02 Acceptance Criteria

Acceptance Criteria Skill Guidance

Use When

• formalising deterministic Given-When-Then acceptance criteria for existing user stories; use user-story-generation when the backlog or personas have not yet been defined.
• Use this procedure when the required source artefacts are available and Acceptance-criteria catalogue is the next lifecycle deliverable.

Do Not Use When

• Use user-story-generation when that neighbouring route owns the decision or deliverable.
• Do not invent missing project evidence, standards clauses, thresholds, or stakeholder decisions.

Required Inputs

Workflow

1. Inspect the required inputs and log the exact sources, versions, and unresolved assumptions.
2. Apply this skill's existing domain workflow and decision rules to produce Acceptance-criteria catalogue.
3. Stop when a required source, accountable decision owner, or deterministic test oracle is absent.
4. Recover by preserving valid work, marking the blocked scope, and returning the narrowest qualified artefact plus the next evidence needed.

Outputs

Evidence Produced

Capability and permission boundaries

Read and search are required. Editing is allowed only when the request authorises creation or repair of the named requirements artefact. Publishing, production mutation, destructive action, spending, and certification require explicit authority.

Degraded mode

Fallback: if a required file, reviewer, standard source, network check, renderer, or execution capability is unavailable, return the narrowest useful qualified result and mark the affected check not assessed; never convert an unassessed check into a pass.

Decision Rules

Quality Standards

• Preserve stable identifiers and bidirectional traceability from project evidence to Acceptance-criteria catalogue and its acceptance checks.
• Apply ISO/IEEE measures only with a named metric, method, threshold, evidence source, and responsible reviewer; run the anti-slop gate before release.

Anti-Patterns

• Producing Acceptance-criteria catalogue from assumed context. Fix: cite the project source or mark the scope blocked.
• Accepting a material requirement without a deterministic oracle. Fix: add a measurable result, boundary, and verification method.
• Crossing into user-story-generation without routing the decision. Fix: hand off the named input and preserve trace links.
• Treating an unavailable check as passed. Fix: mark it not assessed and state the release consequence.
• Claiming standards, statutory, or stakeholder approval without evidence. Fix: cite the source and reviewer or qualify the claim.

References

• Skill authoring and release standard
• Skill guidance
• Executable generation logic

Overview

Run this skill after user stories are generated. It transforms each user story produced by 01-user-story-generation into formal acceptance criteria using the Gherkin (Given-When-Then) format. Every criterion shall be deterministic and independently verifiable, ensuring that test engineers can derive binary pass/fail outcomes without ambiguity. The skill enforces IEEE 29148-2018 Section 6.4.5 traceability between stakeholder intent and testable conditions.

When to Use

Execute this skill after 01-user-story-generation has produced projects/<ProjectName>/<phase>/<document>/user_stories.md. Each user story in that file shall already follow the "As a / I want / So that" format. This skill shall not run until the upstream file exists and contains at least one valid story identifier (US-XXX).

Quick Reference

• Inputs: projects/<ProjectName>/<phase>/<document>/user_stories.md (required), projects/<ProjectName>/_context/quality_standards.md (optional, for NFR criteria)
• Output: projects/<ProjectName>/<phase>/<document>/acceptance_criteria.md
• Tone: Precise, testable, deterministic -- no subjective adjectives

Input Files

Output Files

Core Instructions

1. Read upstream output. Open projects/<ProjectName>/<phase>/<document>/user_stories.md and log the file path to confirm the read succeeded.
2. Extract story triads. For each user story identified by US-XXX, parse the "As a [role]", "I want to [action]", and "So that [value]" triad. Record the story ID, title, and epic association.
3. Generate Gherkin criteria. Produce 3--5 acceptance criteria per story using the format: Given [precondition], When [action], Then [expected result]. Criteria shall cover:
   • The happy-path scenario (normal successful flow)
   • At least one error or edge-case scenario
   • At least one boundary-condition scenario
4. Append NFR criteria. If projects/<ProjectName>/_context/quality_standards.md exists, read it and append non-functional acceptance criteria with measurable thresholds (response time, throughput, encryption standard, etc.) to each relevant story.
5. Flag untestable stories. If a story cannot yield deterministic, binary pass/fail criteria, tag it with [AC-FAIL] and append a remediation note identifying the missing or ambiguous element.
6. Write output. Write projects/<ProjectName>/<phase>/<document>/acceptance_criteria.md with each story's criteria grouped under its US-XXX identifier, including cross-references back to the originating story and epic.

Output Format Specification

The generated acceptance_criteria.md shall follow this structure:

# Acceptance Criteria: [Project Name]

**Generated:** [Date]
**Source:** user_stories.md
**Standard:** IEEE 29148-2018 Sec 6.4.5, Gherkin/BDD Format

---

## US-001: [Story Title]

**Epic:** [Epic Name]
**Story:** As a [role], I want to [action], So that [value]

### Functional Criteria

- [ ] **AC-001.1:** Given [precondition], When [action], Then [expected result]
- [ ] **AC-001.2:** Given [error condition], When [action], Then [error handling result]
- [ ] **AC-001.3:** Given [boundary condition], When [action], Then [boundary result]

### NFR Criteria (if applicable)

- [ ] **AC-001.NFR-1:** Given [load condition], When [action], Then [measurable threshold]

---

## US-002: [Story Title]

[... repeat per story ...]

---

## Summary

| Metric | Value |
|--------|-------|
| Stories Processed | N |
| Total Criteria Generated | N |
| NFR Criteria | N |
| Failures Flagged ([AC-FAIL]) | N |

Common Pitfalls

• Vague criteria: Avoid language such as "the system handles it correctly." Each criterion shall state a concrete, observable outcome.
• Missing negative cases: Every story shall include at least one error-path criterion. Omitting negative cases leaves validation gaps.
• Subjective language: Words like "fast," "intuitive," or "user-friendly" violate IEEE 29148 verifiability. Replace with measurable thresholds.
• Orphaned criteria: Every criterion shall trace back to exactly one US-XXX identifier. Criteria without story references shall be flagged.

Verification Checklist

Before finalizing the output:

• Every user story in user_stories.md has a corresponding criteria section in acceptance_criteria.md
• Each story has 3--5 acceptance criteria in Gherkin format
• At least one error/edge-case criterion exists per story
• At least one boundary-condition criterion exists per story
• All NFR criteria include measurable, numeric thresholds
• Stories that lack testable criteria are tagged with [AC-FAIL] and include remediation notes

Integration

• Upstream: 01-user-story-generation -- provides user_stories.md
• Downstream: 05-testing-documentation/ -- acceptance criteria become test cases; 03-story-mapping -- maps criteria coverage across the backlog

Standards Compliance

This skill implements:

• IEEE Std 29148-2018 Section 6.4.5: Requirements specification and verifiability
• Gherkin/BDD Format: Given-When-Then structure for behavioral specifications
• IEEE Std 610.12-1990: Terminology alignment via project glossary

Resources

• logic.prompt -- Direct AI execution instructions for this skill
• README.md -- Objective summary and quick-start guide

Last Updated: 2026-02-28 Skill Version: 1.0.0