wahidyankf Maker-Checker-Fixer Pattern (Comprehensive)
Complete guidance on the three-stage content quality workflow pattern used across repository agent families for systematic content creation, validation, and remediation.
Purpose
Use when implementing content quality workflows, working with maker/checker/fixer agents, validating content against conventions, applying validated fixes from audit reports, or creating new checker/fixer agents.
The Three Stages
Maker creates/updates content with cascading dependency management. Checker validates content against conventions and generates a criticality-categorized audit report (non-destructive). Fixer re-validates each finding, then applies only HIGH-confidence fixes, skipping MEDIUM and FALSE_POSITIVE for manual review.
See Stage 1: Maker and Stage 2 Checker Role for the Maker workflow and the Checker's role/criticality categories.
The Checker's 5-step process (Initialize → Validate → Finalize) is detailed in Checker Workflow: 5-Step Process and Checker Report Finalization and Progressive Writing.
The Fixer's 6-step process is detailed across Fixer Role, Priority, and Report Discovery, Fixer Mode Parameter Handling and Fix Application (lax/normal/strict/ocd), and Fix Report Structure and Trust Model (why fixers lack web tools).
Lifecycle-Owned Validation
Before any quality-gate checker, fixer, or recheck invocation, apply the canonical
lifecycle ownership Step 0.
Exclude registry-owned predicates from prompts and report them through lifecycle-status; keep
final-status domain-only.
Common Workflows and Agent Families
See Common Workflows and Agent Families for the basic and iterative maker→checker→fixer sequences and the repository-wide list of agent families using this pattern.
Best Practices and Common Mistakes
See Best Practices and Common Mistakes for role-specific DO/DON'T guidance and the most common mistakes for all roles, checkers, and fixers.
Tool Requirements
See Tool Requirements for the typical tool set for checkers (read-only + report generation) and fixers (no web tools — trust checker's verification).
Preventing Iteration Loops
Without explicit safeguards, checker-fixer workflows can loop indefinitely. See Preventing Iteration Loops for the four structural safeguards: FALSE_POSITIVE persistence, scoped re-validation, self-verification after bash edits, and escalation after repeated disagreements.
Integration with Conventions
The pattern integrates with:
- Criticality Levels Convention - Checkers categorize by criticality, fixers use for priority
- Fixer Confidence Levels Convention - Fixers assess confidence, combine with criticality
- Temporary Files Convention - Checker/fixer reports stored in
local-tmp/<agent-family>/ - Repository Validation Methodology - Standard validation patterns
- AI Agents Convention - Agent structure, tool permissions, color coding
References
- Maker-Checker-Fixer Pattern Convention - Complete pattern documentation
- Criticality Levels Convention - Severity classification
- Fixer Confidence Levels Convention - Confidence assessment
- Temporary Files Convention - Report file organization and naming
- Repository Validation Methodology - Validation patterns
Related Skills
repo-assessing-criticality-confidence- Deep dive into criticality/confidence levels and priority matrixrepo-generating-validation-reports- UUID chain generation, report format, progressive writingrepo-understanding-repository-architecture- Understanding the six-layer governance and where patterns fit