Quality Gates

"Ship quality, not quantity. Every output should meet a measurable standard."

This skill implements RSI (Recursive Self-Improvement) through multi-pass quality loops. Critical outputs are generated, evaluated against rubrics, and refined until they meet quality thresholds.

When This Skill Activates

This skill activates when generating:

•Billing emails (invoices, payment reminders, receipts)
•Customer notifications (service updates, account alerts)
•Contracts and quotes (B2B documents)
•Technical documentation (API docs, architecture docs)

Keywords: quality, review, evaluate, refine, billing email, customer notification, contract, multi-pass, rubric

The Multi-Pass Quality Loop

code

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    MULTI-PASS QUALITY SYSTEM                     │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                  │
│    GENERATE ──► EVALUATE ──► REFINE ──► CHECK CONVERGENCE       │
│        │            │            │              │                │
│        │            │            │              │                │
│        │            ▼            │              │                │
│        │      SCORE < 8?         │              │                │
│        │         YES ────────────┘              │                │
│        │          │                             │                │
│        │          │         ┌───────────────────┘                │
│        │          │         │                                    │
│        │          │         ▼                                    │
│        │          │    PASSES < 3?                               │
│        │          │       YES ──► LOOP BACK                      │
│        │          │        │                                     │
│        │          │        NO                                    │
│        │          │        │                                     │
│        └──────────┴────────┴──────────► OUTPUT FINAL             │
│                                                                  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Quick Reference: Output Types

Output Type	Min Score	Max Passes	Rubric
Billing Email	8/10	3	`rubrics/billing-email.md`
Customer Notification	8/10	3	`rubrics/customer-notification.md`
Contract	9/10	3	`rubrics/contract.md`
Technical Docs	8/10	2	`rubrics/technical-docs.md`

How to Use

Automatic Activation

When generating a qualifying output, the skill activates:

code

User: "Generate a payment reminder email for customer ABC"

Claude: [Generates draft]
        [Applies billing-email rubric]
        [Scores: Clarity 9, Accuracy 10, Tone 7, Action 8, Compliance 9 = 8.5]
        [Score >= 8, output final version]

Manual Quality Check

Use /quality-check to evaluate existing content:

bash

/quality-check billing-email

# Paste or reference content
# Receive scored evaluation with improvement suggestions

Multi-Pass Example

code

PASS 1:
──────────────────────────────────────────────
Generated: "Your invoice is attached. Pay soon."
Evaluation:
  - Clarity: 6/10 (vague timing)
  - Accuracy: 5/10 (no amount mentioned)
  - Tone: 4/10 (too casual)
  - Action: 5/10 (unclear CTA)
  - Compliance: 8/10 (missing terms)
Total: 5.6/10 ❌

PASS 2:
──────────────────────────────────────────────
Refined: "Invoice #INV-2024-0042 for R799.00 is due by
February 28, 2026. Click below to pay securely via NetCash.
Questions? Reply to this email or WhatsApp 082 487 3900."
Evaluation:
  - Clarity: 9/10 (specific date, amount)
  - Accuracy: 10/10 (correct details)
  - Tone: 8/10 (professional, friendly)
  - Action: 9/10 (clear CTA)
  - Compliance: 9/10 (proper format)
Total: 9.0/10 ✓

Final output delivered.

Rubric Structure

Each rubric defines:

markdown

# Rubric: [Output Type]

**Target**: What this rubric evaluates
**Critical Score**: Minimum to pass (default 8/10)
**Max Passes**: Maximum refinement iterations (default 3)

## Criteria

| Criterion | Weight | Scoring Guide |
|-----------|--------|---------------|
| [Name] | [%] | 10=[best], 5=[average], 1=[worst] |

## Evaluation Prompt

[Template for self-evaluation]

## Convergence Rules

- Stop if score >= [threshold]
- Stop if passes >= [max]
- Stop if delta < 0.5 between passes

Convergence Rules

The loop stops when ANY of these conditions are met:

•Quality Threshold: Score >= minimum required (usually 8/10)
•Max Passes: 3 iterations completed (prevents infinite loops)
•Diminishing Returns: Improvement < 0.5 points between passes

Integration with Billing Service

For billing emails, integrate with lib/billing/paynow-billing-service.ts:

typescript

// Before sending payment reminder
const email = await generatePaymentReminder(customer, invoice)
const qualityScore = await evaluateWithRubric(email, 'billing-email')

if (qualityScore < 8) {
  const refined = await refineOutput(email, qualityScore.feedback)
  // Re-evaluate...
}

Directory Structure

code

quality-gates/
├── SKILL.md              # This file
├── rubrics/              # Quality criteria per output type
│   ├── billing-email.md
│   ├── customer-notification.md
│   ├── contract.md
│   └── technical-docs.md
├── evaluators/           # Evaluation prompts
│   └── default-evaluator.md
└── history/              # Pass history (optional)
    └── YYYY-MM-DD_output-type.md

Best Practices

•Trust the rubric - Don't skip evaluation for "simple" outputs
•Don't over-refine - If score is 8+, ship it
•Log passes - Track which outputs need multiple passes
•Update rubrics - Add new criteria as patterns emerge
•Check compliance - Especially for billing and contracts

RSI Feedback Loop

Quality gates connect to the broader RSI system:

code

QUALITY ISSUE DETECTED
        │
        ▼
MULTIPLE PASSES NEEDED ──► PATTERN?
        │                     │
        │                     ▼
        │               ADD TO error-registry
        │               (if recurring)
        │                     │
        │                     ▼
        │               UPDATE rubric
        │               (add new criterion)
        │                     │
        └─────────────────────┘
              IMPROVEMENT

Version: 1.0.0 Last Updated: 2026-02-12 For: CircleTel critical outputs RSI Integration: error-registry, compound-learnings