# Quality gate (gate)

Quality gate: A server-enforced checkpoint a task must clear before it can move to the next stage.

Source: https://codeherder.com/glossary/quality-gate/

Glossary · The checking

A server-enforced checkpoint a task must clear before it can move to the next stage.

## What it is

A quality gate is a rule the server checks before it lets a task leave a stage. It might require a field to be filled, a test to pass, a checklist ticked, or a named person to approve. If the condition isn't met, the task stays where it is.

## Why it matters to you

A gate only means something if it can actually stop a task that isn't ready. These checks run on the server rather than inside the agent, so a fast-moving team can't skip one by accident. Ask what a workflow's gates check. The stage count alone tells you nothing.

## How it works in CodeHerder

CodeHerder enforces five kinds of gate: required fields, required verifications such as a test or lint pass, checklist gates on acceptance criteria, approvals with separation of duties, and dependency or close gates on parent and child tasks. All five get checked server-side; none is left to an agent's own judgment.

- [Verification →](https://codeherder.com/verification/)
- [How work flows →](https://codeherder.com/docs/how-work-flows/)

## What people get wrong

A long pipeline can look thorough while every stage in it just waves work through. A gate only adds safety when it's actually configured to check something specific. Count what each gate verifies. How many stages sit between filing a task and shipping it tells you nothing on its own.

Keep going

## Related terms

[Workflow stage One position a task passes through on its way to done, such as plan, code, review, merge, or verify.](https://codeherder.com/glossary/workflow-stage/) [Acceptance criteria A written checklist that defines what a task must deliver, checked before work begins and before it can ship.](https://codeherder.com/glossary/acceptance-criteria/) [LLM judge A model that reads a finished change against a written standard, then records a pass or a fail.](https://codeherder.com/glossary/llm-judge/) [Human in the loop A point in a task's workflow where the decision belongs to a person, and only a person, before the work moves forward.](https://codeherder.com/glossary/human-in-the-loop/)

[← See every term](https://codeherder.com/glossary)