reticle gate

Exit non-zero unless passing verification artifacts cover every flow the changed files affect.

reticle gate is what makes verification unavoidable. It computes the affected flows, looks for a passing artifact for each, and fails the command if any is missing. An agent that edits a covered file cannot call itself finished without re-verifying.

npx @reticlehq/server gate [--since <ref>] [file...]

Arguments and flags

Argument	Type	Default	What it does
file...	strings, positional	none	Explicit changed files
--since <ref>	string	HEAD when no files are given	Also include files git reports as changed since this ref

What blocks and what does not

Category	Blocking	Why
uncovered	Yes	An affected flow with no passing artifact
downgraded	Yes	A flow whose assertions were weakened since its last passing run. A green bought by weakening the test is the gaming move this exists to stop
deletedCoverage	Yes	A flow that covered a changed file and has since vanished. Coverage deleted, not satisfied
quarantined	No	Flows the flake ledger has quarantined. Surfaced, never blocking, because one unexplained flake that blocks a merge destroys trust in the red

What it prints

One reticle_gate line. Real capture from this repository, with the flow lists trimmed for length:

{
  "t": "2026-08-14T19:38:56.353Z",
  "event": "reticle_gate",
  "pass": false,
  "uncovered": ["deploy-journey", "verify-route", "verify-500"],
  "quarantined": ["asserted-demo", "blast-radius-compose"],
  "coverage": { "pct": 28, "covered": 13, "total": 47 }
}

downgraded and deletedCoverage appear only when they are non-empty.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Every affected, non-flaky flow has a passing artifact and nothing was weakened or deleted
1	Something is uncovered, downgraded or deleted. Also 1 on any internal fault: the gate fails closed

Measured on this repository, npx @reticlehq/server gate --since HEAD~1 exited 1 with the output above.

Worked example

- run: npx @reticlehq/server verify http://localhost:4173
- run: npx @reticlehq/server gate --since ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }}

Wiring this into CI

Where the gate sits relative to build, verify, and merge.