Status: Proposed
Date: 2026-07-04

Context

skill-quality-auditor already produces multi-platform release artifacts:
.goreleaser.yaml cross-compiles skill-auditor for linux/darwin/windows
× amd64/arm64 on every release-please-driven release, and
.github/workflows/skill-quality.yml hand-rolls the exact quality-gate
sequence (validate → duplication → batch --fail-below B →
eval --fail-below 0) by building the binary from source each run. Other
repositories that want the same quality gate today would need to copy that
workflow and vendor a Go build step. See
.context/findings/github-action-packaging-2026-07-04.md for the full
comparison of packaging options.

Decision

Package skill-auditor as a composite GitHub Action (action.yml at
repo root, runs.using: composite) that downloads the pre-built release
binary matching the runner’s OS/arch, verifies it against
checksums.txt, and runs the requested subcommands — rather than a Docker
container action (Linux-only, image-pull overhead, leaves the darwin/windows
goreleaser builds unused) or a JS/TS action (requires ncc bundling and a
second versioning surface to keep in sync with the Go binary).

This ADR is proposed, not yet accepted: implementation has not started,
and the following are still open before work begins:

• Default version pin (a specific released tag) vs. floating on latest.
• Whether batch/eval results need to be surfaced as Action outputs
  (e.g. score, grade) or whether exit-code gating is sufficient.
• Whether this repo’s own skill-quality.yml should be migrated to dogfood
  the new action in the same PR, or as a follow-up.

Consequences

If accepted, other repositories gain a drop-in
uses: pantheon-org/skill-quality-auditor@v1 step instead of hand-rolling a
Go build + CLI invocation, and this repo’s own skill-quality.yml could
drop its go build step in favor of the packaged binary, cutting CI time.
The tradeoff is an additional release-time contract (action.yml’s
asset-naming assumptions must stay in lockstep with .goreleaser.yaml) and
a new surface to keep documented as goreleaser’s build matrix evolves.