ci: fold parity into QA release validation (#74622)

vincentkoc · clawsweeper[bot] · web-flow · commit b9eb31b54cfa · 2026-05-02T19:57:15.000Z
Summary: - The PR deletes the standalone `Parity gate` workflow, renames QA parity wording from gate to lane, routes docs toward QA/release validation, and adjusts the Docker E2E boundary guard for package-backed live lanes. - Reproducibility: not applicable. as a CI/docs refactor. The high-confidence review path is static comparison of the repaired PR diff against current workflow/docs code plus exact-head check status. ClawSweeper fixups: - Included follow-up commit: ci: fold parity into QA release validation - Ran the ClawSweeper repair loop before final review. Validation: - ClawSweeper review passed for head 3482654. - Required merge gates passed before the squash merge. Prepared head SHA: 3482654 Review: #74622 (comment) Co-authored-by: Vincent Koc <vincentkoc@ieee.org> Co-authored-by: clawsweeper <274271284+clawsweeper[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
diff --git a/.github/workflows/parity-gate.yml b/.github/workflows/parity-gate.yml
diff --git a/.github/workflows/qa-live-transports-convex.yml b/.github/workflows/qa-live-transports-convex.yml
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ jobs:
           } >> "$GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY"
 
   run_mock_parity:
-    name: Run QA Lab parity gate
+    name: Run QA Lab mock parity lane
     needs: [validate_selected_ref]
     runs-on: blacksmith-8vcpu-ubuntu-2404
     timeout-minutes: 30
diff --git a/docs/ci.md b/docs/ci.md
@@ -383,18 +383,17 @@ The scheduled live/E2E workflow runs the full release-path Docker suite daily.
 
 ## QA Lab
 
-QA Lab has dedicated CI lanes outside the main smart-scoped workflow.
+QA Lab has dedicated CI lanes outside the main smart-scoped workflow. Agentic parity is nested under the broad QA and release harnesses, not a standalone PR workflow. Use `Full Release Validation` with `rerun_group=qa-parity` when parity should ride with a broad validation run.
 
-- The `Parity gate` workflow runs on matching PR changes and manual dispatch; it builds the private QA runtime and compares the mock GPT-5.5 and Opus 4.6 agentic packs.
-- The `QA-Lab - All Lanes` workflow runs nightly on `main` and on manual dispatch; it fans out the mock parity gate, live Matrix lane, and live Telegram and Discord lanes as parallel jobs. Live jobs use the `qa-live-shared` environment, and Telegram/Discord use Convex leases.
+- The `QA-Lab - All Lanes` workflow runs nightly on `main` and on manual dispatch; it fans out the mock parity lane, live Matrix lane, and live Telegram and Discord lanes as parallel jobs. Live jobs use the `qa-live-shared` environment, and Telegram/Discord use Convex leases.
 
 Release checks run Matrix and Telegram live transport lanes with the deterministic mock provider and mock-qualified models (`mock-openai/gpt-5.5` and `mock-openai/gpt-5.5-alt`) so the channel contract is isolated from live model latency and normal provider-plugin startup. The live transport gateway disables memory search because QA parity covers memory behavior separately; provider connectivity is covered by the separate live model, native provider, and Docker provider suites.
 
 Matrix uses `--profile fast` for scheduled and release gates, adding `--fail-fast` only when the checked-out CLI supports it. The CLI default and manual workflow input remain `all`; manual `matrix_profile=all` dispatch always shards full Matrix coverage into `transport`, `media`, `e2ee-smoke`, `e2ee-deep`, and `e2ee-cli` jobs.
 
 `OpenClaw Release Checks` also runs the release-critical QA Lab lanes before release approval; its QA parity gate runs the candidate and baseline packs as parallel lane jobs, then downloads both artifacts into a small report job for the final parity comparison.
 
