CI Quality Gate

The CI Quality Gate allows you to define criteria that determine whether a Continuous Integration (CI) build passes or fails based on the issues it contains. This replaces custom scripting and aligns CI/CD workflows with consistent, built‑in validation.

When a CI build is loaded into a project, Validate automatically evaluates the build against the configured Quality Gate query. If any issues match the query, the build is marked Quality Gate: Failed.

The Quality Gate applies only to CI builds (those created with --ci-build).

You can configure the Quality Gate at the project and stream level, and set it through Validate, command line (kwadmin/validate admin), or the Web API.

How the CI Quality Gate works

A Quality Gate is defined using the same search syntax used on the Issues page (for example, taxonomy filters, status filters, reference filters). If the entered Quality Gate value contains restricted terms or unsupported characters, a suggestion message appears beneath the field to guide the user.

Validate evaluates each incoming CI build:

  • PASSED: No issues match the query.

  • FAILED: One or more issues match the query.

  • NOT SET: No quality gate is configured; no status or pill is shown.

How streams inherit CI Quality Gates

By default, streams inherit the CI Quality Gate from their parent project.

  • If a stream inherits the parent's Quality Gate, the inherited value appears in the Edit Project dialog.

  • A stream can override the inherited Quality Gate by specifying its own value.

  • After you override the Quality Gate, the stream no longer receives updates from the parent project unless you explicitly restore inheritance.

This inheritance model lets you define a default CI Quality Gate at the project level while customizing enforcement for individual streams.

Configure CI Quality Gates for projects and streams

You can configure a CI Quality Gate when you create a project or when you edit an existing project or stream. This centralizes Quality Gate configuration and ensures consistent behavior across all CI workflows. This configuration replaces the setup previously available on the CI Builds tab.

Configure a CI Quality Gate when creating a project

When you create a new project, you can optionally define a CI Quality Gate in the Create Project dialog.

  • If you specify a Quality Gate, it is saved as the project's CI Quality Gate.

  • If you do not specify a Quality Gate, no CI Quality Gate is applied.

  • After you create the project, you can view and edit the configured Quality Gate on the CI Builds tab.

Update a CI Quality Gate for an existing project or stream

When you edit an existing project or stream, the Edit Project dialog displays the current CI Quality Gate, with the following behaviors:

  • Updating the value changes the CI Quality Gate for that project or stream.

  • Clearing the value removes the CI Quality Gate.

  • Changes you make here are reflected on the CI Builds tab and apply to subsequent CI builds.