QE Iterative Loop

QE Iterative Loop

Overview

QE Iterative Loop is a specialized adaptation of the Ralph Wiggum technique for Quality Engineering workflows. It enables autonomous, self-correcting quality cycles where AI agents iterate until quality objectives are achieved - tests pass, coverage targets met, quality gates satisfied, or flaky tests stabilized.

Why QE Benefits from Iteration

Quality Engineering has objective, measurable success criteria:

• Tests either pass or fail (exit code 0 vs non-zero)
• Coverage is quantifiable (78.5% vs 80% target)
• Quality gates have binary outcomes (pass/fail)
• Contract validation has clear schemas

This makes QE ideal for iterative loops - we know exactly when we're done.

Prerequisites

• AQE v3 fleet initialized
• Test framework configured (Jest, Vitest, Pytest, etc.)
• Coverage tooling (c8, istanbul, coverage.py)
• Quality gate definitions

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Quick Start

Pattern 1: Test Fix Iteration

# Task: Fix all failing tests
/qe-loop "Run npm test and fix all failing tests.
Success: npm test exits with code 0
Output <promise>TESTS_GREEN</promise> when all tests pass."

Pattern 2: Coverage Target Iteration

# Task: Achieve 80% coverage
/qe-loop "Increase test coverage to 80%.
Success: Coverage report shows >= 80%
Output <promise>COVERAGE_MET</promise> when target achieved."

Pattern 3: Quality Gate Iteration

# Task: Pass all quality gates
/qe-loop "Pass all quality gates for deployment.
Gates:
- Unit tests: pass
- Integration tests: pass
- Coverage: >= 80%
- No critical vulnerabilities
- Performance < 200ms P95
Output <promise>QUALITY_GATES_PASSED</promise> when all pass."

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QE Iteration Patterns

Pattern 1: Test-Fix Iteration Loop

Goal: All tests pass

## QE Test-Fix Loop

### Success Criteria
- `npm test` (or test command) returns exit code 0
- No skipped tests (unless explicitly allowed)
- No pending tests

### Iteration Steps
1. Run full test suite
2. Parse output for failures
3. Analyze first failure:
   - Identify failing test file
   - Understand assertion that failed
   - Check if production code or test is wrong
4. Fix the issue
5. Re-run failed test file only (faster feedback)
6. If file passes, run full suite
7. If all pass -> output <promise>TESTS_GREEN</promise>
8. If failures remain -> continue to next failure

### Safety
- Max iterations: 30
- After 10 iterations: report remaining failures
- Stop if same test fails 5 times (possible design issue)