-Do not put the PR landing path behind `Parity gate` unless the change actually touches QA runtime, model-pack parity, or a surface the parity workflow owns. For normal channel, config, docs, or unit-test fixes, treat it as an optional signal and follow the scoped CI/check evidence instead.
+For normal PRs, follow scoped CI/check evidence instead of treating parity as a required status.
 
 ## CodeQL
 
diff --git a/docs/concepts/qa-e2e-automation.md b/docs/concepts/qa-e2e-automation.md
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ script aliases; both forms are supported.
 | `qa run`                                            | Bundled QA self-check; writes a Markdown report.                                                                                                                       |
 | `qa suite`                                          | Run repo-backed scenarios against the QA gateway lane. Aliases: `pnpm openclaw qa suite --runner multipass` for a disposable Linux VM.                                 |
 | `qa coverage`                                       | Print the markdown scenario-coverage inventory (`--json` for machine output).                                                                                          |
-| `qa parity-report`                                  | Compare two `qa-suite-summary.json` files and write the agentic parity-gate report.                                                                                    |
+| `qa parity-report`                                  | Compare two `qa-suite-summary.json` files and write the agentic parity report.                                                                                         |
 | `qa character-eval`                                 | Run the character QA scenario across multiple live models with a judged report. See [Reporting](#reporting).                                                           |
 | `qa manual`                                         | Run a one-off prompt against the selected provider/model lane.                                                                                                         |
 | `qa ui`                                             | Start the QA debugger UI and local QA bus (alias: `pnpm qa:lab:ui`).                                                                                                   |
diff --git a/docs/help/testing.md b/docs/help/testing.md
@@ -109,18 +109,21 @@ When you only need one failing case, prefer narrowing live tests via the allowli
 
 These commands sit beside the main test suites when you need QA-lab realism:
 
-CI runs QA Lab in dedicated workflows. `Parity gate` runs on matching PRs and
-from manual dispatch with mock providers. `QA-Lab - All Lanes` runs nightly on
-`main` and from manual dispatch with the mock parity gate, live Matrix lane,
-Convex-managed live Telegram lane, and Convex-managed live Discord lane as
-parallel jobs. Scheduled QA and release checks pass Matrix `--profile fast`
-explicitly, while the Matrix CLI and manual workflow input default remain
-`all`; manual dispatch can shard `all` into `transport`, `media`, `e2ee-smoke`,
-`e2ee-deep`, and `e2ee-cli` jobs. `OpenClaw Release Checks` runs parity plus
-the fast Matrix and Telegram lanes before release approval, using
-`mock-openai/gpt-5.5` for release transport checks so they stay deterministic
-and avoid normal provider-plugin startup. These live transport gateways disable
-memory search; memory behavior stays covered by the QA parity suites.
+CI runs QA Lab in dedicated workflows. Agentic parity is nested under
+`QA-Lab - All Lanes` and release validation, not a standalone PR workflow.
+Broad validation should use `Full Release Validation` with
+`rerun_group=qa-parity` or the release-checks QA group. `QA-Lab - All Lanes`
+runs nightly on `main` and from manual dispatch with the mock parity lane, live
+Matrix lane, Convex-managed live Telegram lane, and Convex-managed live Discord
+lane as parallel jobs. Scheduled QA and release checks pass Matrix
+`--profile fast` explicitly, while the Matrix CLI and manual workflow input
+default remain `all`; manual dispatch can shard `all` into `transport`,
+`media`, `e2ee-smoke`, `e2ee-deep`, and `e2ee-cli` jobs. `OpenClaw Release
+Checks` runs parity plus the fast Matrix and Telegram lanes before release
+approval, using `mock-openai/gpt-5.5` for release transport checks so they stay
+deterministic and avoid normal provider-plugin startup. These live transport
+gateways disable memory search; memory behavior stays covered by the QA parity
+suites.
 
