EI-4.5 — Editorial Quality Gates

Status: COMPLETE
Date: 2026-08-08

Objective

Turn the editorial, taxonomy, PTIR, and URL-governance decisions from EI-3 and EI-4 into executable repository checks so future changes cannot silently regress the production model.

Deliverables

• scripts/editorial_quality_gate.py — dependency-free repository validator.
• .github/workflows/editorial-quality.yml — runs the validator on pushes to main and pull requests.
• docs/EDITORIAL_QUALITY_GATES.md — permanent governance documentation.

Enforced rules

The gate checks:

1. explicit post permalinks are syntactically valid and unique;
2. canonical content_type and subject values are used when present;
3. PTIR uses series: PTIR with content_type: briefing;
4. legacy categories: PTIR metadata is not restored;
5. /blog/ continues to redirect to /writing/;
6. /links/ continues to redirect to /contact/;
7. retired Blog pagination configuration is not restored.

Privacy design

Sensitive EI-1 privacy/DELETE identifiers are intentionally not copied into the public validation script. The gate instead enforces structural rules while the EI-1 inventory and media governance remain authoritative for privacy exclusions.

Result

The production repository now has an automated editorial regression boundary. Future metadata, PTIR, routing, and taxonomy changes are checked as code rather than relying only on editorial memory.

EI-4 implementation work is complete through URL governance and automated quality enforcement.

Recommended next step: close EI-4 as a series and define EI-5 around retained-content rewriting, flagship promotion, and deeper editorial development rather than further infrastructure work.