Merge Readiness Quiz

Before shipping, verify the HUMAN understands what's being merged. The quiz tests the user, not Claude.

Process

1. Resolve the base deterministically. Prefer, in order: the base explicitly

named by the user; the current branch's configured upstream; the remote default branch from refs/remotes/origin/HEAD; then an existing local main or master. Verify the candidate with git rev-parse --verify before using it. If no candidate exists, ask for a base ref and stop.

1. Gather the material.

• Diff: git diff <base>...HEAD. If it is empty, also check

git diff <base>..HEAD, tracked worktree changes, and relevant untracked files reported by git status --short. State exactly which material was selected. If all are empty, stop because there is nothing to quiz.

• Exclude generated files (lockfiles, *.pbxproj, build outputs, vendored

code) from quiz material — churn there is noise, not comprehension risk.

• Deviation log: prefer files for the current branch/task slug. If task

identity is unavailable, include only deviation files changed in the diff; do not sweep unrelated logs by date.

1. Pick the 3–5 riskiest spots. If the diff is too small for 3 real

questions, ask fewer and say why. First name what "dangerous" means in THIS codebase's domain — auth/money/deletion/migrations in a backend; lifecycle, state loss, and accessibility regressions in a UI app; loss/duplication/ ordering in a pipeline. Then prioritize: behavior changes on those paths, deviations from the plan, error handling changes, anything irreversible.

1. Quiz one question at a time using AskUserQuestion (or plain-text

multiple choice if this agent has no such tool). If no interactive user is available, output the quiz and stop without answering for them. Each question:

• Cites the exact file:line it's about
• Asks about consequences, not trivia: "what happens if X is null here?",

"why did we bypass Y?", "what breaks if this runs twice?"

• Offers 3-4 plausible answers (one correct, distractors that reflect real

misunderstandings)

• Has one correct answer backed by the exact diff hunk or file:line; if no

evidence exists in the diff, do not ask that question

1. On a wrong or unsure answer: explain the correct answer immediately,

quoting the exact diff hunk verbatim so the user can dispute it — the quiz grades the user against the agent's reading of the diff, and that reading can be wrong. If the user disputes with evidence, concede the question, correct the score, and flag the spot as review-carefully either way.

1. Produce the merge-readiness note (paste-ready for the PR description):

markdown
## Merge readiness
- Quiz: N/M correct
- Review carefully: <file:line — why, for each missed question; or "nothing flagged">
- Deviations from plan: <one line each, from the deviation log; or "none">

Rules

• Never skip the quiz because the diff "looks simple" — simple diffs hide the

best surprises. But never pad with fake-risk questions.

• Questions must be answerable from the diff the user supposedly reviewed; no

gotchas about untouched code.