Test Loop Bootstrap

test-loop-bootstrap

Pick the right next skill. The five other skills are pieces of one loop; this skill is the door.

When to use

When a user asks for help with testing, CI, or quality on a project and it is not obvious which of the five concrete skills to start with.

If you already know the user wants, say, drift detection, call drift-check directly. Do not use this meta-skill as an indirection layer.

Inputs

A free-form description of where the project is now. Examples:

• "I just started a new Swift project and I want to set up testing."
• "I have a Python project that already has pytest but no CI."
• "My existing tests pass but I don't trust them — I want to know they actually run."
• "Someone added a public function and I want to know if it broke anything."

Decision tree

Q1: Does the project have at least one of:
    - a pre-commit hook calling scripts/check_drift.sh
    - a CI workflow calling swift test / pytest / etc.
    - a docs/knowledge/ directory
    --> If no:        start with [init-loop]
    --> If yes:       continue to Q2

Q2: Did something just change in the public API (a new struct, function,
    class, or trait)?
    --> If yes:       run [drift-check] now
    --> If no:       continue to Q3

Q3: Did the test suite just run, and did it produce at least one
    failure?
    --> If yes:       run [failure-classify], then [report-render]
    --> If no:       continue to Q4

Q4: Have you (or anyone on the team) edited the loop tools
    (scripts/*.sh, scripts/*.py, .githooks/*, .github/workflows/*)
    in the last week?
    --> If yes:       run [drill] to verify the loop still reacts
    --> If no:       continue to Q5

Q5: When is the last time [drill] was run?
    --> > 30 days:    run [drill] as a regression check
    --> <= 30 days:   stop. The loop is healthy. No skill needed.

Output

One of:

• [init-loop]
• [drift-check]
• [failure-classify] + [report-render]
• [drill]
• "no skill needed; the loop is healthy"

In addition, the skill should briefly state why it chose what it chose, so the user can override.

Anti-patterns

• Routing every request through this skill. If the user already named a skill, call it. This skill is for undecided situations.
• Adding more branches to the decision tree. The five Q&As already cover the realistic states. Adding a sixth tends to increase router complexity without improving routing accuracy.
• Recommending [drill] on a project that does not yet have the loop. The drill requires the loop to be installed. If the answer to Q1 is "no", go to [init-loop] first.

Cross-references

• init-loop
• drift-check
• failure-classify
• report-render
• drill