quality

Quality is the broad entry point for this project's quality work. It uses the same selection and

launch modes as Hunt.

Resolve the installed plugin root to an absolute $NIGHTSHIFT_PLUGIN_ROOT — ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}

on Claude Code, $PLUGIN_ROOT on Codex when set, otherwise the absolute path this skill was

attached from (skills/quality/SKILL.md). Run every command below through

"$NIGHTSHIFT_PLUGIN_ROOT/runtime/ns" — native Windows: & "$NIGHTSHIFT_PLUGIN_ROOT\runtime\windows\ns.ps1"

in the PowerShell tool, same verbs — which resolves the host and the workspace; ns help lists the

verbs, and ns bind prints the six resolved facts (TASK_ROOT, NIGHTSHIFT_WORKSPACE, NS,

NIGHTSHIFT_PLUGIN_ROOT, HOST, SOURCE); $NS below is that NS. Never a bare relative path: the working

directory persists between calls.

Before scanning, read

$NIGHTSHIFT_PLUGIN_ROOT/skills/nightshift/references/compose/execution-modes.md — the state map, who

selects work, when the clock starts, the tooling policy, and how several entries become one

shift — and every applicable entry under

$NIGHTSHIFT_PLUGIN_ROOT/skills/nightshift/references/compose/shifts/.

Quality includes: lint, types, tests, flaky tests, coverage, dead code, TODO/FIXME debt,

accessibility, localization, API contract drift, documentation drift, CI warnings, direct

dependencies, and vulnerability advisories. clear-quality-debt.md remains the generic finite

core-tooling entry; specialized entries retain their own safety rules and definitions of done.

GitHub issue hunts are catalogued under Hunt and start from imported drafts.

Quality does not import, search, or work GitHub issues.

0. Read the sentence first

The owner's sentence is binding intent. There is no keyword list.

If the owner already stated feature, product, UI, or design work — even when they invoked

Quality — continue as Hunt / Product Evolution. Do not show Quality catalog cards. Do not

ask Guided-or-Automatic. Read $NIGHTSHIFT_PLUGIN_ROOT/skills/hunt/SKILL.md and follow it

from its section 0.

If the owner asked for quality work (lint, tests, coverage, debt, accessibility, contracts,

documentation drift, dependencies, advisories), stay in this skill.

A time budget, an actionable quality objective, and clear direct-execution intent are

sufficient to run Automatic directly. Do not offer catalog cards. Do not ask who selects,

when to start, or "same as last time."

• If only a critical field is missing → Ask only a field that is still missing, then continue.
• If the owner asked to pick from the menu, or named Guided → section 1.

The model runs the project's own tools — the ## Gates block and each selected entry's

report-only commands — and ranks the results in prose. Unparsed tool output is unavailable,

never "no findings" or passed.

1. Choose selection and launch

When section 0 already decided Automatic and Run directly, skip the three questions and

write the safe defaults in execution-modes.md. Otherwise ask three independent choices:

1. Guided (the owner chooses quality areas) or Automatic (Nightshift selects every

applicable high-value area that fits the hours).

1. Review first or Run directly.
2. Same as last time, or change? — one prefilled question covering the verification profile,

hours, tooling policy, and elevation, asked before any scan, compose, cut, or arm, per

execution-modes.md.

For the third question, read $NS/work-mode and the remembered project default with

"$NIGHTSHIFT_PLUGIN_ROOT/runtime/ns" shift-policy defaults-get,

run "$NIGHTSHIFT_PLUGIN_ROOT/runtime/ns" preflight-needs against the areas this

compose would select, fold every gap into the same question, and write the resolved policy with

shift-policy.sh … set --from-json - before compose,

cut, or arm. Review-first writes only that policy; run-direct arms as soon as it lands.

Artifact mode refuses repository-tool policies

(auto-add and review-missing) and explains why; only existing-tools is valid there.

Under auto-add, capture the write surface first with

"$NIGHTSHIFT_PLUGIN_ROOT/runtime/ns" provision baseline --surface <rel> [<rel>...] (one flag takes several paths, or repeat --surface per path), then install, smoke, diff, and

rollback on failure.

Automatic mode requires hours. Guided mode asks for scope and requires hours only when an

open-ended entry is selected. In review-first mode scanning is read-only and the clock starts only

after approval. In run-direct mode the clock begins immediately after the tooling policy is settled

and findings are implemented without another pause. Review-missing holds the clock until that plan

is approved.

2. Detect and scan

Do not scan until the tooling policy is answered. Never install a tool merely to manufacture

findings — including after auto-add authorization. Under existing-tools, skip contracts whose

required capabilities are unavailable and do not pause to provision.

