Gate Criteria - CI/CD Glossary Definition

Gate criteria are the explicit, measurable conditions a change must satisfy to pass a pipeline gate.

Gate criteria are the explicit, measurable conditions a change must meet to pass a pipeline gate, such as a coverage percentage, a zero-error scan, or a required approval.

Well-defined gate criteria remove ambiguity from a release. Instead of "looks good", you get a checklist a machine or reviewer can evaluate the same way every time, which keeps gates fair and repeatable.

Writing good criteria

Make each criterion binary and measurable: "coverage on changed lines >= 80%" rather than "good coverage". Vague criteria produce inconsistent gate decisions.

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