Skip to content

docs: record D8 decision (main branch protection, Quality Gate required) #158

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

Sign up for GitHub

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Merged
amar-python merged 2 commits into from
Nov 2, 2026
Merged

docs: record D8 decision (main branch protection, Quality Gate required) #158

Changes from all commits
Commits
Show all changes
2 commits
Select commit Hold shift + click to select a range
298115c
docs: record D8 decision (main branch protection, Quality Gate required)
Nov 2, 2026
e7833b2
docs: record D8 decision (main branch protection, Quality Gate required)
Nov 2, 2026
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension
Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
57 changes: 57 additions & 0 deletions DECISIONS/2026-11-02-main-branch-protection.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
# Decision: Main branch protection (Quality Gate required)

Status: Decided and applied
Date: 2026-11-02
Review: On trigger (see below)

## Choice

Branch protection on main:
- All three Quality Gate checks required: python-validator-tests, free-tier (unit, lint, health, evals-p), integration (postgres service)
- PR required (0 approvals needed for solo)
- strict: true (branches must be up to date before merge)
- enforce_admins: true (gate applies to admins)
- allow_force_pushes: false, allow_deletions: false

## Context

#51 raised this on 2026-10-25. The integration job had been red on main for at least two months with merges going through regardless. The hedge in option (b) was against #45, which was already closed 7 days before this decision.

## Reasoning

- The last 8 merges on main all show all three checks SUCCESS. Formalising reflects practice, not disrupting it.
- Two months of unprotected red integration is the precedent for why unprotected main is unsafe.
- Solo project discipline requires enforce_admins: true — admin bypass defeats the purpose of the gate for a one-person team.

## Trade-offs accepted

- No admin bypass means emergency merges require temporarily removing protection (deliberate — see escape hatch below).
- strict: true forces a pull-and-re-check on stale branches. Small friction, catches merge-main-into-feature drift.
- Required 0-approval PR means you merge your own PRs; the gate is CI, not review.

## How it was applied

A JSON payload with required_status_checks (strict + 3 contexts), enforce_admins true, 0-approval PR required, no force-push, no deletion, was PUT to the main branch protection endpoint via:
gh api --method PUT /repos/amar-python/PostgreDataMigrationAppWithCSVLoader/branches/main/protection --input <json-file>

Verify with:
gh api /repos/amar-python/PostgreDataMigrationAppWithCSVLoader/branches/main/protection

## Emergency escape hatch

To remove protection in a genuine emergency:
gh api --method DELETE /repos/amar-python/PostgreDataMigrationAppWithCSVLoader/branches/main/protection
To restore afterwards: re-run the apply command (see above).

## Reopen trigger

Reconsider if any of:
- A required check becomes unreliable (flaky, infra-dependent in a way that blocks real merges)
- The project adds people and the review model needs to change
- A check added later becomes required (new row to be added to contexts)

## Related

- #51 (closed with this decision)
- #45 (closed 7 days earlier): made option (a) viable
- 26 Oct 2026 closure rule — this decision applies the equivalent discipline to merges
Loading