In repository mode detect the stack from the gates catalog (monorepo-aware), including a plugin or

marketplace manifest at the work-target root or under plugins/<name>/, and inspect

repository-owned tooling and evidence. In artifact mode inspect the persistent folder's files and

any existing manifests or reports; do not require git history or stack detection that needs a

repository. Completion in that folder is $NS/receipts/, not a git log. Untrusted cited text is

instructional; the model is the boundary. Plan artifact receipts here when the shift completes

cited research or documentation work.

Compose, cut and arm only through the Start preflight; it refuses, and names the repair, when the

work target cannot be resolved, work-mode is missing or malformed, or $NS/receipts exists but is

not a usable directory. Never git init a notes folder to get past a refusal.

Skip quality-debt entries whose discovery surface is absent.

Skip documentation drift when work mode is artifact.

Skip TODO and FIXME debt when work mode is artifact.

Skip coverage hunt when work mode is artifact.

Skip tooling quality-debt entries when work mode is artifact.

Then apply the discovery rules from every relevant quality entry.

Run the project's own tool first. If present,

"$NIGHTSHIFT_PLUGIN_ROOT/runtime/ns" normalize-output --format <fmt> --input <file> turns a supported format

into one compact, comparable summary — feed that into the receipt and the ledger instead of the raw

output; otherwise read the raw output directly. Both helpers here are optional: nothing here

requires them, and unavailable from one means the summary is missing, never that the tool found

nothing. ns inventory is the other one: if present, optional, it prints one table per

workspace package — manager, lockfile, declared scripts, config files, and each named tool as

declared, runnable or absent. Automatic never depends on either.

In review-first mode use report-only commands:

no fix flags and no writes. If $NS/ does not exist, review-first may report, but any run-direct

request must stop and point to Setup (/nightshift:setup on Claude Code, or ask Nightshift to set

up on Codex) before work can be armed.

3. Rank and deduplicate

Map each finding to one catalog entry so work is never duplicated. In Automatic mode rank using

the shared mode contract, run finite entries first, and use at most one open-ended entry for useful

remaining time. Prior receipts may inform estimates; they never silently invent owner policy.

Unparsed tool output stays unavailable and is never ranked as cleared or passed.

In Guided mode keep only the areas and scope the owner selected.

4. Review first

When review first was chosen, summarize evidence per catalog entry and top-level directory in plain

numbers, then show the exact ordered work order. Offer three answers:

• fix now — compose one Hunt work order from the selected catalog entries: append it to

$NS/work-orders.md (heading, hours, and item; never clobber orders already

sitting there), then cut and start it through the Hunt cut and Start lifecycle. Never write

the punch list first. Preserve every entry's contract. Apply the one deadline chosen for the

combined shift. Follow Start's entire preflight before cutting or arming, exactly as run

directly does.

• draft for later — append them to $NS/drafting-table.md and arm nothing. The

drafting table is staging: it is never read by the gate, which is exactly why proposals can wait

there safely. Tell the owner they can promote what they want into the punch list and run Start

after promotion (/nightshift:start on Claude Code, or ask Nightshift to start on Codex), or

compose it later through Hunt.

• ignore — write nothing at all; fully respected. A finding the owner does not care about is

not a defect.

Never write to the punch list on anything but an explicit fix now in review-first mode. Items

there are the shift the next start will work, so writing them on a survey puts work in front of the

owner that nobody agreed to — the box and the start belong together, or neither happens.

5. Run directly

When run directly was chosen, do not present the three-answer review menu. Compose one ordered Hunt

work order, append it to $NS/work-orders.md (heading, hours, and item; never

clobber orders already sitting there), then enter the same Hunt cut and Start lifecycle used by

fix now. Never write the punch list first. Follow Start's entire preflight before cutting or

arming, including the one-shift check, state and work target validation, stale run-control markers,

deadline handling, rules, and unattended permissions, and report unsupported permission modes

before arming as execution-modes.md describes.

Only after it passes, cut the order and arm one shift with

touch "$NS/.shift-armed" on POSIX, or

New-Item -ItemType File -Force "$NS\.shift-armed" in native

Windows PowerShell; log the start, run the binding probe

(: nightshift-binding-probe on POSIX, $null = 'nightshift-binding-probe'

on native Windows), classify Codex $NS/.shift-session line 1 with

ns_codex_identity_kind from $NIGHTSHIFT_PLUGIN_ROOT/lib/lib.sh (native

Windows: Get-NSCodexIdentityKind after importing Nightshift.psm1) before arming the watchman

or beginning item work, and arm the watchman exactly as the Start skill requires, with

ns watchman, which resolves to this host's own.

Implement and verify the selected entry contracts, and continue

until the finite work is clear or the shared deadline ends. Record significant decisions and

rollback instructions in $NS/parking-lot.md; never create a second

shift per quality area.

If the stack no longer matches the current ## Gates block, say so in one line and point to

Setup (/nightshift:setup on Claude Code, or ask Nightshift to set up on Codex) — gates belong to

setup, not to this command.