Regression prevention and quality gates

Problem

The context catalog's enrichment pipeline has no automated regression gates — there are no checks that verify metadata output quality, enrichment completeness, or schema contract conformance before a release ships. Manual testing cannot keep pace with the growing number of enrichment rules, metadata sources, and consumer integrations. Without automated quality gates, any code change to the profiling or enrichment pipeline can silently degrade AI_CONTEXT output quality, and regressions will only be caught after users report incorrect or missing metadata.

Context

• Manual review is not enough to protect context schema/catalog contracts and Nimble enrichment flows across product surfaces once the change rate increases; regressions will keep shipping unless the highest-value checks become automatic.
• This task should identify what needs gating in CI or structured review and what evidence is sufficient to block a risky change before it reaches users.
• Expected touchpoints include dataface/ai/, context-contract docs, eval wiring, and inspect-derived artifacts, automated tests, eval/QA checks, and any release or review scripts that can enforce the new gates.

Possible Solutions

• A - Add only a few narrow tests around current bugs: easy to land, but it rarely protects the broader behavior contract.
• B - Recommended: define a regression-gate bundle around the core behavior contract: combine focused tests, snapshots/evals, and required review evidence for risky changes.
• C - Depend on manual smoke testing before each release: better than nothing, but too inconsistent to serve as a durable gate.

Plan

1. Identify the highest-risk behavior contracts for context schema/catalog contracts and Nimble enrichment flows across product surfaces and the types of changes that should be blocked when they regress.
2. Choose the smallest practical set of automated checks and required review evidence that covers those contracts well enough to matter.
3. Wire the new gates into the relevant test, review, or release surfaces and document when exceptions are allowed.
4. Trial the gates on a few representative changes and tighten the signal-to-noise ratio before expanding the coverage further.

Implementation Progress

Review Feedback

• [ ] Review cleared