FORGE Stage-Gated Execution

FORGE (Factory-Optimized Release Gate Execution) is SO1’s stage-gated execution model that ensures quality, traceability, and consistency across all agent outputs.

Overview

Every agent operates within a specific FORGE stage, with explicit entry gates (prerequisites) and exit gates (deliverables).

Figure 1 — FORGE Stage-Gated Pipeline. Each stage has explicit entry and exit gates enforced by the FORGE Gatekeeper. The primary agent assigned to each stage is shown below the pipeline. No stage transition occurs until all exit-gate criteria are satisfied.
Trace ID Requirement Rationale Test Case
SO1-FORGE-001 Every stage transition shall be validated by the FORGE Gatekeeper before proceeding Prevents incomplete deliverables from propagating to downstream stages TC-SO1-FORGE-001
SO1-FORGE-002 Entry and exit gates shall be declared in each agent’s YAML frontmatter Enables automated compliance checking and VTM population TC-SO1-FORGE-002
SO1-FORGE-003 Each gate crossing shall produce a decision record in ADR format Maintains a traceable audit trail of all stage transitions TC-SO1-FORGE-003

Trace ID	Requirement	Rationale	Test Case
`SO1-FORGE-001`	Every stage transition shall be validated by the FORGE Gatekeeper before proceeding	Prevents incomplete deliverables from propagating to downstream stages	`TC-SO1-FORGE-001`
`SO1-FORGE-002`	Entry and exit gates shall be declared in each agent’s YAML frontmatter	Enables automated compliance checking and VTM population	`TC-SO1-FORGE-002`
`SO1-FORGE-003`	Each gate crossing shall produce a decision record in ADR format	Maintains a traceable audit trail of all stage transitions	`TC-SO1-FORGE-003`

Stage Details

Purpose

Requirement analysis, task decomposition, and agent selection.

Primary Agent

Factory Orchestrator

Entry Gate

User request received
Context sufficient for parsing

Exit Gate

Requirements parsed and documented
Tasks broken down into atomic units
Agents assigned to each task
Execution order determined

Decision Record Example

date:2024-01-15T10:00:00Z|context:[user requested GitHub-Slack integration]|decision:[assign Workflow Architect for n8n, Webhook Engineer for receiver]|rationale:[standard webhook pattern]|consequences:[2 agents, sequential execution]|status:accepted

Purpose

Architecture decisions, schema design, and interface contracts.

Primary Agents

TypeScript Shared: Schema definitions

Entry Gate

Planning stage complete
Requirements documented

Exit Gate

Architecture documented
Zod schemas defined
Interface contracts specified
Design decisions logged

Typical Outputs

// Example schema from TypeScript Shared
export const WorkflowSchema = z.object({
  id: z.string().startsWith('wf_'),
  name: z.string().min(1).max(100),
  triggerType: z.enum(['manual', 'webhook', 'schedule', 'event']),
  status: z.enum(['draft', 'active', 'inactive']),
});

Cross-Cutting Agents

Some agents operate across all stages:

Agent	Role	Triggers
FORGE Gatekeeper	Validates stage transitions	Every gate crossing
Incident Commander	Orchestrates incident response	P1/P2 incidents
Triage Responder	Initial assessment	Alert triggered

Gate Configuration

Each agent defines gates in its YAML frontmatter:

forge:
  stage: 2                          # Implementation stage
  entry_gate:
    - "Requirements documented"
    - "Schemas defined"
    - "Integration list provided"
  exit_gate:
    - "Workflow JSON generated"
    - "Error handling included"
    - "Schema validation passing"
    - "Decision record logged"

Gate Validation

The FORGE Gatekeeper validates all gate crossings:

Pre-validation: Check entry gates are satisfied
Execution: Agent performs work
Post-validation: Verify exit gates are met
VTM Update: Record in Verification & Traceability Matrix

Validation Command

./scripts/validate-agents.sh

# Output:
# ✓ FORGE gate validation: 20/20 agents compliant
# ✓ Entry gates defined: 20/20
# ✓ Exit gates defined: 20/20
# ✓ Stage assignments valid: 20/20

Decision Records

All significant decisions are logged in ADR format:

date:ISO8601|context:[situation]|decision:[choice]|rationale:[why]|consequences:[impact]|status:accepted|rejected|superseded

Example Decision Trail

# Stage 0 - Planning
date:2024-01-15T10:00:00Z|context:[user wants slack notifications]|decision:[use n8n webhook trigger]|rationale:[native Slack integration, retry support]|consequences:[requires n8n maintenance]|status:accepted

# Stage 2 - Implementation
date:2024-01-15T10:30:00Z|context:[implementing retry logic]|decision:[exponential backoff with 3 retries]|rationale:[prevents thundering herd, reasonable recovery time]|consequences:[max 15 min delay on failure]|status:accepted

# Stage 5 - Deployment
date:2024-01-15T14:00:00Z|context:[production deployment]|decision:[deploy to Railway production]|rationale:[existing infrastructure, monitoring in place]|consequences:[uses production quota]|status:accepted

VTM: Verification & Traceability Matrix

The VTM is the source of truth for agent validation:

Agent	Stage	Entry Gates	Exit Gates	Status
Factory Orchestrator	0	2	4	✅ Pass
Workflow Architect	2	4	5	✅ Pass
Mintlify Author	5	4	4	✅ Pass

Full VTM: View VTM.md

Stage Coverage

Stage	Name	Agent Count	Coverage
0	Planning	1	✅ Complete
1	Design	1	✅ Complete
2	Implementation	4	✅ Complete
3	Documentation	6	✅ Complete
4	Validation	2	✅ Complete
5	Deployment	4	✅ Complete
Cross-cutting	All	3	✅ Complete

Veritas Integration

How agents consume and produce prompts

Agent Catalog

Browse all 20 agents

Architecture

Agents Overview

Orchestration Agents

Automation Agents

Engineering Agents

DevOps Agents

Documentation Agents

Prompt Agents

Incident Agents

Runbooks

Domain Runbooks

​FORGE Stage-Gated Execution

​Overview

​Stage Details

​Purpose

​Primary Agent

​Entry Gate

​Exit Gate

​Decision Record Example

​Purpose

​Primary Agents

​Entry Gate

​Exit Gate

​Typical Outputs

​Purpose

​Primary Agents

​Entry Gate

​Exit Gate

​Typical Outputs

​Purpose

​Primary Agents

​Entry Gate

​Exit Gate

​Purpose

​Primary Agents

​Entry Gate

​Exit Gate

​Audit Checklist

​Purpose

​Primary Agents

​Entry Gate

​Exit Gate

​Cross-Cutting Agents

​Gate Configuration

​Gate Validation

​Validation Command

​Decision Records

​Example Decision Trail

​VTM: Verification & Traceability Matrix

​Stage Coverage

​Related Documentation

Veritas Integration

Agent Catalog

FORGE Stage-Gated Execution

Overview

Stage Details

Purpose

Primary Agent

Entry Gate

Exit Gate

Decision Record Example

Purpose

Primary Agents

Entry Gate

Exit Gate

Typical Outputs

Purpose

Primary Agents

Entry Gate

Exit Gate

Typical Outputs

Purpose

Primary Agents

Entry Gate

Exit Gate

Purpose

Primary Agents

Entry Gate

Exit Gate

Audit Checklist

Purpose

Primary Agents

Entry Gate

Exit Gate

Cross-Cutting Agents

Gate Configuration

Gate Validation

Validation Command

Decision Records

Example Decision Trail

VTM: Verification & Traceability Matrix

Stage Coverage

Related Documentation