence recorder: capture runs one command, stores its exit code, stdout and stderr under PROBE_DIR/.qa-evidence/NNN/, and prints status complete, incomplete or sensitive.

Start once before baseline: bun DEADLINE_TOOL start DEADLINE_FILE SECONDS [EARLIER_UTC] if bounded. EARLIER_UTC = caller's absolute deadline, if set. Functional: bun EVIDENCE_TOOL capture PROBE_DIR NNN [--public] --deadline DEADLINE_FILE -- COMMAND ARGS. Unbounded: use --timeout-ms MS instead of --deadline DEADLINE_FILE. --public requires approved public/synthetic output; EVIDENCE_TOOL screens credentials. For complete private captures, await a safe Read of PROBE_DIR/.qa-evidence/NNN/observation.json (the decoded stdout). Sensitive/incomplete captures cannot anchor checkpoints. Bounded browsers: bun DEADLINE_TOOL run DEADLINE_FILE -- COMMAND ARGS. No detached probes. Never reset DEADLINE_FILE/bypass DEADLINE_TOOL. Expiry or an invalid/missing DEADLINE_FILE stops probes; report unfinished coverage. QA_DEADLINE receipts are not observations.

2. Probe loop

Each probe is one native command/interaction plus checks, excluding bookkeeping. Never batch probes.

1. First demonstrate success: output AND durable effects. Guard if bounded; await completion.
2. Decide whether another probe is needed. If bounded, run bun DEADLINE_TOOL status DEADLINE_FILE. If expired or no safe next probe remains, STOP exploration; write the report (§4), not a checkpoint. Publish before probing. Create (browser) or compose (functional) exploration-NNN.json in the probe directory, beside its deadline if bounded, with exactly four top-level fields: observationCommand: last completed probe's full outer command, including guard. observed: its exact decoded child JSON (no wrapper/extra keys), or its full non-JSON text. hypothesis: why nextCommand. nextCommand: exact command/request, guarded if bounded. Preserve every safe program-JSON key/value and identity hash unchanged. Withhold unsafe values, disclose limits and stop that chain. Check fields before publication. No drafts/placeholders or invented safe-path redactions; corrections cannot repair published notes. Functional: do not write this file; the next capture publishes it: bun EVIDENCE_TOOL capture PROBE_DIR NNN --deadline DEADLINE_FILE --after PREV --hypothesis 'why' -- CMD (PREV: the last complete capture's ID). EVIDENCE_TOOL supplies observed; never transcribe it. Browser checkpoints use Write. Wait for successful checkpoint publication before dispatch. Never backfill or overwrite notes.
3. Run that exact probe; DEADLINE_TOOL enforces the deadline when bounded. Report refusals as not-run; retain initial state/inputs/results. Repeat from step 2.
4. Replay the exact failing command/request from the same initial fixture state via steps 2–3 (same native command, fresh capture ID) before repair, then minimize via those gates. Expiry leaves confirmation/minimization incomplete. Another input or a regression test is not that replay.
5. After source/commands/fixtures change, re-review and return to step 2 for each affected revalidation (unproven=affected). Keep limits/notes; status requires fresh evidence.

3. Parent handoff

• /qa: parent owns severity, root-cause and Phase 8 regression gates before verified repair.
• /review: return before Fix-First; test_stub proposals require ASK approval.
• Planning: propose charters only; no execution.

Choose the smallest native test: unit for logic, integration for state/requests; E2E only if smaller tests miss the journey, not automatically both. Mock only unrelated services. Never freeze buggy output, weaken tests or delete valid red tests.

4. Final report

Use the surface report template; link each checkpoint. Separate browser scores, functional outcomes and proposed/executed tests. Write PROBE_DIR/annotations.json {evidence: [{capture, command, contract, expected, classification}], limits: ["checkpoint 001"]} (limits: non-empty string array, not an object; browser-only: evidence []); before Markdown bun EVIDENCE_TOOL materialize PROBE_DIR annotations.json (fills observed/metadata; prints reportLinks; runs once per PROBE_DIR); you classify. Annotate every safe capture, including failures/replays: an omitted capture is withheld and keeps the verdict inconclusive. Classify a capture taken before an input change superseded; it closes when the same command reran on current inputs. Disclose withheld/incomplete evidence. Evidence is invocation-local; /ship reruns once per invocation. Missing prerequisites/expectations/observations, timeouts and refusal never pass. Pass requires all required current-input contracts to pass with no required remainder. Required failure leaves /review incomplete and /ship blocked unless the user explicitly accepts that named risk; noninteractive runs return blocked. Only nonbehavioral diffs may be not applicable (give a reason); prompts/templates are behavioral.