Phase Gates

Learners should not move forward only because time passed. They move forward when they pass a gate.

The learner must:

• Navigate a project from terminal.
• Explain tracked versus untracked Git changes.
• Run tests.
• Start the starter app.
• Call /health with curl.
• Find the HTTP entry point.

Practical test:

cd starter-projects/support-desk-mini
python3 -m unittest -v
python3 app.py
curl -i http://localhost:8080/health

Pass when:

• They can do this without step-by-step help.
• They can explain what each command proves.

The learner must trace:

POST /tickets -> app.py -> core.create_ticket -> tickets table -> audit_events table

Pass when they can explain:

• Input validation.
• Idempotency.
• Database write.
• Audit event.
• Error response.

The learner must add one small feature, such as:

• GET /audit-events.
• New ticket status.
• Ticket priority.
• Comment listing.

Pass when:

• API contract is updated.
• Tests are added.
• Manual curl verification works.
• Change is explained from request to database.

The learner must enable one bug mode and diagnose it:

VEDYA_BUG_MODE=approval_bypass python3 app.py

Pass when:

• They reproduce the bug.
• They identify the failing boundary.
• They name the root cause.
• They show test or runtime evidence.
• They write a postmortem.

The learner must operate the starter app:

• Start on custom port.
• Use custom database file.
• Run smoke test.
• Break config.
• Recover.

Pass when:

• Runbook is clear.
• Health check is used.
• Logs are inspected.
• Recovery steps are documented.

The learner must use an agent for one bounded task.

Pass when:

• Agent task has context and constraints.
• Agent output is reviewed.
• Accepted and rejected suggestions are documented.
• Verification commands are run.

Before starting capstone, learner must have:

• Repo map.
• System diagram.
• API contract.
• Data model.
• Debugging log.
• Runbook.
• Agentic log.

Pass when:

• Artifacts are coherent.
• The learner can explain them without reading line by line.