QA Small-Diff Fast Path

Quick Start: For trivial diffs, /qa skips sub-agent spawning and runs inline quality checks instead, saving ~30s latency and reducing token cost. Configure the threshold in .sequant/settings.json.

How It Works

Before spawning quality check sub-agents, /qa evaluates a size gate with three conditions:

Check	Condition for Fast Path
Diff size	additions + deletions < threshold (default: 100)
Dependencies	package.json unchanged
Security paths	No files matching `auth

If all three conditions pass, inline checks run directly (type safety, deleted tests, scope, security patterns). If any condition fails, the standard sub-agent pipeline runs.

Usage

Default Behavior

The size gate runs automatically during /qa. Diffs under 100 lines with no dependency or security-sensitive changes use the fast path. No configuration required.

Customizing the Threshold

Edit .sequant/settings.json:

{
  "qa": {
    "smallDiffThreshold": 50
  }
}

Only specify if you want to change the default. Setting a lower value makes the fast path more selective; a higher value allows larger diffs to skip sub-agents.

Output

When the fast path triggers, /qa uses a simplified output template that omits sections typically N/A for small fixes (Quality Plan, Incremental QA, Call-Site Review, Product Review, Smoke Test, CLI Registration, Skill Command Verification). The verdict and AC coverage sections are always present.

Fallback Behavior

The fast path falls back to the full sub-agent pipeline when:

• The size gate evaluation encounters errors (e.g., git fails)
• Any of the three conditions is not met
• The diff touches security-sensitive paths, regardless of size