 Full release live media shards use
 `ghcr.io/openclaw/openclaw-live-media-runner:ubuntu-24.04`, which already has
diff --git a/docs/reference/RELEASING.md b/docs/reference/RELEASING.md
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ the maintainer-only release runbook.
   plugins.
 - Release checks now run in a separate manual workflow:
   `OpenClaw Release Checks`
-- `OpenClaw Release Checks` also runs the QA Lab mock parity gate plus the fast
+- `OpenClaw Release Checks` also runs the QA Lab mock parity lane plus the fast
   live Matrix profile and Telegram QA lane before release approval. The live
   lanes use the `qa-live-shared` environment; Telegram also uses Convex CI
   credential leases. Run the manual `QA-Lab - All Lanes` workflow with
@@ -443,7 +443,7 @@ package mechanics.
 
 Release QA Lab coverage includes:
 
-- mock parity gate comparing the OpenAI candidate lane against the Opus 4.6
+- mock parity lane comparing the OpenAI candidate lane against the Opus 4.6
   baseline using the agentic parity pack
 - fast live Matrix QA profile using the `qa-live-shared` environment
 - live Telegram QA lane using Convex CI credential leases
diff --git a/scripts/check-docker-e2e-boundaries.mjs b/scripts/check-docker-e2e-boundaries.mjs
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ function validateUniqueLanes(label, lanes) {
 }
 
 function validateLane(label, lane) {
+  const resources = laneResources(lane);
   if (!lane.name || typeof lane.name !== "string") {
     errors.push(`${label}: Docker E2E lane is missing a string name`);
   }
@@ -70,7 +71,7 @@ function validateLane(label, lane) {
       `${label}: Docker E2E lane '${lane.name}' has invalid image kind '${lane.e2eImageKind}'`,
     );
   }
-  if (lane.live && lane.e2eImageKind) {
+  if (lane.live && lane.e2eImageKind && !resources.includes("npm")) {
     errors.push(`${label}: live Docker E2E lane '${lane.name}' must not require a package image`);
   }
   if (!lane.live && !lane.e2eImageKind) {
@@ -79,7 +80,7 @@ function validateLane(label, lane) {
   if (laneWeight(lane) < 1) {
     errors.push(`${label}: Docker E2E lane '${lane.name}' must have positive weight`);
   }
-  if (!laneResources(lane).includes("docker")) {
+  if (!resources.includes("docker")) {
     errors.push(`${label}: Docker E2E lane '${lane.name}' must include the docker resource`);
   }
 

Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
`@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ function validateUniqueLanes(label, lanes) {`
`58`	`58`	`}`
`59`	`59`
`60`	`60`	`function validateLane(label, lane) {`
	`61`	`+ const resources = laneResources(lane);`
`61`	`62`	`if (!lane.name \|\| typeof lane.name !== "string") {`
`62`	`63`	errors.push(`${label}: Docker E2E lane is missing a string name`);
`63`	`64`	`}`
`@@ -70,7 +71,7 @@ function validateLane(label, lane) {`
`70`	`71`	`${label}: Docker E2E lane '${lane.name}' has invalid image kind '${lane.e2eImageKind}'`,
`71`	`72`	`);`
`72`	`73`	`}`
`73`		`- if (lane.live && lane.e2eImageKind) {`
	`74`	`+ if (lane.live && lane.e2eImageKind && !resources.includes("npm")) {`
`74`	`75`	errors.push(`${label}: live Docker E2E lane '${lane.name}' must not require a package image`);
`75`	`76`	`}`
`76`	`77`	`if (!lane.live && !lane.e2eImageKind) {`
`@@ -79,7 +80,7 @@ function validateLane(label, lane) {`
`79`	`80`	`if (laneWeight(lane) < 1) {`
`80`	`81`	errors.push(`${label}: Docker E2E lane '${lane.name}' must have positive weight`);
`81`	`82`	`}`
`82`		`- if (!laneResources(lane).includes("docker")) {`
	`83`	`+ if (!resources.includes("docker")) {`
`83`	`84`	errors.push(`${label}: Docker E2E lane '${lane.name}' must include the docker resource`);
`84`	`85`	`}`
`85`	`86`