Quick Phase Selection:

• Commit (Shift-Left) → TDD, code review, unit tests
• Build → Coverage analysis, mutation testing, flaky detection
• Integration → API contracts, performance, security
• Staging → Chaos testing, visual regression, accessibility
• Production (Shift-Right) → Synthetic monitoring, RUM, compliance

Critical Success Factors:

• Quality gates block bad deployments
• Agents coordinate through memory namespaces
• Adapt strategy based on risk level

Quick Reference Card

When to Use

• Designing pipeline test strategies
• Implementing quality gates
• Coordinating multiple QE agents
• Shift-left and shift-right testing

Phase-Agent Matrix

Quality Gate Thresholds

Fleet Configuration

• Topology: hierarchical
• Max Agents: 10 per phase
• Coordination: aqe/* memory namespace

Pipeline Phases

Phase 1: Commit (Shift-Left)

Goal: Catch defects early, ensure testability

Agents:

• qe-test-generator - Generate unit tests
• qe-requirements-validator - BDD scenarios, INVEST criteria

Skills: shift-left-testing, tdd-london-chicago, code-review-quality

// Parallel execution
Task("Generate Tests", "Create unit tests for new methods", "qe-test-generator")
Task("Validate Requirements", "Check BDD scenarios", "qe-requirements-validator")

Gates: Unit coverage > 80%, Static analysis clean, Code review approved

Phase 2: Build

Goal: Validate integration, ensure coverage

Agents:

• qe-test-executor - Run test suites
• qe-coverage-analyzer - Coverage gaps (O(log n))
• qe-flaky-test-hunter - Detect/stabilize flaky tests
• qe-regression-risk-analyzer - Minimal regression suite

Skills: test-automation-strategy, mutation-testing, regression-testing

Task("Execute Tests", "Run full suite, store in aqe/test-results/*", "qe-test-executor")
Task("Coverage Analysis", "Identify gaps", "qe-coverage-analyzer")
Task("Flaky Detection", "Analyze test history", "qe-flaky-test-hunter")

Gates: All tests pass, Coverage > 90% critical paths, No new flaky tests

Phase 3: Integration/Test

Goal: Validate contracts, performance, security

Agents:

• qe-api-contract-validator - Breaking changes detection
• qe-performance-tester - Load test critical paths
• qe-security-scanner - SAST/DAST scans
• qe-test-data-architect - Realistic test data (10k+/sec)

Skills: api-testing-patterns, performance-testing, security-testing

// Parallel testing
Task("API Contracts", "Validate for breaking changes", "qe-api-contract-validator")
Task("Performance", "Load test 1000 users", "qe-performance-tester")
Task("Security", "SAST/DAST scan", "qe-security-scanner")

Gates: No breaking API changes, p95 < 200ms, No critical vulnerabilities

Phase 4: Staging

Goal: Validate production-like environment, resilience

Agents:

• qe-chaos-engineer - Fault injection
• qe-visual-tester - Visual regression
• qe-deployment-readiness - Risk assessment

Skills: chaos-engineering-resilience, accessibility-testing, visual-testing

Task("Chaos Testing", "Controlled failure injection", "qe-chaos-engineer")
Task("Visual Testing", "Visual regression", "qe-visual-tester")
Task("Deployment Check", "Risk assessment", "qe-deployment-readiness")

Gates: Chaos tests pass, No visual regressions, Readiness > 85%

Phase 5: Production (Shift-Right)

Goal: Monitor real usage, validate compliance

Agents:

• qe-production-intelligence - Incident → test scenarios
• qe-quality-analyzer - Quality metrics and trends

Skills: shift-right-testing, compliance-testing

Task("Production Intelligence", "Convert incidents to tests", "qe-production-intelligence")
Task("Quality Analysis", "Production metrics", "qe-quality-analyzer")

Gates: Synthetic monitors pass, Error rate < 0.1%, Compliance validated

Complete Pipeline Example

// Phase 1: Commit
Task("TDD Generation", "Generate tests for new features", "qe-test-generator")
Task("Requirements", "Validate BDD scenarios", "qe-requirements-validator")

// Phase 2: Build
Task("Execute Tests", "Full suite with coverage", "qe-test-executor")
Task("Coverage", "Analyze gaps", "qe-coverage-analyzer")
Task("Flaky Hunt", "Stabilize flaky tests", "qe-flaky-test-hunter")

// Phase 3: Integration
Task("API Contracts", "Check breaking changes", "qe-api-contract-validator")
Task("Performance", "1000 user load test", "qe-performance-tester")
Task("Security", "SAST/DAST scans", "qe-security-scanner")

// Phase 4: Staging
Task("Chaos", "Fault injection testing", "qe-chaos-engineer")
Task("Visual", "Visual regression", "qe-visual-tester")
Task("Readiness", "Deployment assessment", "qe-deployment-readiness")

// Phase 5: Production
Task("Intelligence", "Convert incidents", "qe-production-intelligence")
Task("Quality Gate", "Final validation", "qe-quality-gate")

Adaptive Strategy

By Risk Level

By Application Type

Agent Coordination Hints

Memory Namespace

aqe/pipeline/
├── phase-results/*         - Results from each phase
├── quality-gates/*         - Gate validation results
├── orchestration-plan/*    - Selected skills and agents
├── test-plan/generated     - Test plans
├── coverage/gaps           - Coverage analysis
├── security/findings       - Security results
└── performance/results     - Performance data

Fleet Orchestration

Task("Fleet Orchestration",
     "Coordinate 10 agents across phases: commit (2), build (3), test (3), staging (2)",
     "qe-fleet-commander")

Blackboard Events

Quality Gate Configuration

{
  "commit": {
    "gates": [
      { "metric": "unit_coverage", "threshold": 80, "blocking": true },
      { "metric": "static_analysis_critical", "max": 0, "blocking": true }
    ]
  },
  "build": {
    "gates": [
      { "metric": "all_tests_passed", "threshold": 100, "blocking": true },
      { "metric": "mutation_score", "threshold": 70, "blocking": false }
    ]
  },
  "integration": {
    "gates": [
      { "metric": "api_breaking_changes", "max": 0, "blocking": true },
      { "metric": "performance_p95_ms", "threshold": 200, "blocking": true },
      { "metric": "security_critical", "max": 0, "blocking": true }
    ]
  }
}

Troubleshooting

Related Skills

• agentic-quality-engineering - Fleet coordination
• shift-left-testing - Early defect detection
• shift-right-testing - Production monitoring
• chaos-engineering-resilience - Resilience testing

Remember

The CI/CD Pipeline QE Orchestrator provides:

• Phase-based strategy with optimal skill/agent selection
• Quality gates that block bad deployments
• Adaptive strategy based on risk and context
• Full fleet coordination through memory namespaces

With Agents: Use qe-fleet-commander for multi-agent orchestration. Coordinate through aqe/* memory namespace. Batch operations for efficiency.