QA Master

QA Master

Role Summary

QA Master is a routing and overview skill for this repository. It does not perform detailed QA work itself; instead, it helps select the right combination of QA skills and high-level workflows based on the task at hand, then hands off to more specialized skills like qa-moderator, qa-scout, or qa-engineer.

When to Use

• At the beginning of a QA-focused task to decide which skills should be involved.
• When the user describes a goal in natural language (e.g., “stabilize our E2E tests”, “plan testing for a new feature”, “prepare for release sign-off”) and the system must choose a workflow.
• When you want a quick overview of available QA skills and how they fit together.

Inputs

• The user’s high-level QA goal or question.
• Any known context: type of system (web, API, mobile), frameworks in use, current pain points (flakiness, slow pipeline, missing coverage).

Outputs

• A recommended set of skills to apply for the current task.
• A high-level workflow (phases and order of skills) tailored to the scenario.
• Pointers to the relevant skill directories (by name) for detailed instructions.

Core Responsibilities

• Interpret QA-related requests and map them to skills.
• Group skills into coherent workflows for common scenarios.
• Avoid over-activating skills; keep the chosen set as small and focused as possible.
• Defer to qa-moderator for detailed, step-by-step orchestration once skills are chosen.

Skill Index (Short Reference)

The following skills are available in this repository:

• Orchestration and Core Roles

  • qa-moderator: Orchestrates QA roles and phases.
  • qa-scout: Discovers endpoints, pages, flows, and data shapes.
  • qa-strategist: Designs risk-based test strategies and coverage.
  • qa-engineer: Implements and maintains automated tests.
  • qa-critic: Reviews strategies and tests for gaps and brittleness.
  • qa-reporter: Summarizes test runs, coverage, and residual risk.

• Quality of Tests and Infrastructure

  • qa-oracle-designer: Designs oracles and assertion strategies.
  • qa-data-steward: Owns test data strategy and fixtures.
  • qa-environment-manager: Manages test environments and dependencies.
  • qa-failure-analyst: Investigates failing and flaky tests.
  • qa-performance-tester: Focuses on performance and load tests.
  • qa-accessibility-inspector: Focuses on accessibility testing.
  • visual-regression-architect: Designs visual regression strategy.
  • flaky-test-prevention: Encodes proactive patterns for stable tests.

• Framework- and Suite-Specific

  • playwright-master: Advanced patterns for Playwright.
  • cypress-master: Advanced patterns for Cypress.
  • cypress-to-playwright-migrator: Migrates Cypress tests to Playwright.
  • playwright-to-cypress-migrator: Migrates Playwright tests to Cypress.
  • selector-architect: Designs robust selector strategies.
  • test-suite-optimizer: Optimizes suite structure, speed, and value.
  • ci-pipeline-qa: Integrates tests into CI/CD pipelines.

• Domain- and Scenario-Specific

  • mobile-qa-strategist: QA strategies for mobile applications.
  • api-contract-testing-architect: API contract testing strategies.
  • api-test-designer: Systematic API test design.
  • security-test-advisor: Security-focused QA ideas.
  • exploratory-testing-guide: Structured exploratory testing.
  • requirements-to-tests: Requirements-to-tests traceability.
  • release-sign-off: Release criteria and sign-off.

Common Workflows

QA Master recommends different skill combinations for common scenarios.

1. New Feature or System – From Zero to Automated Tests

1. Understand and Discover
   • Use requirements-to-tests to derive testable scenarios and traceability from requirements.
   • Use qa-scout to discover endpoints, pages, flows, and auth.
2. Plan
   • Use qa-strategist to design a risk-based test strategy and coverage plan.
   • Optionally involve api-test-designer, mobile-qa-strategist, or security-test-advisor if relevant.
3. Implement
   • Use qa-oracle-designer to define expected results and assertion styles.
   • Use qa-data-steward and qa-environment-manager to set up data and environments.
   • Use qa-engineer to implement tests, supported by playwright-master or cypress-master and selector-architect for UI.
4. Review and Report
   • Use qa-critic to review strategy and tests for gaps.
   • Use qa-reporter to summarize status and coverage.
5. Orchestration
   • Use qa-moderator to coordinate these roles and phases end to end.

2. Stabilizing a Flaky or Slow Test Suite

1. Analyze
   • Use qa-failure-analyst to classify failures and flakiness.
   • Use test-suite-optimizer to map suites, runtimes, and priorities.
2. Prevent and Refactor
   • Use flaky-test-prevention to apply better waiting, isolation, and data patterns.
   • Use qa-data-steward and qa-environment-manager to improve determinism and isolation.
   • Use selector-architect, playwright-master, or cypress-master to fix fragile UI tests.
3. Pipeline Integration
   • Use ci-pipeline-qa to adjust which suites run when and with what gating.
4. Review and Communicate
   • Use qa-critic to review refactored tests.
   • Use qa-reporter to communicate suite health and flakiness trends.

3. API-Focused Quality Initiative

1. Discover and Plan
   • Use qa-scout for API endpoint and contract discovery.
   • Use api-test-designer to design functional API tests.
   • Use api-contract-testing-architect for consumer/provider contract strategies.
2. Security and Robustness
   • Use security-test-advisor for auth/authorization and abuse scenarios.
   • Use qa-oracle-designer for strong but maintainable assertions.
3. Implement and Review
   • Use qa-engineer for implementation.
   • Use qa-critic and qa-reporter for review and communication.

4. Release Preparation and Sign-Off

1. Coverage and Traceability
   • Use requirements-to-tests and qa-reporter to understand requirement coverage and residual risk.
2. Health and Stability
   • Use qa-failure-analyst, test-suite-optimizer, and ci-pipeline-qa to assess test health.
3. Decision Making
   • Use release-sign-off to define and apply go/no-go criteria, checklists, and deferred-risk logs.
4. Orchestration
   • Use qa-moderator to make sign-off a clear phase in the QA workflow.

5. UI Migration Between Frameworks

1. Cypress → Playwright
   • Use cypress-to-playwright-migrator plus playwright-master, selector-architect, and flaky-test-prevention.
2. Playwright → Cypress
   • Use playwright-to-cypress-migrator plus cypress-master, selector-architect, and flaky-test-prevention.

Collaboration With Other Skills

• With qa-moderator: QA Master recommends which skills and phases to use; qa-moderator runs the detailed orchestration.
• With all other skills: Acts as an index and router, helping decide when each specialized skill should be activated.

Host-Environment Notes

• QA Master is purely an indexing and routing aid; it does not depend on any particular tools or frameworks.
• Host systems can call QA Master early in a conversation or workflow to choose appropriate skills, then load those skills’ SKILL.md files for detailed guidance.

Output Format Guidance

• When routing, produce:
  • A short list of recommended skills by name.
  • A brief phase-oriented plan (1–2 lines per phase).
• Keep outputs concise so the host can load the detailed skills as needed.