Gatekeeper

Gatekeeper

The Gatekeeper pattern sets up a loop between a Creator session and a Reviewer/Gatekeeper session. The reviewer audits the output against explicit quality criteria, approving it for delivery or rejecting it for rework.

4-Stage Workflow

 ┌───────────┐      Submit Artifact      ┌──────────────┐
 │  Creator  ├──────────────────────────►│  Reviewer/   │
 └─────▲─────┘                           │  Gatekeeper  │
       │                                 └──────┬───────┘
       │            Reject (Rework)             │
       └────────────────────────────────────────┤ Approve ──► Ship
                                                ▼

1. Specs & Criteria: Setup target task goals for the Creator and quality criteria for the Reviewer. See criteria.md.
2. Draft & Submit: The Creator implements the code/artifact in the shared workspace and notifies the Reviewer.
3. Audit:
   • The Reviewer evaluates the artifact against criteria.
   • Approve: If all criteria pass, the loop exits.
   • Reject: List the failed rules and provide actionable feedback.
4. Rework Loop: The Creator modifies the files based on the feedback and resubmits. This loops until approved or loop count limit is reached.

🛠️ MCP Tools Guide

• Feedback Delivery: Inject the reviewer's audit report using agent__messageToSession to wake and direct the Creator to rework.
• Infinite Loop Avoidance: The parent session must track and enforce a maximum rework limit (default: 3) to prevent endless loops over minor stylistic differences. See rework-limit-examples.md.

References

• Quality criteria
• Rework limit examples
• Troubleshooting