Handoff Gates

1. Re-read from disk — Open each required artifact with the Read tool from $MIGRATION_DIR/. Do not rely on chat memory or prior summaries.
2. Check every item in the phase-specific checklist (defined in that phase’s orchestrator or sub-file).
3. On failure — emit exactly one line per failure using the parseable format below. Do NOT mark the phase complete. Do NOT advance current_phase.
4. On success — emit one success line, then update .phase-status.json in the same turn.

Parseable failure format (required)

Examples:

Success format (required)

Example:

On GATE_FAIL — user action only (CRITICAL)

When any gate check fails:

1. Output the GATE_FAIL line(s) to the user in plain language (what is missing and which phase to re-run).
2. Do NOT modify artifacts to pass the gate (no inventing recommendation, no defaulting availability, no patching JSON inline).
3. Do NOT continue to the next phase.
4. Tell the user: “Re-run Phase N (phase name) to produce the missing field, then continue.”

Patching artifacts to satisfy a gate defeats fail-closed validation and produces reports that look complete but are not.

Decide-complete is terminal, not a failure

current_phase: "complete" + run_mode: "decide" + phases.generate: "pending" is a valid terminal state (the user stopped at the decision — see schema-phase-status.md). It is Estimate’s HANDOFF_OK outcome, not a GATE_FAIL, not an inconsistent ordering, and not an incomplete run to repair. Do not “fix” it by advancing to Generate; the only valid transition out is the decide-complete resume offer (SKILL.md state machine).

Phase re-entry (idempotent runs)

When user confirms intentional re-run: set downstream phases back to "pending" in .phase-status.json before proceeding.

Phase-specific checklists (summary)

Detailed checklists live in each phase file. Minimum gates:

Orchestrator rule (SKILL.md)

The top-level skill MUST NOT load the next phase until the previous phase’s output includes HANDOFF_OK | phase=<previous>. A phase completion message without HANDOFF_OK is not valid handoff.