junior-qa

Use the local Junior CLI to exercise behavior the test suite does not prove well. The goal is to run the same app-facing path a developer or operator would use from apps/example, inspect the result, and report concrete evidence.

Start by reading specs/local-agent.md. Read the relevant feature spec too when the changed behavior is owned by one.

Dashboard UI QA

For dashboard UI changes that depend on reporting payload shape, use the typed mock reporting overlay before relying on ad-hoc local conversations:

JUNIOR_DASHBOARD_MOCK_CONVERSATIONS=true pnpm dev

Then open the dashboard in a browser and exercise the relevant conversation, transcript, search, or conversation stats surface. The mock overlay returns read-only @sentry/junior/reporting conversation API-shaped data, including dashboard QA edge cases such as activity-only tool rows and inverted tool timestamps. It also includes an advisor tool call/result paired with advisor subagent activity so transcript rendering can be checked against nested tool activity without manufacturing a live agent run. Use it when a UI change needs deterministic reporting records that are hard to produce through a live local chat. Plugin report data is pass-through from the configured reporting provider and needs separate validation.

Do not treat mock dashboard data as proof of runtime ingestion, Slack delivery, credential behavior, or model behavior. Pair it with local CLI or integration tests when the changed contract crosses those boundaries.

Choosing a Probe

Pick the smallest local CLI run that demonstrates the changed behavior:

• Use exact-output prompts for simple agent routing or prompt-context checks.
• Use natural-language prompts when the behavior is an agent/tool workflow.
• Use direct plugin commands when the behavior is an operator CLI surface.
• Use interactive pnpm cli -- chat when continuity across turns matters.
• Use dashboard mock reporting when the behavior is dashboard rendering, filtering, search, or metrics over reporting API payloads.
• Do not use local CLI to claim Slack-only behavior, such as Slack formatting, delivery retries, reactions, files, or OAuth UI.

Automated tests, typechecks, linters, and evals are separate validation. They do not replace local QA evidence from running the client or agent.

Failure Handling

If local chat fails because credentials are missing or expired, refresh the environment when appropriate with pnpm dev:env, then rerun the same command. If Redis errors appear during ordinary local QA, check whether JUNIOR_STATE_ADAPTER=redis was set; local chat normally defaults to memory state.

If the model answer is too loose to prove the behavior, use a narrower prompt, an exact-output prompt, interactive mode, or a direct plugin CLI command. If the behavior cannot be exercised through the local client/agent, say local QA is insufficient and name the runtime surface that still needs manual coverage.

Reporting

Report:

• the exact pnpm cli -- ... commands run
• for dashboard mock QA, the dev-server command, URL, mock conversation or page inspected, and the visible UI evidence
• exit status and the key output that proves the behavior
• whether apps/example loaded the expected app/plugin/skill path
• whether local QA was sufficient, or what remains unproven locally

Keep any automated test/lint/typecheck/eval results in a separate validation section so they are not confused with local QA.

Running the Local CLI

Use the repo wrapper so the command runs from apps/example with root and app env loaded:

pnpm cli -- chat -p "Say exactly: junior qa smoke ok"

For agent behavior, prompts, skills, tools, and model-facing plugin behavior, use chat -p or interactive chat with a prompt that naturally exercises the change:

pnpm cli -- chat -p "<targeted prompt>"

For host or plugin CLI behavior, call the command directly through the same wrapper:

pnpm cli -- memory search --scope personal --scope-key local:local-cli --limit 5

Use example app discovery probes when the change touches skill or plugin discovery:

pnpm cli -- chat -p "/example-local confirm local QA discovery"
pnpm cli -- chat -p "/example-bundle-help"

Healthy startup usually logs SOUL.md, WORLD.md, loaded plugins, and discovered skills. Treat those logs as useful evidence that the example app path was exercised.