/ouroboros:qa

Fast single-pass quality verdict with actionable suggestions for any artifact: code, documents, API responses, test output, or custom content. For formal three-stage verification of an execution, use ooo evaluate.

ooo qa [file_path | artifact_text]
ooo qa                                     # recent execution output
/ouroboros:qa [file_path | artifact_text]

The QA Judge scores the artifact against a quality bar on Correctness, Completeness, Quality, Intent Alignment, and Domain-Specific dimensions:

Score	Verdict	Loop action
>= 0.80	PASS	done
0.40 - 0.79	REVISE	continue
< 0.40	FAIL	escalate

Instructions

Loading MCP tools (deferred-schema guard)

Ouroboros tools may be deferred, and a schema loaded on one turn can unload by the next. Immediately before each ouroboros_* call, load it with the active runtime's tool-discovery capability: "+ouroboros qa" for ouroboros_qa. A call whose schema is not loaded fails with "Invalid tool parameters". If the tool is already callable, discovery is a no-op and an empty result is expected. Use the fallback only when the tool is genuinely absent; this skill works without MCP setup.

QA steps

1. Artifact: a file path (read it with the active runtime's inspect_code capability), inline text, or else the most recent execution output; ask with ask_user if unclear.
2. Quality bar: the Seed's acceptance criteria when a Seed is in context, else the user's stated bar; otherwise ask "What does 'good' mean for this artifact?"
3. Artifact type: code, test_output, document, api_response, screenshot, or custom.

3.5. Acting verification fan-out (behavior-bearing artifacts): a text judge can be fooled by a hopeful log line. Use the active runtime's orchestrate_subagents capability to launch, together, one probe child per acting modality the runtime exposes: a process probe (run_shell: run the command or app or smoke commands with bounded timeouts, capture exit codes and real output), a browser probe (HTTP services and web UIs: load them, exercise the primary flows, capture rendering and console/network errors), a computer-use probe (GUI/TUI: drive it like a user, screenshot observed states), and an artifact probe (inspect_code: declared files exist with real content, not placeholders). Each probe returns structured evidence only (commands, observed effects, screenshots/paths, pass/fail per behavior) and covers the applicable adversarial classes the QA tool lists. Skip a modality only when its tools are absent or it is meaningless for the artifact, and say which were skipped and why. Await all probes and pass the merged evidence as reference; prefer observed behavior over source text as the artifact when they disagree.

4. Call the tool:

   Tool: ouroboros_qa
   Arguments:
     artifact: <the content to evaluate>
     quality_bar: <what 'pass' means>
     artifact_type: "code"  (or other type)
     reference: <observed-behaviour evidence from step 3.5, plus any reference>
     pass_threshold: 0.80  (adjustable)
     seed_content: <seed YAML if available>
   

   Plugin delegation: a response with status: "delegated_to_subagent" and dispatch_mode: "plugin" carries no verdict. Its content is the bridge's dispatch notice and its _subagent prompt is the child's input, never a result. Keep qa_session_id, await the plugin-spawned child, and parse its JSON verdict (score, verdict, dimensions, differences, suggestions, reasoning). No iteration_entry comes back, so derive the loop action as the tool does (score >= pass_threshold: done; >= 0.40: continue; else escalate) and build the entry yourself (iteration, score, verdict, loop_action). If the child returns no parseable verdict, say so instead of presenting the envelope.

5. Present the score and verdict prominently, then dimension scores, specific differences, and actionable suggestions. Empirical evidence outranks the judge: if the judge scores PASS but a probe observed the behavior failing, present REVISE/FAIL on that evidence and say so. If nothing could act, flag that behavior was not observed. Pick the next action from the verdict:

   • PASS (done): proceed; the artifact meets the quality bar
   • REVISE (continue): address the suggestions, then run ooo qa again
   • FAIL (escalate): ooo interview to re-examine requirements, or ooo unstuck to challenge assumptions

Iterative QA

The first call returns qa_session_id and iteration_entry in meta. On later calls pass qa_session_id and the accumulated iteration_history. Continue until the verdict is pass or fail.

Fallback (no Ouroboros MCP server)

Adopt the qa-judge role yourself with the same prompt the MCP tool uses: $OUROBOROS_AGENTS_DIR/qa-judge.md when that override is set; else the installed package's copy, printed with run_shell:

uvx --isolated --python '>=3.12' --from ouroboros-ai python -c "import importlib.resources as r, sys; print(r.files('ouroboros.agents').joinpath(sys.argv[1]).read_text(encoding='utf-8'))" qa-judge.md

else src/ouroboros/agents/qa-judge.md in a source checkout.

If none is reachable, judge on the dimensions and thresholds above and label the verdict as an unaligned fallback. Run the step 3.5 probes first for behavior-bearing artifacts, render the verdict in the same shape the MCP tool returns (score, verdict, threshold, dimensions, differences, suggestions, reasoning, loop action), and keep the iterative contract with a qa-<uuid4_short> session id and an iteration count held in the conversation.

RFC #1392 State Breadcrumb Footer

End the final response with exactly one line ◆ <current state> → next: <recommended action>. Derive the state from live session state via ouroboros_session_status when available, otherwise from this skill's actual outcome. Never use a linear Step N of M footer; when the next step is a real choice, list 2-3 options.