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qa:headless: gate Phase 8 edits and commits behind explicit approval #68

Description

@mujtaba3B

Split out of PR #67, where CodeRabbit raised it as a Major (Security & Privacy) finding. It was declined there as out of scope: #67's diff on qa/skills/headless/SKILL.md is frontmatter-only (a single description field, body verified byte-identical to main), so the behaviour predates that change and is untouched by it.

The finding

qa:headless Phase 8 edits files and runs git commit with no approval step. CodeRabbit's recommendation:

Report each finding and proposed diff first. Require explicit approval before editing files and before running git commit.

SkillSpector flagged the same shape as [EA2] Autonomous Decision Making: a skill enabling high-impact autonomous operations without human-in-the-loop verification.

Why it deserves its own PR

This is a real behavioural change to how the skill runs, not a docs fix. It needs its own QA plan and review on its own terms: today qa:headless is expected to find bugs, fix them with atomic commits, and re-verify in one unattended pass, and that autonomy is part of its value. Adding a gate changes the contract for anyone who relies on it. Worth deciding deliberately rather than as a drive-by.

Also noted

The same file carries 89 U+2014 em-dash characters in its body, which violates the standing no-em-dash rule. Mechanical to fix, but it touches ~89 lines of a 66KB body, so it does not belong in a metadata PR either. Reasonable to fold into the same PR as the approval gate, or do as its own sweep.

Suggested scope

  • Decide whether Phase 8 should gate on approval at all, or only for destructive/irreversible operations
  • If yes: report finding + proposed diff, require approval before edit and before commit
  • Author a QA plan covering the gated and ungated paths
  • Strip the 89 em-dashes from the body

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